We are ephemeral

The flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow dies;
All that we wish to stay
Tempts and then flies.
What is this world’s delight?
Lightning that mocks the night,
Brief even as bright.     

Percy Shelley

Israel has been blessed by an abundance of rain this winter. There has been so much precipitation, the desert hugging the Dead Sea is blooming like never before.

At minus 423 meters below sea level, this is the lowest place on earth. It is also one of the hottest locations in the country and, due to the proximity to the Dead Sea, one of the most saline spots in the world. Yet, despite these oppressive conditions, there are some 600 species of desert plants in Israel.

It seems illogical that this barren wasteland could be home to such a profusion of colorful blossoms. And yet, during the first few weeks of February, the desert blooms. This week, there is a tapestry of pink, mauve, yellow, white and red blossoms carpeting the rugged land. Botanical survivalists.

 

These meadows embrace the Dead Sea shore and cloak the mountain slopes, clutching to every rock and crevice, many flowering only when exact conditions are met. These flowers produce seeds with a hard protein coating that lay dormant underground. The seed shell is designed to protect them from being scraped, drying out and eaten by predators.

Although the seeds are water soluble, it takes quite a bit of precipitation for them to germinate. However, rain water is not the only key; the amount of water that falls and the times of precipitation are pivotal for enticing these seeds to awaken from their dormancy. As a result, many will only come to life after a slumber of many years.

 Once they break through the rocky ground, they have a very short time to flower, pollinate and produce seeds before the heat withers them. For this reason, botanists call these desert plants ‘ephemerals.’

With such a short window to live, these desert flowers must adapt to attract pollinators quickly. The anemone and poppy, for example, have bowl-shaped flowers with red petals and a black patch that looks like beetles are sitting inside. This is targeted advertising to beetles, saying that good food is to be found here. And since the flowers close up in the rain to protect their pollen, beetles have a sweet place of refuge inside during a storm. Cozy and dry tucked into the flower, the beetle is coated with pollen.

The best area to view these flowers area is a short drive from Jerusalem, right down Highway 90. There were so many cars and tour buses parked on the side of the road outside Kibbutz Ovnat, it looked as if crowds were heading to a rock concert.

As we strolled along the path to the meadow, I couldn’t decide which was more touching - seeing the flowers themselves or watching the visitors smiling in the presence of such beauty. 

I saw adult men lying flat on the ground to position a camera lens on a single bloom; elderly men and women walking with canes, thrilled to partake in this splendor; and young couples sitting in the field gazing across the flowers to the turquoise waters of the Dead Sea. 

All felt hushed, serene and sacred as people gently stepped across these vibrant patches of color shimmering in the breeze. 

We were awe-struck, or as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel described it, in a place of radical amazement. The irony is that we best grasp this when we realize how transitory and fragile life really is. For we are all ephemeral.