| Abstract | In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Israel Studies 1.1 (1996) 60-99 [Figures] Introduction: On Trees and Memories THE ADMIRATION OF TREES AS symbolizing the beauty, purity, and magnitude of nature is a familiar theme in Romantic literature. In the emergent Hebrew culture of the pre-state Jewish society in Palestine, trees carried an even greater symbolic value: they became an icon of national revival, symbolizing the Zionist success in "striking roots" in the ancient homeland. Children were often named after trees and children's literature described young trees as children. The depiction of the Jewish nation as a tree provided a powerful visual representation of historical processes that were at the core of Zionist consciousness. The image of a chopped tree with a new branch sprouting from its side (photo 1) was used as the emblem of La-No'ar, a highly popular book series for young adults: the chopped tree symbolized the curtailed Jewish national life during centuries of life in exile, while the new branch represented the beginning of national renewal, a symbolic analogue to the Hebrew youth themselves. This tree image was later modified in a poster issued by the Zionist Federation (photo 2) , reversing the relation between death and renewal. The poster shows a tall tree with an abundance of green leaves, and only one dead branch is sticking out on its side. The statement inscribed below this transformed image reinforces its message: "Branches of our people are chopped down and fall off, but the tree is alive and well. Give your hand to our national renewal. Be a member of the Zionist Federation." For the Zionist settlers, trees were more than a visual or a literary metaphor. The act of planting a tree was seen as a necessary ritual of connecting to the land. "The tree is the lifeline of nature, of mother-earth . . .," writes a Zionist forester. "Those who have never planted a tree cannot [Begin Page 62] feel the earth, and therefore will never know what homeland means." The Jewish National Fund [JNF], the Zionist agency entrusted with the mission of purchasing land and promoting the Jewish settlement of Palestine, regarded tree planting as a sacred activity that would lead to the "redemption of the land" [ge'ulat ha'aretz]. Hebrew educational institutions supported the JNF agenda and socialized children to give weekly donations to the JNF blue box, teaching them (in the words of a famous Hebrew song) that every penny counts and contributes to the redemption of the land. The annual festival of Tu Bishvat provided an excellent temporal locus for teaching about trees and the JNF's mission of afforestation. Tree-planting emerged as a central patriotic ritual of this holiday within the secular national Hebrew culture. In many frontier cultures, the colonization of wilderness implies deforestation. But for the Zionist settlers, planting trees was a means of reintroducing nature—like the Hebrew nation—into its native landscape. Zionist memory portrayed the land as covered with forests during antiquity and as turned into a "wasteland" [shemama] or a "desert" [midbar] during centuries of Jewish exile. The "redemption of the land" was thus seen by the Jews who returned to the land of their forefathers as its liberation from a state of desolation. Afforestation became an important colonizing tool supporting Zionist memory as well as Zionist ideology of developing the land and settling in it. Cultural symbolism and practical considerations contributed also to the emergence of another important function of forests as living memorials for the dead. The naming of a forest after an individual person or a group clearly draws on the importance of memory and the commemoration of the dead in Jewish tradition. But this custom is also an effective tool for promoting the JNF's fundraising campaign for its afforestation efforts. As monuments, the forests establish a symbolic continuity between the past and the future and accentuate the particular national bent of Zionist collective memory. Named after major historical figures, forests have become landmarks of Zionist historiography. Moreover, the establishment of forests as living memorials for soldiers who died during Israel's wars, or for communities of Jews who perished in the Holocaust, demonstrates the tendency to represent their deaths within the...
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