Vineyard Magazine April 2013

Isaiah 5:7 “for the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the House of Israel”.

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Glimpses of Israel Tzevat (Safed)

Looking south-east from Tzevat over rooftops toward Korazin and Lake Kinneret.

2 A Chronological Carpet of Conquest • 5 Mankind's Approach • 10 Holiness and Honesty 12 Clean and Unclean Animals • 14 Turning Israeli Roofs into Green Habitats Published by David House Fellowship Inc.

The Vineyard April 2013

A Chronological Carpet of Conquest MY DEAR FRIENDS, I want to spread out before you a chronological carpet of conquest twenty-five years long!

It is a time-strip of ancient history packed with purpose and possessed of pattern. I refer to the Book bearing the illustrious name of Moses’ successor, Joshua.

Our fascinated scrutiny will scan with profit the quarter-century from 1451 to 1426 before the Common Era, a period which may be said to have inaugurated the history of Israel as a nation. All prior to Israel’s entry into Canaan had been preparatory to this great event; from the first Passover in Egypt to the defeat of the heathen kings Sihon and Og, the Chosen People were being poised and prepared by God to overthrow heathenism and kindle the beneficent beams of the Kingdom of God on earth.

The Psalmist describes this Divine act in picturesque language: “You did pluck up a vine out of Egypt; You did drive out the nations, and did plant it. You did clear a place before it, and it took deep root, and filled the land.” (Psalm 80:9-10; English tr. 8, 9) In the Hebrew Canon of Scripture the Book of Joshua constitutes the first of four books designated the “Former Prophets,” the other three being Judges, Samuel and Kings. This is an appropriate classification, for their contents are prophetic in character.

Moses has brought the children of Israel TO the Promised Land; Yehoshua (Joshua) is now about to bring them INTO it. To the expectant Israelites the land of Canaan promised tranquillity, treasure, and triumph.

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Tranquillity, for had not God promised through His servant Moses: “And I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid ...”

(Leviticus 26:6) Treasure, for again God had declared: “And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time; and you shall eat your bread until you have enough, and dwell in your land safely.” (Leviticus 26:5, cf.

Exodus 3:8; Deuteronomy 33:28, etc.)

Triumph, because God had assured Israel; “And you shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.”

(Leviticus 26:7, cf. Deuteronomy 7:1, 2) But, my friends, Israel could only possess his possessions through faith in the Divine Promiser. A faith in the Promiser, the quality of which would issue in obedience to the Divine will and instruction. A faith in the Promiser, the quality of which would extend, if necessary, beyond the limitations imposed by mere human reason or logic. Such a faith was really neither unreasonable nor illogical because it reasonably and logically reposed in the Person and promises of the Promiser, the Eternal God of Israel.

Contrast the Book of Yehoshua (Joshua) with, for instance, Bemidbar (the Book of Moses known as Numbers): “BEMIDBAR testifies to the UNFRUITFULNESS OF UNBELIEF. “YEHOSHUA testifies to the FRUITFULNESS OF FAITH.

“BEMIDBAR recounts FRUSTRATION, FAILURE, FUTILITY.

the entire contents of the Book of Joshua by itemizing those contents section by section.

“YEHOSHUA recounts AIM, ACTION, ACHIEVEMENT.”

Because I believe you will want to catch the train of thought that will bring you to the destination of the spiritual treasures of the Divine record, I will indeed venture upon such an itemization.

Let this abiding principle of FAITH be ever before us as we follow the movements of the Chosen People. Come! Let us first spy out the Book of Joshua even as he first spied out the Promised Land.

Our chronological carpet of conquest is twenty-four chapters in length covering, as I said, a period of twenty-five years. In it we behold three major patterns depicting the children of Israel under Joshua: Penetrating the Province (Chapters 1 to 5) Paralysing the Populace (Chapters 6 to 12) Possessing the Patrimony (Chapters 13 to 24) Have you ever listened with absorbing interest to a friend’s recital of a railroad timetable?

Well, it is not a very interesting or arresting procedure — unless you want to catch the train! What a difference that makes, doesn’t it? Every chronological itemization increases its crescendo of interest until the climax is reached in the announcement of the train you must catch to carry you to your destination.

I assure you I have not digressed from the theme of this message nor do I infer for a moment that Joshua took the children of Israel into the Promised Land by railroad.

All I wanted to do was give you a grasp of

Our first section discloses Israel penetrating the promised province against highly agitated enemies. The five chapters comprising this section reveal: Chapter 1. The Mandate of God Chapter 2. The Mission of the Spies Chapter 3. The Miracle of Jordan Chapter 4. The Memorials in and over Jordan Chapter 5. T he Manifestation of Sar Tzva Adonai We, too, are going to penetrate this province in succeeding messages and we hope it will also be to the agitation of human speculative theories at present strongly entrenched in the promised land of Israel’s spiritual heritage today.

I am confident you will discover beyond doubt that the history of Israel in those days of Canaan conquest is typical of priceless spiritual verities of immediate and immense value to us even in this generation.

The second section, which I have designated “Paralysing the Populace,” extends from

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chapter six through chapter twelve. Here are the headlines, as our news commentators are prone to say: Chapter 6.

Destruction of Jericho

Chapter 7.

Defeat BY Ai Detection of Achan

Chapter 8.

Defeat OF Ai Demonstration on Ebal and Gerizim Chapter 9. Deception by the Gibeonites Chapters 10-12. Defeat of Kings

Detail of 31 Victories Believe me, there are rich and unexpected treasures in every one of these chapters and I do hope you will be there when they are unearthed in these messages.

The last section, which I have entitled “Possessing the Patrimony,” runs from chapter thirteen to the end of the book and may be itemized as follows:

lowest depression in the world, for the Dead Sea is about 1,275 feet (370m) below the sea level of the Mediterranean. Jericho, from our present viewpoint just about eight miles (13km) westward across the River Jordan, usually swelters in tropical heat. Moisture and trees were indeed features to be desired.

But the plain of Shittim was also a place of rare beauty. Eastward, the mountains of Moab adorned the horizon with a blue tint the depth and richness of which I have only seen equalled in the Blue Mountains in Australia. Watered by many little streams and rivulets, Abel-Shittim spreads out a carpet of wildflowers dazzling to behold, whilst the perfumed oleanders bend their flower-laden boughs caressingly over the carpeted blooms and birds in abundance blend their songs and brilliant plumage in a scene where, indeed, “every prospect pleases.”

It is from this delightful vantage ground that we will follow Joshua across the Jordan into the Promised Land.

Chapters 13-21.

Distribution of Land and Cities Chapter 22.

Dispute over altar away from Shiloh Chapters 23-24.

Discourses and Death of Yehoshua Having now firmly planted our feet in the Book in necessary preparation for our assimilation of its important contents, let us also plant our feet on the ground where Joshua stood and let us survey the scene as an interesting preparation for our participation in the conquest of Canaan.

We stand in a rich and fertile plain bearing a title filled with allurement and which will yield us no disappointment as we venture into the area it designates. The name Abel-Shittim means “the moist place of acacia trees.” The prospect of moisture and trees will impress itself the more when it is realized that we stand with Joshua not very far away from the

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Dr Lawrence Duff-Forbes (1900-1964) Founding Director of David House Fellowship Inc. This article is an extract from the very popular radio series, “Treasures From Tenach”, which are also transcribed. Both audio (click MP3 tab, then “153ChrononlogicalCarpetConquest.mp3”, and transcriptions are available for free download at www.thevineyard.org.au.

Mankind’s Mankind’s Approach Approach MY FRIENDS, in our systematic progress through the Books of our Hebrew Bible we have reached the third book of Moses, known in English as Leviticus and in Hebrew as Vayikra.

Like the individual precious stones which studded the ephod of Israel’s High Priest so we also discovered the individual precious key-idea which shone from each of the first three books of Torah. Election was the jewel of Genesis, redemption the radiance of Exodus, and communion the cameo of Leviticus.

In Exodus, the mount is God’s dais from which He speaks to bring Israel into union with Himself; in Leviticus the Mishkan.

(Tabernacle) is God’s doorstep from which He speaks to bring Israel into communion with Himself.

The Book of Leviticus, then, amplifies the Book of Exodus and reveals the possibility, the pathway and the provision of this sweet communion with the Godhead. Exodus reveals the people being brought close to God by the blood of substitutionary sacrifice; Leviticus discloses the people being maintained close to God by the same Divinely-ordained means. In Exodus God approaches man; in Leviticus man approaches God. In Exodus God is revealed as Divine

Love; in Leviticus that attribute is retained, but amplified, for God is shewn as Divine Light as well as Divine Love.

And herein lies the paramount problem. Let me introduce this problem to your notice by making employment of some lines of the English poet, Thomas Gray, (1716-1771) in his “Progress of Poesy”: “He passed the flaming bounds of space and time, The living throne, the sapphire blaze, Where angels tremble while they gaze, He saw; but blasted with excess of light, Closed his eyes in endless night.”

Those last lines are powerful, are they not?

Think of it! “Blasted with excess of light.” Think on these words for a moment, because they are fitting introduction to the problem of communion between God and man.

The revealed CHARACTER and ACTIVITY of God disclose that He strongly desires intimate, unclouded and sustained communion and fellowship with His crowning creation, Man; and that, of course, for Man’s own good, for God is Love and wishes Man’s maximum welfare.

But the revealed CHARACTER and ACTIVITY of Man disclose an OBSTRUCTION in that path to communion with the Godhead. Here, then,

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Mankind’s Approach

is the great value of Vayikra (Leviticus) for it reveals how the Eternal:

1. mercilessly SPOTLIGHTS that obstruction to communion; and then 1. mercifully SURMOUNTS that obstruction to communion.

Before we enquire into the nature of that obstruction to intimate, unclouded and sustained communion between God and Man let us obtain an important clue to this question by a purely mechanical process.

Leviticus is the shortest book in Chumash — the five books of Moses; yet the Hebrew word usually denoting “HOLINESS” in the English dominates its vocabulary of principal words. I have personally counted over 150 occurrences of the Hebrew word conveying the thought “HOLY”; indeed, that Hebrew word is employed more frequently in the 859 verses of the 27 chapters of Vayikra than in ANY OTHER SINGLE BOOK OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. That is an enlightening discovery, isn’t it?

There is one verse in Vayikra which goes to the very centre of the problem. Let me quote it for you: :‫קדשים תהיו כי קדוש אני יהוה אלהיכם‬ “Ye shall be holy; for I the Eternal your Gods am holy.”

I have repeated part of the second verse of the nineteenth chapter, also drawing attention to the plurality of the noun ‫ — אלהיכם‬strictly, “Gods,” for, as Rashi says: “The noun Elohim is a noun plural in form, and when it denotes God, it is followed by a verb in the singular.”

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This is a good place to do a little of that “recapturing” to which I referred in my opening remarks. We need to recapture the Biblical meaning of the word translated “holy.”

The third use of the root ‫ קדש‬provides further confirmation of its basic meaning. We find it at Exodus chapter 3, verse 5, where Moses is confronted with the phenomenon of the burning bush and God reminds him:

The Hebrew root is ‫ קדש‬and its first use in Scripture is found in Genesis, chapter 2, verse 3:

‫כי המקום אשר אתה עומד עליו‬ :‫אדמת־קדש הוא‬

‫ויברך אלהים את־יום השביעי ויקדש אתו‬ “And God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it . . . ” Here, the English word “hallowed” is employed in translation.

Now, a day is an impersonal period of time and obviously possesses no personal attributes of moral or spiritual quality in itself. Hence, here the word “hallowed” derived from the Hebrew ‫ קדש‬correctly conveys the idea of distinction or separateness from other days.

The second use of the Hebrew root is going to surprise you, but remember, it is part of our “recapturing.” You will find it in the 38th chapter of Genesis, and in the 21st and 22nd verses, in the faithful record of the patriarch Judah and his lapse from moral rectitude with one whom he thought to be a professional prostitute. In seeking her again, Judah asks: ‫איה הקדשה‬ “Where is the harlot . . . ?”

A little thought will indicate that the root meaning is again the same as its first use.

The seventh day was separated, set-apart, devoted, dedicated, to a hallowed association.

The harlot was separated, set-apart, devoted, dedicated, to an unhallowed association.

“ . . . for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

That is, ground separated, set-apart, devoted, dedicated, to a sacred meeting place between God and Moses.

Now we are in a better position to grasp the basic import of the key-verse in chapter nineteen: “Ye shall by holy; for I the Eternal your Gods am holy.”

The Eternal God is to be understood as a Being Whose pre-eminence, power, attributes, nature, disposition and qualities are such that He is completely separate from, setapart from, the base and unworthy “gods” of heathen paganism. He is to be revered for what He truly is — the one true God of the Universe — and thus His position, His status is unique.

Israel, then, as His chosen instrument was to be similarly unique. Separated from the outlook, worship and practices of the pagan nations; set apart for God’s Divine service, devoted to His Person, and dedicated to the welfare of His interests.

Without doubt this one verse, Leviticus 19:2, goes to the crux of the situation, for it reveals the lofty character of God as Light, the loving call of God as Love and, as we shall see in

my next message, it exposes the IDENTITY of the obstruction to unclouded communion between God and Mankind in general.

This, in turn, unveils to our spiritual understanding the PROBLEM confronting God when, in Divine LOVE He seeks a way to surmount that obstruction righteously and justly, for God is also LIGHT and light spells death to darkness.

We need not turn to theology to elucidate this problem; human experience is fully adequate for the purpose — God is essentially ALL-HOLY and Man is not. That statement does not solely rise from revelation; Man’s part in it exudes from human experience like pus from a festering, ugly wound!

God is Light and if Man in his unholy state approaches the Holy One, Blessed be He, we could well remind ourselves of Gray’s lines: “He saw; but blasted with excess of light, Closed his eyes in endless night.”

Dr Lawrence Duff-Forbes (1900-1964) Founding Director of David House Fellowship Inc. This article is an extract from the very popular radio series, “Treasures From Tenach”, which are also transcribed. Both audio (click MP3 tab, then “074MankindsApproach.mp3”, and transcriptions are available for free download at www.thevineyard.org.au .

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glimpses of ISRAEL glimpses of ISRAEL glimpses of ISRAEL glimpses of ISRAEL

Tzevat Safed

Background photo: Tzevat Inset clockwise from left: the battle for Tzevat remembered; the Davidka mortar monument; the Pillbox with bullet-holes

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HOLINESS and HONESTY Thought:

Commentary:

What does a holy person look like? Do you picture a priest or a nun? Maybe a preacher? Perhaps you imagine a Chassidic Jew with a full beard, side locks and black hat. Leviticus 19-20 contains the Bible’s description of what holiness looks like. The passage begins with the words, “Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy’” (Leviticus 19:2).

One of the laws of holiness states, “You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another” (Leviticus 19:11).

Have you ever been ripped off by a religious person? It’s not surprising when we are cheated by people of the world. But it is disconcerting when a professing Christian or an observant Jew deceives or financially abuses us. We expect more from the religious person than a secular person. We assume that a religious person will conduct his affairs in concert with his moral values. That makes the religious person different from the secular person. That’s what being holy is all about.

The Torah says that when a religious person conducts himself without integrity, he profanes the name of God. The word profane is the opposite of the word holy. Holy means “set apart.” Profane means “common and ordinary.” When a religious person conducts himself no differently than the common, ordinary people around him, he makes God look common and ordinary too. He damages God’s reputation. An unbeliever who steals, deceives, lies, perjures and swindles is unremarkable, but when a believer acts that way, he disgraces the faith and gives opportunity for unbelievers to say, “You see? He is just like us. I knew there was no substance to his God or his religion.”

The sages understood the commandment, “You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him” (Leviticus 19:13) to be a prohibition against dishonest business transactions. As disciples of Yeshua obedient to God’s Torah, we need to strive for scrupulous honesty, especially in matters of business.

Middot U’Mitzvot (Character and Deeds)

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Grudges and Vengeance “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD.” (Leviticus 19:18) Revenge is a privilege not bequeathed to the people of God. When someone wrongs us, we are not allowed to return evil with evil. This places us at a distinct disadvantage by the world’s standards. What are we supposed to do when we are wronged? The Apostle Paul teaches that we are to overcome evil with good. We must return insults with kindness, curses with blessings. Paul says, “Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. ... If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men” (Romans 12:17-18). This sounds like a recipe for injustice. It invites people to abuse us and take advantage of us. But Paul does not exclude vengeance and justice; he simply instructs us not to take it into our hands. If there is to be some sort of retribution, let it come from God. He says, “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God” (Romans 12:19).

This can be compared to two children fighting in the sandbox. The first child throws sand in the second child’s face. The second child could return the gesture by throwing sand back, or he could wait for Mom to intervene.

If he throws sand back, he has stooped to his sibling’s level and loses the moral high ground. Both children are now sand-throwers; neither is better than the other. Moreover, both are liable for punishment. If the second child waits for justice to proceed from his mother, though, he retains the moral high ground and goes unpunished. His sibling will receive discipline that is probably more severe

than the sand-in-the-face action. This is the approach Paul recommends.

If someone says something nasty about you, and you hear about it and respond by saying something nasty in return, you and the other person are both in the wrong. A better option is to take the moral high ground and leave the matter with the Almighty, who judges the universe in fairness. That is the path of real faith. When we take matters into our own hands, we betray a lack of faith. We feel we need to avenge ourselves because we don’t trust God to work out the situation.

Paul does recommend a backward type of revenge. He says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21). We are overcome by evil when we return it. When we repay evil with evil, we become evil. Paul recommends repaying evil with good, and he quotes a proverb to demonstrate the efficacy of this approach: “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.”

(Proverbs 25:21-22) Courtesy First Fruits of Zion www.ffoz.org Kedoshim - ‫קדשים‬: “Holy” Torah : Leviticus 19:1-20:27 Haftarah : Amos 9:7-15 Gospel : Luke 16-17 FFOZ e-Drash Archives: Holy. The Hebrew word “drash” means “searched out.” FFOZ’s e-Drash is based on the popular Torah Study Program, Torah Club. For an introduction to Torah Club visit www.torahclub.org

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CLEAN and UNCLEAN ANIMALS Thought:

Commentary:

If we obey God only when it makes good sense to us or when we happen to have a similar inclination, that is not really obedience. This can be compared to a child whose father insisted on an eight o’clock bedtime. On the first night, the child felt drowsy around seven thirty, so he obeyed his father. “How wise my father is to send me to bed at eight,” the child thought.

The next night, though, he did not feel tired. He could think of no rational reason for going to bed so early. The eight o’clock bedtime mandate seemed arbitrary and unnecessary, so he chose to ignore it. It is not obedience if we only obey when it suits us to do so.

“For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. And you shall not make yourselves unclean with any of the swarming things that swarm on the earth.” (Leviticus 11:44)

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Why does God say that some animals are clean (ritually fit) while others are unclean (ritually unfit)? Many books have been written discussing this subject, and various commentators have struggled to find a common rationale. One popular theory is that the permitted types of animals are better for our bodies. The unfit animals tend to be scavengers, and perhaps their meats carry more toxins and other harmful elements.

A growing body of scientific evidence seems to lend support to that notion.1 Surely God, in His wisdom, knew what foods would be good for His people and what foods would be harmful for them. But there is more to it than simply good health. The kosher laws are not God’s version of a health food diet.

The laws of what is clean and what is unclean have to do with being able to participate in the Tabernacle worship system. Things that make a person ritually unfit include death, leprosy, mildew and human mortality.

Some of the animals designated as “unfit” are predators or scavengers that feed on carrion. Some of them carry associations with ritual contamination. Perhaps the Almighty designated some animals as unfit because of their associations with ritual uncleanness. God desires His people to be a kingdom of priests, and that requires implementing ritual concern in daily life.

These are just guesses, though. We really do not know the reason some animals are called fit and others are not. The rabbis explain that the kosher laws belong to a category of commandment that has no rational explanation (chukim, ‫)חקים‬. Asking why a buffalo is kosher while a giant sloth is not kosher is like asking why the Sabbath is on the seventh day of the week and not the first day of the week or why the sun rises in the east instead of the west. Some things we have to accept simply because God says so.

Who are we to question God? He decided that certain creatures are not food for His people Israel. That is completely within His prerogative.

Though we may not be able to deduce why God designated some animals as clean and others as unclean, we do know why He imposed the dietary laws on His people Israel. The Torah tells us that it is a matter of holiness: “You shall not make yourselves unclean with them so that you become unclean.

For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. And you shall not make yourselves unclean with any of the swarming things that swarm on the earth. For I am the LORD who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; thus you shall be holy, for I am holy.” (Leviticus 11:43-45) God gave Israel the dietary laws to make them holy. Remember, the word holy does not refer to a moral/ethical quality. It means to be set apart. Israel is supposed to demonstrate to the world that it is a nation set apart for the LORD. One of the ways

that the people of Israel are to do that is by maintaining a distinctive diet that, on some levels, keeps them separate from others.

The distinctive requirements of the kosher diet have forced the Jewish people to cluster together in communities while limiting their potential interactions with other communities.

Some people regard the thought of eating an unclean animal as revolting. Personal taste preferences and appetites are the wrong reasons for avoiding unfit foods.

Likewise, health reasons alone are not a good motivation for keeping kosher. A famous rabbi from the days just after the time of the apostles taught that a person should not say, “I think pork is disgusting.” Instead he should say, “I would certainly eat it, but My Father in heaven has forbidden me to eat of it, so I will not.” 2 Courtesy First Fruits of Zion www.ffoz.org Shemini - ‫ שמיני‬: “Eighth” Torah : Leviticus 9:1-11:47 Haftarah : 2 Samuel 6:1-7:17 Gospel : Mark 9:1-13 FFOZ e-Drash Archives: Eighth. The Hebrew word “drash” means “searched out.” FFOZ’s e-Drash is based on the popular Torah Study Program, Torah Club. For an introduction to Torah Club visit www.torahclub.org Endnotes 1. For example, Hope Egan’s Holy Cow! Does God Care About What We Eat? (Marshfield, MO: First Fruits of Zion, 2005).

2. Rabbi Elezar ben Azaryah in Yalkut Shimoni Kedoshim 626.

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TURNING ISRAELI ROOFS INTO GREEN HABITATS The new Green Roofs Ecology Center in Haifa is the first of its kind in the Middle East and one of the first globally to focus on biodiversity.

in the Middle East and one of the first worldwide to focus specifically on how to conserve biodiversity in an urban setting.

Anybody can plunk down some potted trees and pretty planters on a roof, but a rooftop garden does not offer the same environmental and ecological benefits as a “green roof” — a layer of low-maintenance vegetation that insulates the building underneath and reduces flash flooding on paved streets below by acting as a sponge for rainfall.

Ecology researchers around the world will be watching as the Israelis monitor how well each of the modules thrives and attracts insects, birds and other fauna, in the hope of determining the most successful recipe for developing biodiverse green roofs in arid climates.

Prof. Leon Blaustein, director of the University of Haifa’s new Green Roofs Ecology Center, says the Israeli center is the first of its kind

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“When you create a city, you’re destroying much of the natural habitat for plants and animals, and we want to mitigate this as much as possible with our rooftop habitats,” Blaustein tells ISRAEL21c.

Blaustein and his team have installed 48 experimental modules on top of the university’s Student Union, each with a different growing material, drainage configuration and plant grouping.

Eventually, they hope to create experimental green roof plots on additional buildings on the campus and around the city of Haifa, as well as other Israeli cities.

Rooftop ‘playground’ for ecologists The Green Roofs Ecology Center will provide an unusual outdoor laboratory for ecology and evolutionary biology researchers from around the world to develop and test ecological theories, says Blaustein, who heads the university’s Community Ecology Laboratory.

“We’re just getting started. We are looking for collaborators outside the university, such as government and NGO officials,” says Blaustein, who has lately been in touch with interested scientists from Switzerland and the United States.

The project got up and running thanks to an overseas donor and input from University of Haifa pollination and plant ecologist Amos Dafni, landscape ecologist Lior Blank, environmental management expert Shay Levy, geography professors Noam Greenbaum and Dan Malkinson, and London green roofs and eco-design expert Gary Grant.

Doctoral candidate Amiel Vasl is in charge of the experiment on the Student Union building, while master’s degree candidate

Ariel Solodar will be testing the feasibility of using “gray water” coming from the building’s sinks to irrigate the plants and purify the water.

Blaustein explains that the growing substrate and foliage on green roofs keep buildings insulated from heat and cold so there is less need to use energy for keeping the interior at a comfortable temperature. And by soaking up rain before it hits the non-absorbent asphalt or concrete below, green roofs can prevent flash flooding in urban environments.

The center was inaugurated in October with the backing of an international advisory board that includes, among others, eco-architect Ayal Ronen from Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem; Rakefet Sinai, an architect affiliated with the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology; and Howard Wenger, California-based president of SunPower and various gardening companies.

Abigail Klein Leichman (December 26, 2012) Courtesy Israel 21C (www.israel21c.org)

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