10 Walter Jacob

and later expanded in the liturgy to include wonder about many phenomena of nature, such as oceans, mountains, deserts, beau­tiful trees or animals, rainbows, thunder, and so on.

The daily prayers also contain sections that express thanks for the natural world. Awe and wonder were expressed in the order of prayers, which was created in this period, but usually in the form of selections from psalms, such as Psalm 19—“The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork...” Psalm 90 with its imagery of nature, as well as Psalm 23. Nature imagery appears everywhere as in Psalm 135, Psalm 93 or sections of the prophetic books. Rain and dew were part of the liturgy in their proper season, while the holiday liturgy continued to emphasize the natural world through the yearly festive cycle, especially the harvest festivals of Pesah , Sukkot , and Shevuot as well as the minor holiday of Tu-besh"vat. A consciousness of the natural world was never far from the aver­age Jew. Yet this consciousness was more connected with the Land of Israel than with the general environment. The Sukkah was decorated with the fruit grown locally, but the important symbols were the lulav and etrog, which represented bonds to the Land of Israel. There was some expansion of thoughts about the natural in midrashim, but even there theyt played a dimin­ished role when compared to the Bible . It seems that neither the farmer nor the citydweller“lifted his eyes to the heaven” any­more. We do, however, see an interest in beautifying the towns through gardens and parks; these were planted with the trees found in the surrounding forests(Meg. 5b; Taan. 14b). Jerusalem contained a rose garden(B.K. 82b). Orchards were carefully guarded(B.M. 104a; B.B. 12a). Some notion of these plantings has been provided by a midrash which listed figs, pomegranates, and vines as well as lilies(Song Rabbah 2:2). The Greeks and Romans developed a great interest in gardens, as we see from the construction of houses and from the wall paintings and mosaics in Roman villas in every corner of the empire. Excava­tions throughout the Mediterranean, including the lands of the Near East , show some splendid scenes, and the new Jewish interest may reflect their influence. Not everyone appreciated the beauty of nature; voices of concern about trees near towns were raised through rabbinic laws that forbade the planting of any tree within twenty-five yards of a town and excluded sycamore figs(Ficus sycomorus) and carob trees(Ceratonia siliqua )