were not established by religious Zionists , so in the early years of the mid nineteenth century this was not a real issue. When it was
raised, there were many considerations not the least of which was simply establishing which was to be the Sabbatical year, because it had not been counted for two thousand years. That was followed by trying to avoid the issue, growing plants hydroponically, etc. As most food used in modern Israel is not grown in the Land of Israel itself, the issue remains mute for most consumers even if they are strictly Orthodox .
The biblical landscape has been recreated in a parklike setting as an educational tool by Neot Kedumim, in a similar way to the Rodef Shalom Biblical Botanical Garden of Pitts burgh . These projects are useful as educational tools for understanding the Bible , but they do not lend themselves as models for practical agriculture.
Even these efforts have faced many problems as the modern descendants of ancient plants are often quite different. Although we know that barley, wheat, emer, and other grains were grown in the biblical period, the modern hybrid versions have changed these crops. In some instances it is possible to breed the plants back to their original form.
The early religious Zionists were idealists who sought to create a viable Jewish existence in the land of the Bible . This, rather than environmental concerns, made up their agenda.