An Update On Methusalah In The Arava For Tu B’shevat

The date palm was one of the best medicinal trees, domesticated over 6,000 years ago. It can be male or female, and the babies are dates. Medicine of the date palm was used for lung disease, colds, heart disease, hair growth and other things.

After eight weeks, in March of 2005, one seed successfully germinated and was named Methusalah, the biblical person who was said to have lived 969 years. 

Initially, the first leaves had white spots because of a lack of chlorophyll. At 15 months, the seedling was transferred to a larger pot. After 26 months, the plant showed normal development. Sallon says it is in the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest cultivated seed.

In 2011, I was permitted to see a still photograph of Methusalah on the computer when its exact location was being kept a secret. At that time, it was two meters high (about 6 ½ feet) and in a “protected quarantine site,” due to its scientific and financial value. A white flower appeared on the inner part of the tree, indicating that Methusalah was, indeed, male. On November 24, 2011, the tree was planted at Kibbutz Ketura, in the presence of the National President of Hadassah, Marcie Natan, and Lord David Wolfson of England.

In 2017, there was hope for Methusalah to be bred with a  female to produce the same date variety eaten commonly in ancient Judea, where it was valued as much for its delicious flavor as for its medicinal properties. Three years later, Solewey acquired 6 ancient date seeds from archeological sites including “Hannah” from Wadi Makukh. (Wadi Makukh is a winter water channel in the Judean desert surrounded by high cliffs and containing a number of caves which were surveyed from 1986 to 1989. She was part of a group of 7 seeds selected for this study.)  Hannah is 175 years older than Methuselah.

Solewey pollinated Hannah from Methuselah and initially got 111 semi-dry dates as a result, which tasted like honey. In December 2021 she provided an update: “Well, we got 600 beautiful dates from Hannah whose seed was 175 years older than Methuselah’s seed this September. We planted Yehudit, another female on Succoth. We are considering tissue culture. I have two males still in the greenhouse.”