וָאֵרֵד לְהַצִּילוֹ מִיַּד מִצְרַיִם, וּלְהַעֲלֹתוֹ מִן-הָאָרֶץ הַהִוא, אֶל-אֶרֶץ טוֹבָה וּרְחָבָה, אֶל-אֶרֶץ זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבָשׁ–אֶל-מְקוֹם הַכְּנַעֲנִי, וְהַחִתִּי, וְהָאֱמֹרִי וְהַפְּרִזִּי, וְהַחִוִּי וְהַיְבוּסִי.
שמות ג ח
And I came down to save them from the hand of Egypt, and to raise them up from that land, to a good and wide land, to a land filled with milk and honey — to the place of the Canaanite, the Hitite, the Amorite, the Perezite, the Hivite and the Jebusite.
Exodus 3:8
The honey that fills the Land of Israel is not, as you might have imagined, honey made by bees. It is actually date honey that the Torah is referring to. Dates are a fantastic food, and they can be found throughout the length of Israel wherever there is enough water to grow a date palm. Date palms serve as shade and as a source of food in Israel.
And here’s an interesting thought: The judge Deborah sat under a date palm when she heard the disputes of the people and judged them. Like most Hebrew names, Deborah isn’t just an interesting sound, it has a meaning. “D’vorah” is the word for a tough little desert bee. So we have an neat coincidence, here. There is a sort of Biblical word play in which the “bee” (Deborah) sits under the source of honey (the date tree).
But what are dates good for besides your sweet tooth? Well, it turns out that they are a fantastic source of nutrition and medicine. They are high in fiber and also contain calcium, sulfur, iron, potassium, phosphorous, manganese, copper and magnesium as well as vitamin A, vitamin C and several of the B complex vitamins. Dates are believed to help relieve constipation, intestinal disorders, heart problems, sore throats, some of the symptoms of the common cold or flu, sexual weakness, diarrhea and even abdominal cancer. They are also good for underweight people who need to gain weight, or for people who are working on building lean muscle mass.
If someone is having stomach problems, a paste made by boiling dates in milk makes a highly nutritious and easily digestible food. Of course, you don’t have to wait to be sick to try it, as this paste makes a wonderful breakfast food or sweet snack.
Some herbalists recommend that people with weak hearts should eat dates twice a week. Soak them over night and then crush and eat them in the morning.
Dates are also said to help cure hangover. It’s best if you can get them fresh, soak them over night and then eat them in the morning, but if you weren’t thinking ahead the night before while you were drunk, you might try the dates boiled in milk recipe, or boil them in water if you prefer and then use a hand blender to turn them into a thick drink.
An infusion or decoction of dates can also be used in treatment of sore throat, colds, bronchial catarrh, and was considered a good remedy for fever in times past.
The gum from a wounded trunk is used to treat diarrhea or genito-urinary problems.
Date palm root is used against toothache.
The seeds are ground up and used in some Ayurvedic medicines in India, as well. It’s likely that ancient Israelites had medicines that they made from the seeds, too, but I did not find any specific recipes.
By the way, if you don’t like cow’s milk but want to try the boiled “milk and (date) honey” recipe, I suggest that do as the early Israelites probably did and use goat’s milk instead. It’s a little more expensive if you don’t happen to have a goat of your own, but, oo, yum!
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