The palm family comprises some 200 species and some 3,500 kinds of evergreen trees, reaching heights ranging from about 6-20 meters (20-65 ft.). They originated in the hot, humid climate of the tropics. They can also grow in desert areas near water sources or in places where the groundwater is relatively high; the presence of date palms in the desert are a sure sign of an oasis. Date trees, members of the palm family, accompanied our forefathers in their long wanderings through the sands of the Sinai. The tree provided them with food, shade, and raw materials for equipment and tents.When their sojourn in the desert was over and they entered the land of Israel, the date became one of the seven symbolic species ‘with which our land was blessed’. In 12th-century Egypt, the great Jewish scholar/physician known as the Rambam wrote about the plant’s medicinal, curative powers. In the annals of folk medicine, too, the fruit of the date tree is respected for its redemptive qualities.