Skip to content

Comments and corrections from Orit – and my reflections

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Orit Baruch, the subject of my previous blog entry, emailed me with some comments and corrections regarding what I wrote.  I would like to share these with you, and to add some reflections and commentary of my own.

Orit’s comments and corrections brought me to a couple of important conclusions, or realizations:

The first is that it’s very important, when doing a report or blog, to take good notes, and to be faithful to your subject matter, and to what happened.  I just relied on what naturally stuck in my memory of our time together at Amirim and in the Galilee, and conveniently glossed over what I did not naturally retain in my memory.  These details, nevertheless, turned out to be quite important.

The second is a heightened awareness of just how easy it is to craft an agenda in your mind, even without being aware of it, and to take sides and be excessively partisan, even when you don’t have to.  And I, having a lot of Choleric passion in my nature and temperament, can all too easily do this, and, at times, lose my detachment and objectivity.

First of all, Orit told me that, although she greatly respects Omar Said and his work, she does not consider him to be the greatest herbalist in Israel, or in the world.  In fact, she does not even consider Omar to be an herbalist in the true sense of the word.  In spite of all this, Orit feels that Omar has conducted a lot of important research on the medicinal plants of the Holy Land.

Orit felt that my previous blog posting focused too much on Omar Said.  Omar Said did some important work on medicinal plants, Orit told me, but he is not the only star in the herbal medicine firmament in the Holy Land.  There are also people like Nissim Krispil, an anthropologist who is also very knowledgeable about the medicinal plants of the Holy Land.  In fact, Orit did show me one of his books on medicinal plants when I visited her at her clinic in Amirim.  And, by the way, Nissim Krispil is Jewish, or Israeli.

I wish to quote from Orit’s email to me, an excerpt from an email that she sent to Steven Fulder, a doctor who used to work with Omar Said.  I have merely revised the English where necessary:

“The Holy Land has lots to offer for both the Jewish and the Palestinians, and, from my point of view, politics and science / medicine should be separated.  Just true cooperation between multicultural scientists on the endemic medicinal plants and tribal medicine are the answer to make peace.  I respect Omar Said for his devotion to the Holy Land, and for his respect for the local healers and plants.  I hope that he will continue his important work on Arabic Medicine, which will come from a deep desire to make peace, and to find a cure for the wounded hearts of the people.”

The problem with Omar Said, Orit told me, is that he thinks too much like a politician, and not like a true doctor.  Omar Said needs to change his attitude to let everyone work with him.  He was nototious for being averse to taking on Jewish or Israeli people as students or coworkers.  In spite of this attitude, Orit’s friend, Egal Ben Yitzak, was able to work for Omar for a time, but without pay.

My Concluding Reflections on Medicine and Politics

Orit’s comments and corrections made me realize just how intense are the political tensions that pervade the Holy Land, and how keenly those tensions are felt by those who live in Israel and Palestine.  The best solution for an herbalist, healer, or any other professional seems to be to not get involved, and rise above the political fray to maintain peace, progress and equilibrium in one’s personal and professional life.

Although I respect Orit’s opinion and feelings in wanting to keep politics separate from medicine, there are undeniably certain things that medicine shares in common with politics.  Politicians prescribe legislative remedies for the social and economic ills that plague our nation – or at least, ideally, that’s the way it should be.  If only politics’ track record of results for healing the ills it pertains to were as good as those of medicine and healing!

Because of this dismal track record, many might argue that political science is not an exact science.  Or perhaps we also need to factor in the usual human foibles such as greed, graft and corruption into the equation.

The fact that politicians have made a great mess of things seems to be a universal truth.  And perhaps this is especially true for politicians, both Israeli and Palestinian, in the Holy Land.    Peace now seems more elusive than ever!

Perhaps ture peace will come, as Orit says, from true cooperation between multicultural scientists on the endemic medicinal plants and tribal medicine.  And, we just may find that they will obtain better results than the politicians.

Filed in Herbs, Traditional Medicine | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

With Orit and Egal at Amirim

Friday, June 4, 2010

From Jerusalem, I took the bus north to Tiberias, which I used as a base for touring the Galilee. From Tiberias, I took a bus to the scenic mountain village of Tsfat, which is famous for Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism.

I had lunch in a restaurant in Tsfat’s Artists’ Quarter that consisted of a sandwich of Tsfat cheese and rocket sprouts.  As I munched my lunchtime sandwich, I gazed out over the valley before me, and at Mt. Meron.  Amirim, which was to be my next destination, was directly ahead of me, just on the other side of Mt. Meron’s lower slopes.

Amirim is a vegetarian commune, or kibbutz, and home to a number of holistic and alternative healthcare practitioners.  One of them, an herbal medicine woman named Orit Baruch, had contacted me via my website.  Orit’s email address is:  olivemedicine@gmail.com .

Orit had been seeking to further her studies in traditional medicine when she came across my website.  Although Israel boasts many fine schools of acupuncture, Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda, these systems, she told me, were not her way.

Orit was more interested in the Greco-Arabic system of medicine, which is the true indigenous traditional healing system of the Holy Land.  To this end, she had done field research visiting local Arab sheikhs who were knowledgeable about the healing herbs of the region and their medicinal uses.

The bus let me off right across the highway from the entrance to Amirim.  As I walked into the community, many cozy country cottages greeted me, boasting vegetarian bed and breakfast accommodations.  Stepping into Amirim was a bit like stepping back into a hippie world, reminiscent of California in the 60’s.

Before long, someone who looked like an organic farmer or gardener came by in his pickup truck to give me a lift.  To my surprise, it turned out that he knew Orit, and took me right to her clinic, which was nestled amidst Rosemary bushes and Olive trees.  Orit greeted me with a warm smile and invited me in for a cup of herb tea.

Me and Orit at Amirim

“A terrible thing has happened,” Orit told me.
“Omar Said has been put in prison by the Israelis.”
Omar Said , she told me, was one of the greatest herbalists in Israel, and in the whole world.  He was also the founder of an herb company named, coincidentally, Al Antaki. And, although there were certain rumors and suspicions floating around as to the Israeli government’s motives for his imprisonment, no one was sure exactly why.
Furthermore, and rather synchronistically, Omar’s imprisonment by the Israelis seemed to coincide precisely with my arrival in the Holy Land at the end of April.  Could it be, Orit wondered, that somehow my arrival in the Holy Land was meant to compensate for the untimely loss of Omar Said?  Only time will tell.
Omar was a great herbalist, Orit told me, perhaps one of the greatest in the world.  But Omar Said didn’t get too much into the classical theories of the Greco-Arabic medicine of the region, such as the Four Humors, Orit said.  His approach was more focused on the herbs and their traditional uses, gleaned from local folk healers as a field researcher and ethnographer.  And he backed up the information and leads he got from the local folk healers regarding the herbs with the latest scientific research, often pioneering groundbreaking research of his own.

The way I see it, there are three main ways in which the study and practice of herbal medicine can be furthered:
1)  By following a model that is strictly based on the classical precepts of a traditional medical system like Unani Tibb, or Greco-Arabic Medicine;
2)  By doing field research on the traditional folk medical uses of the herbs from local folk healers;
3)  By using modern scientific methods to test, research and verify the medicinal and therapeutic properties of herbs.
Mohammad, at his clinic in Nablus, was primarily following the first approach of returning to the classical humoral precepts of the traditional Greco-Arabic medicine of the region.  Omar was using the last two approaches – field research into the folk medicine uses of the herbs, backed up by scientific research.
Ideally, what is needed is a synthesis of all three approaches – the traditional, the ethnographic and the scientific.  And the best way to accomplish this would be for herbalists from all over the Holy Land, both from Israel and Palestine, to come together for the advancement of herbal medicine.
Orit called one of her herbal friends, Egal Ben Yitzak, over to visit, and to have a cup of herb tea with us.  Egal worked for a local herb company and manufacturer of herbal products.  Over a soothing cup of tea, we talked about herbs, politics and the imprisonment of Omar.

Both Orit and Egal, I learned, collected their own herbs, and spent hours on the slopes of Mt. Meron and in other rustic locations throughout the Galilee, gathering up herbs in their handbaskets.  Egal told me that certain herbs like Milk Thistle (Silybum marianum) were so plentiful in northern Israel that there were vast fields of them, seemingly endless.  My own experience hiking in the hills of Israel and Palestine showed me that there was definitely no shortage of thorns and thistles, and thistles of almost every description.  Other herbs, like Wild Carrot, or Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota), which also grew in great profusion throughout the countryside, were already familiar to me from my travels in Romania.
It was clear to see that Orit and Egal both loved the land, and all of God’s herbs that grew upon it.  Orit said that there was no place that she would rather live than at Amirim.
“The spiritual vibrations of this place are very pure”, Orit assured me.  “That’s because nobody has ever lived here, or wanted to live here, before this vegetarian community was established here at Amirim.  It hasn’t ever been fought over, or bitterly contested.”
That night, Orit, Egal and I went out to explore the land, and to eat dinner.  At sunset, they took me to a spectacular lookout point at Amirim from whence I could get a sweeping panoramic view of all of the Galilee.  Incredibly inspired by the wondrous beauty of it all, I pulled out my pan flute and began to play.

Mastic Tree and Leaves

“See that small tree or bush down there?”, Egal said, pointing.  The bright, electric green leaves of the tree were radiating vitality and life.

“What is it?”, I asked.

“It’s the Mastic tree.”

“You mean Pistachia lentiscus, the tree they get Mastic gum from?”

“Yes, that’s it.  Now taste the leaves.”

The leaves tasted incredibly fresh, tangy and zesty.

“Before he was imprisoned, Omar Said was conducting groundbreaking original scientific research on the antimicrobial properties of Mastic leaves, and their ability to disinfect and boost the immunity of the liver in liver diseases like hepatitis.  But his imprisonment put an end to all that.”

“What a shame!” I replied.  “I’m sure that he was on the verge of a great healing breakthrough in herbal medicine.”

Milk Thistle, Amirim

Egal then pointed out some Milk Thistle (Silybum marianum) plants to me.  This humble and homely thistle is nevertheless without equal in its ability to regenerate liver cells as a hepatoprotector.  And Egal wqas right; I did see vast fields of these thistles in my travels throughout the Holy Land.

Egal was truly like a walking encyclopedia when it cme to the local herbs.  As we drove along, Egal, our driver, was constantly making stops along the way to point out this or that medicinal herb.  His love and enthusiasm for herbs were truly contagious.

One thing that really amazed me on my herbal tour of the Holy Land was how many different varieties of composite family plants that God has blessed this land with.  These included diverse species and subspecies of Mints, Sages, Thymes and Oreganos.

Native Healing Wisdom  -  Learning from the Elders

The following Monday evening, at a posh health resort hotel in the upper Galilee near Tsfat, Orit gave a lecture, which Egal and I attended, on the Native American Medicine teachings.  Orit had traveled to Calgary in Western Canada to apprentice under a Native American shaman or medicine man named Willie, who was from theCree tribe.  She also spoke about their healing herbs.

Back in my own country, the United States, in the 19th century, herbal medicine enjoyed a great renaissance of popularity, progress and advancement due to two great schools of herbal healing, the Eclectics, and the Thomsonians, also known as Physiomedicalism.  Both schools of herbal medicine took their inspiration from Native American herbal healing traditions.  The Eclectics were great pioneers in the scientific study of herbs.

The lesson of all this is clear:  Herbal medicine flourishes and progresses when the healing ways of the native or indigenous peoples are honored and respected, and their elders are listened to and learned from in a state of humility and receptivity.  Conversely, destruction of the native or indigenous peoples and their traditions will result in the loss of their precious herbal healing wisdom, to the detriment of all mankind.

It could be argued that, in ancient times, the Jewish people could have been called native or indigenous peoples in their old homeland, the Holy Land.  But during their long diaspora, they lost touch with the land and its healing herbs.  In the nearly two millennia between the banishment of the Jewish people from the Holy Land at the hands of the Romans, and their return to the Holy Land in 1948, the Arabs and Palestinians who populated the land in the interim have become the indigenous people of the Holy Land, and the custodians of its herbal healing wisdom.

I don’t pretend to know what the true purpose and agenda of the Israeli government is when it comes to herbal medicine and natural healing.  But if they are sincerely interested in the progress and advancement of herbal medicine in the Holy Land, it would behoove them to respect and honor the indigenous peoples, the Arabs and Palestinians, and learn from their herbal healing traditions.

The Hanging Gardens of Haifa

I ended my trip with a brief stay in Haifa.  There, the main attraction is the Baha’i Gardens, which are laid out, in a terraced format, on the slopes of Mount Carmel, overlooking Haifa’s magnificent bay and harbor.   I leave you with pictures of them below.

The Baha’i Gardens, Haifa

Greek Temple, Baha'i Gardens, Haifa

Filed in Events, Herbs, Traditional Medicine | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

A Talk on Tibb in Nablus

Thursday, June 3, 2010

The following Monday evening at a hotel overlooking Nablus, I gave an introductory talk on Greco-Arabic Medicine, or Tibb, at a conference of local physicians.  I gave a historical overview of Tibb, and introduced the doctors there to some of its basic concepts.  After the talk, I was given an award.

Me and Mohammad at the Lecture

Lecture on Greek Medicine, Nablus

I receive an award in Nablus

An Herbal Secret Weapon

“Mohammad, do you have anything for this terrible chest cold I’ve been suffering from?”

“Yes, I surely do!”, Mohammad declared.

“It’s Adiantum capilla veneris, or Southern Maidenhair Fern.“  He then read to me about it from Al Antaki’s herbal.  Al Antaki held Adiantum in very high esteem for its prodigious ability to clear out heavy phlegm congestion from the lungs and chest.  Mohammad then gave me a supply of capsules of the powdered herb, telling me to take one in the morning and one in the evening.

“Only one capsule at a time?”, I queried.

“Only one.  The herb is quite strong.”, Mohammad assured me.

At first, I didn’t believe that the Adiantum would work, , especially since the dosage was so small.  But, lo and behold, I started heaving up and expectorating large amounts of thick, slimy, morbid phlegm from my lungs, and within a couple of days, the terrible chest cold which had plagued me since my arrival was gone.  Amazing!

“Mohammad, this Adiantum is truly amazing!  It’s a real herbal secret weapon against phlegm.  You really must market it and share it with the world!”

He told me that it was a relatively obscure and forgotten local herb that he had rediscovered.  And who knows how many other amazing herbs like Adiantum, also obscure and forgotten, are lurking out there in the Holy Land, just waiting to be rediscovered, to shower their healing benefits on all mankind?

A Middle Eastern Health Food

That night, we went to eat a light dinner at a restaurant in Nablus that was near my hostel.  One of the items on the menu, which I ordered, at Mohammad’s urging, was a salad made from the tender young shoots of Jarjeer, or Garden Rocket (Eruca sativa), which enjoys quite a reputation for being a male virility tonic throughout the Middle East.  Despite the obvious phallic and sexual symbolism of its name, I did not expeience any exceptional sexual stimulation or excitation after eating it, although I did find it quite nutritious and fortifying.

I was quite surprised to find, when researching this plant on the internet, that it was none other than Arrugala, that salad green that’s a favorite of so many yuppies in California.  Yet I had never heard anything from them about it being a sexual tonic or virilific.

Additional Health Challenges

I had done a lot of walking and hiking, both in Jerusalem, with its side trip to hike both Masada and Ein Gedi, and in Nablus, which is flanked by two mountains.  And now, my left knee was acting up, and was weak and sore.

For this problem, Mohammad took me to see a friend of his, a physiotherapist named Mohsin, whose clinic was nearby.  Mohsin related to me that he had had a very unusual healing journey, one that had taken him all the way to India, of all places, to learn acupuncture.

Mohsin diagnosed the problem as a pathological change in the synovial fluid, complicated by a mild dislocation of the fibula, plus rheumatic and muscular aches and tensions in the surrounding muscles, tendons and periarticular structures.  After some deft manipulation, which was a bit painful, plus some cupping on the inside of the knee joint to draw out stagnant, morbid blood and synovial fluid, followed by some taping below the knee joint to draw the dislocated fibula back into place, voila!  My knee felt a heck of a lot better.  Although it was still not completely healed, I could get around on it pretty well.

But now, a new and major health challenge confronted me.  The weather had warmed up considerably since my arrival in Nablus, and now, in the cheap hostel in which I had been staying, the bugs and fleas were starting to come out of the bedding at night, and were proceeding to eat me alive!

The bites were further complicated by an allergic response, bordering on an autoimmune reaction, which made for excessive and debilitating itchiness and redness, puffiness and swelling.  And now it was time to leave Nablus and head back to Jerusalem.

Back to Jerusalem

My first stop when I got back to Jerusalem was the Sea of Herbs.  I showed Jacob my terrible, disfiguring red and swollen insect bites, which were mainly on my hands and arms, and he gave me Nigella Oil, or oil of the Black Cumin Seed (Nigella sativa) to take, both internally, as well as to apply externally, in frequent doses.

When I expressed my doubts as to whether the treatment would really work, Jacob told me not to worry.  The prophet Mohammad, PBUH, had said that Nigella, or the Black Seed, was a cure for every disease except death.

My initial skepticism about the treatment stemmed from the fact that my skin condition was characterized by both heat, or redness and inflammation, as well as dampness, or puffiness and swelling, plus weeping exudations when scratched.  Let’s face it – I was a total mess!  How could Nigella Oil, which is in itself also warming and stimulating, plus unctuous and moistening, resolve, and not complicate my skin condition even further?

But the Nigella Oil worked much better than I expected to quiet down and soothe the itchiness, swelling and inflammation.  I attributed this to Nigella’s property of being animmunomodulator, or an herb that reduces undesirable allergic and autoimmune reactions while strengthening the righteous and beneficial immunity of the organism.  To date, no pharmaceutical drugs have been developed which have this immunomodulating property.  The best that modern medicine can do for autoimmune disorders is to suppress all immunity and immune responses of the organism, both good and bad, which leaves the body vulnerable to opportunistic infections.

The next time I passed by the Sea of Herbs, I found Jacob’s brother Isaac there.  He told me that he was amazed that Jacob hadn’t recommended their First Aid Cream, which was so good that it had won an award from the Israeli Ministry of Health.  It was chock full of all kinds of good things – essential oils as well as extracts and the fresh juices of many different herbs.  And it smelled great.  It was good, but it didn’t work much better than the Nigella Oil, which I continued to take internally as an immune booster and immunomodulator.

Filed in Events, Herbs, Traditional Medicine | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

My Healing Journey in the Holy Land

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

My own personal healing journey in the Holy Land started as soon as I arrived.  I read the internet weather report on the morning of my flight to Israel, and saw that it said that the weather in Jerusalem was quite warm and balmy, at least ten degrees Fahrenheit warmer than it was in Bucharest Romania, where I had been staying with some friends on the way over to the Holy Land.  No need for that heavy down vest, I thought to myself; I’ll leave it behind in Romania, and travel light.

Boy, was that ever a mistake!  The very night of my arrival, the temperature plummeted in Jerusalem, and I caught a bad chill, which developed into a bad chest cold that lasted almost two weeks.  I had to spend most of the rest of my trip struggling to regain my health and immunity.  I learned after I arrived in Jerusalem that the weather there is famous for turning on a dime.

And so, my quest for healing and herbal remedies and weapons with which I could fight back against the negative health consequences of my travel indiscretions began on the first morning after my arrival in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is the Holy City, in which competing world religions collide and vie with each other for dominance.  And so it was with herb stores as well.  I discovered, while cruising through the bazaars on my first day in Jerusalem, two excellent herb stores, competing with each other, side by side.  Both boasted excellent herbal products and remedies, and both were run by competent and knowledgeable herbalists who really knew their stuff.

Herb Store, Arab Bazaar, Jerusalem

One of them was called the Island of Herbs, and the other one was called the Sea of Herbs. The brothers Jacob and Isaac, who ran the Sea of Herbs, claimed that they were the first, the originals.  “Without the Sea, there could be no Island”, they remarked philosophically.

I also combed the juice bars in the bazaars of Jerusalem for other natural healing weapons against the health problems and challenges I was facing.  In the Christian Quarter, I quickly found a juice bar that would provide me with my morning tonic drink.

It consited of Pomegranate juice spiked with a heavy dose of Ginger juice. I had to keep telling the juicer to turn up the heat and not skimp on the Ginger juice, to burn that cold right out of my body.  The astringent action of the Pomegranate juice, on the other hand, would stimulate the stomach and digestion, and tone the liver and the bowels, and so keep me regular.

At Mohammad’s Clinic in Nablus, Palestine

From Jerusalem, I went to Nablus, Palestine, a major city in the West Bank, to visit the herbal clinic of Mohammad Sherbini, a bright young practitioner of herbal medicine and hijama, or cupping therapy, whom I had been mentoring and corresponding with through my website for the past two years.

Mohammad’s clinic is named Al Antaki, after a 10th century Syrian physician and master herbalist.  Al Antaki wrote a large and very comprehensive treatise on herbs, which Mohammad referred to and read to me from quite frequently.  Mohammad’s website is: www.alantaki.net , and his email address is:  mohammad.sherbini@gmail.com .

On my first day at Mohammad’s clinic, I observed hijama, or cupping therapy, in action.  Mohammad used wet cupping, in which small pricks are made in the skin to draw out the old, toxic blood.  I was quite amazed at the dark, thick, congealed and toxic blood that Mohammad drew out of his patients, and, seeing its efficacy and benefits, I finally agreed to have it done on myself.  Immediately after the treatment, I felt lighter, refreshed, and more relaxed, yet energized.

One of the local herbal healers Mohammad introduced me to was named Rateb.  On the first Friday following my arrival in Nablus, we were all invited out to Rateb’s country villa in a mountain village near Nablus.  As soon as we arrived, Rateb greeted me with a large glass of freshly made carrot juice, which made me feel as if I were right at home in California.

Rateb

Herbal Spread at Rateb's

Herbal Spread at Rateb's

Rateb had prepared a magnificent feast for us, which featured roasted pigeon, a large salad, and a delicious rice soup spiced with Cloves and Cardamoms.  After the meal, Rateb took us out for a walk in his herb garden, and pointed out several of the important local herbs to me.

One of Rateb’s specialties, he told me, was treating infertility.  On the wall of his dining room was a large bulletin board with pictures of the many babies that he had helped previously childless couples bring into this world.

“If the Israelis try to decimate our population by killing and imprisoning us Palestinians, I help our people fight back by having more babies!” Rateb exclaimed with messianic zeal.

Rateb also proudly showed me several cases involving metabolic disorders like high blood sugar or high cholesterol, which he had brought back down to normal levels.  All were backed up with documented lab test results.

“All these successes are due to the medicine of Ibn Sina (Avicenna) !” He exclaimed.  Ibn Sina, known in the West as Avicenna, was the author of an encyclopedic medical treatise entitled Al Qanun fi-l Tibb, or the Canon of Medicine, which is the Bible of Greco-Arabic medicine, or Tibb, and which Encyclopedia Brittanica has called the most influential book in the history of medicine, in East or West.

Mohammad’s approach to herbal medicine is very much rooted in the humoral concepts of Tibb, which is also known as Unani Tibb, or Greco-Arabic medicine.  The distinguishing feature of herbal medicine as practiced in the Tibb system is its methods and protocols for purging and adjusting the Four Humors – Blood, Phlegm, Yellow Bile and Black Bile, Mohammad told me.  Mohammad has developed effective herbal treatments for purging and adjusting the humors, which can bring about decisive breakthroughs in many chronic health disorders.

Pulse Diagnosis at Mohammad's Clinic

Among the many cases I observed while visiting Mohammad’s clinic was that of untimely impotence in a young man, which Mohammad assessed as being due to an accumulation of excessive phlegm in the pubic and groin areas.  After purging this excessive phlegm, his penile flaccidity was eliminated, and he was able to have healthy erections again.

Filed in Herbs, Traditional Medicine | | Comments (0)

Healing Herbs of the Holy Land

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

On the Wall of Jerusalem's Old City

The Bible tells us that herbs were placed on earth for the healing of man.  In Genesis, God proclaims that the fruit of the tree is to be used for food, and the leaf thereof for medicine.

In the Quran, God, or Allah, says that there is no disease created by Him for which He did not also create the cure.  The prophet Mohammad, PBUH, extolls the healing virtues of several different medicinal herbs in his writings.

The power of herbs, and of Nature, to heal all ills figures prominently in all of the world’s major religions.  The message of all this is clear:  Herbal medicine and other natural healing modalities are God’s preferred form of healing.

Healing Herbs of the Bible

Many different healing herbs are mentioned in the Bible.  However, since the common vernacular names for these herbs can be vague, dubious or misleading, and can change over time, careful research is needed to ascertain their true identity.

For instance, Aloes, both fragrant and bitter, are mentioned in various places in the Bible.  Fragrant Aloes refers not to Aloe Vera, or the True Aloe, but rather to Aloes Wood, a resinous wood from Southeast Asia which is used both medicinally and in aromatics, whose botanical name is Aquillaria agallocha.

The True Aloe, or Aloe Vera, is the Bitter Aloe, as anyone who has ever eaten its fresh leaf can testify to.  The Bible tells us that when Jesus was placed in the tomb, his whole body was annointed or covered with a paste made from Myrrh and Aloes before the shroud was placed over him.

But this only opens the door to a deeper mystery.  Any knowledgeable herbalist will tell you that the True or Bitter Aloe, or Aloe Vera, when combined with the resin of Myrrh (Commiphora myrrha) is one of the best preparations for facilitating the healing of wounds, even though these substances could also possibly be used for embalming.

All this begs the question:  Could it be that Jesus wasn’t really dead when he was taken down from the cross and placed in Joseph of Arimathea’s Garden Tomb?  After all, when someone dies, all physiological processes stop, including the healing and regeneration of wounds.

“Purge me with Hyssop, and I shall be made clean”, says the Bible.  In the herb and spice stalls of Jerusalem’s Arab bazaar, the herbal condiment known as Zatar was almost universally labeled with “Hyssop” as its English name.  However, I have tasted both Hyssop, whose botanical name is Hyssopus officinalis, and the herb known as Zatar, and believe me, they are clearly NOT one and the same.  Zatar is actually a species of Thyme. The popular Middle Eastern spice mixture called Zatar is actually a tasty combination of Thyme, Sesame seeds and a little salt.

Another mysterious herbal preparation from the Bible is the Spikenard Oil that was used by the woman to annoint the feet of Jesus.  The mysterious woman is believed to have been Mary Magdalene, but what about this mysterious Spikenard Oil?

Here again, an expert knowledge of herbal medicine and aromatics is needed to decipher the true identity of the Spikenard that formed the base of this fragrant medicated oil.  The Spikenard used was NOT American Spikenard, or Aralia racemosa, which is a close botanical relative of Ginseng, but rather, the Indian Spikenard, also calledJatamansi in Ayurvedic medicine.  Its botanical name is Nardostachys jatamansi, and it has a strong, musky odor like Valerian root.   For this reason, Jatamansi is also called Indian Valerian.

Like Valerian root, Indian Spikenard, or Jatamansi, with its strong musky odor, can be used as a fixative, or aromatic fixer and amplifier, in combination with other warming, sweet and pungent aromatic herbs like Cinnamon and Cardamom.  And, also like Valerian, Jatamansi, or Indian Spikenard, is a relaxing sedative that can soothe and ease muscular tension, aches and pains when it is applied topically in the form of a medicated oil.

But perhaps the most eggregious case of misunderstanding and confused identity concerning herbs and foods in the Bible involves John the Baptist, and what he ate while he was praying, fasting and baptizing others in the desert wilderness by the Jordan river.  Most Christian preachers erroneously assume that he lived on a diet of locusts and wild honey.

But herbalists know better; what John the Baptist actually ate was Carob, or the fruit of the Honey Locust tree.  The pods of the Carob tree are commonly made into candies and chocolate substitutes which are sold in health food stores.

The botanical term Locust refers to all trees of the bean or Legume family that bear large pods.  And Carob, or Ceratonia siliqua, being the sweetest of these Locust trees, is called the Honey Locust.  Because it is what John the Baptist ate in the wilderness, Carob is also called Saint John’s Bread.  Carob is also a native or indigenous plant of the Mediterranean and the Holy Land.

If you’ve been accustomed to thinking of John the Baptist as eating a diet of locusts and wild honey, please consider the following arguments and evidence in favor of Carob:

There is a common food additive, an emulsifier called Locust Bean Gum.  These beans are not from insect locusts, but rather, are from the beans contained within the pods of certain Locust trees.

John the Baptist spent most of his time in the Jordan wilderness praying, fasting and baptizing others.  If he had really eaten a diet of locusts and wild honey, he would have had to spend all his time poking around in beehives, fending off angry bees, and chasing around after locusts; no time would have remained for his spiritual pursuits.

A diet of locusts and wild honey would have been an extremely unhealthy and unbalanced one, deficient in many essential nutrients.  The concentrated protein of locusts, combined with the concentrated sugars of honey, with both of them severely or totally deficient in dietary fiber, would lead to severe putrefaction in the gut, and a whole host of intestinal problems.

Carob, on the other hand, is a remarkably whole and complete food.  It is rich in calcium, protein, complex carbohydrates, riboflavin and dietary fiber.  The raw Carob pods are quite rough and fibrous, being the internal counterpart of the rough camel hair shirts that John the Baptist wore as part of his coarse, ascetic lifestyle.

In the Holy Land, Carob is used as both food and medicine by the Palestinians.  Mix powdered Carob with Sesame Tahini and you get a delicious Halvah.  Also, a syrup or molasses is distilled from Kharoub, or the Carob pod, that is an excellent bowel tonic for those suffering from chronic constipation; it also soothes the throat and clears the voice.

Filed in Herbs | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)