Early Zionism, the Biblical Landscape, and Ecology 81

are no longer a primary crop, as worldwide competition has shifted. Vines for wine products were a major biblical crop. When Moses sent spies to visit the land and report to the Israelites in the desert, they brought back enormous bunches of grapes. Although superficially wine products may appear as a continuation of biblical agriculture, this resemblance is only superficial. The modern grape and the way in which it is grown, hybridized, and grafted was unknown in biblical times. Yet, in order to compete on the current market, both for taste and eco­nomically, modern agricultural methods must be used. The olive tree, which has not changed as much as other crops through the centuries, continues to be an important plant grown in Israel . However, as the production of olives is very labor intensive, itis not a major commercial crop. The production of flowers, cer­tainly not commercial in biblical times, has become significant. More important advanced techniques, including genetic and allied research, have led Israel to be among the world leaders in exporting high-tech agriculture and plant materials. In the mat­ter of reforestation, a long-term project with few immediate eco­nomic pressures, the settlers chose trees that were suited to a particular purpose, such as eucalyptus species to assist in the draining of swamps or trees that they knew and felt were suit­able for the eroded hills. To the best of my knowledge, little dis­cussion of biblical species was undertaken till quite recently.

Land development was undertaken as possibilities became available. Agricultural zoning as well as the protection of agri­cultural lands from the encroaching urban sprawl represented a much later concern.

In the rabbinic literature of this period many issues of a new Jewish state were discussed, but the one that you have raised was not among them. The chief agricultural problem for the early Orthodox Jewish settlers was the Sabbatical year, a biblical commandment, which later Jewish tradition limited to the Land of Israel. As the vast majority of Jews lived outside the Land of Israel, it had been mute for centuries. Most Jews who lived in the Land of Israel during the Middle Ages or the early modern period were urban, so the issue of the Sabbatical year was not raised again in a practical manner. Theoretical discussions appeared in the halakhic literature or in commentaries on the biblical texts, but without practical ramifications. This changed with the founding of Zionist settlements. The initial settlements