Just outside the heart of Jerusalem, there grows a newly planted garden with trees that will soon bear figs and olives and pomegranates.
But it’s not the Garden of Eden.
It is the Garden of Friedman.
Herb and Marianne Friedman of Piedmont bought a second home in Israel a few years ago, and recently they commissioned Katherine Greenberg of Lafayette to do the landscaping.
Relying on extensive biblical research as well as her deep knowledge of Mediterranean botany, Greenberg came up with a finished product that Herb Friedman called “quite exceptional and very special.”
Greenberg, a landscape designer by profession, strived to create a garden that would be low maintenance as well as drought tolerant.
After all, the Friedmans can’t tend to it regularly. They live in Jerusalem only two months out of the year, going there primarily to spend time with their son, Rabbi Marc Friedman, and his family.
More important than finding the perfect automatic drip watering system, though, was finding the proper flora to plant in the L-shaped, 750-square-foot garden.
Greenberg and Marianne Friedman worked together to find plants that would blend with the house, a beautiful 1860s-era abode constructed out of Jerusalem stone.
Down an alley and not accessible to cars, it is located close to the King David Hotel in one of the first neighborhoods built outside the walls of the Old City; the property is listed in the historic register.
Greenberg wanted to use plants that are mentioned in the Bible and are characteristic of the region, even though many Israelis (and Americans, too) always seem to want exotic plants in their gardens.
Ironically, several plants native to Israel were among those that Greenberg had the most difficulty in finding at Jerusalem-area nurseries, such as the rockrose.
“It’s a shrub that grows wild in the hills around Jerusalem, but it’s not available, or at least very hard to find,” said the co-chair of the Northern California branch of the Mediterranean Garden Society. “Maybe they think it’s too common.”
Greenberg opted instead for trees mentioned in the Bible, along with an Italian cypress, citrus-scented myrtle, climbing roses, irises and spices such as sage, rosemary and thyme. All are in their infancy right now.
The dominant trees in the garden are a big, shady fig tree, several dwarf pomegranate trees, and two 50-year-old olive trees transplanted from northern Israel.
A major component of the project was the 25 hours of research Greenberg put into it.
She based some of her planting decisions on biblical references such as “For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land…the land of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey” (Deuteronomy 8:8).
“This is by far the most fascinating project I’ve ever worked on,” said Greenberg, who has done about 50 projects in the Bay Area, including the Friedmans’ property in Piedmont about four years ago.
The Israel project also led her to consult with several Bay Area rabbis about the shmittah, one year out of every seven in which observant Jews let the land recuperate by not planting anything new. Existing plants can be watered and harvested but not pruned.
With a shmittah starting after Rosh Hashanah in October, the Friedmans and Greenberg had questions and needed answers.
Do most Israelis observe it? No, only about 5 percent, according to Greenberg. However, with Rabbi Marc Friedman teaching at a yeshiva in Jerusalem, how would it look if his parents were ignoring the shmittah? Not good.
“There was some concern if we should plant the garden this year if it couldn’t be nurtured next year,” said Greenberg, who will teach a “Design with Native Plants” class in the fall at Lake Merritt College in Oakland.
“We had to determine if it could be cared for and watered.”
The Friedmans said they were glad the project got finished in May, because the prospect of staring at dirt over the next year and a half didn’t excite them.
One of the most memorable scenes during the planting occurred when a huge crane was hoisting 50-year-old olive trees onto the property.
“It was hysterical to see that crane in such an old, historic neighborhood,” said Marianne Friedman, a board member of Berkeley’s Judah L. Magnes Museum for more than 20 years.
The Friedmans are longtime members of the East Bay community. Herb was president of the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay in the mid-’80s and before that served as co-chair of the Bay Area Council for Soviet Jewry, now the Bay Area Council for Jewish Rescue and Renewal.
Former members of Reform Temple Isaiah in Lafayette, the Friedmans said the Orthodox blossoming of both their sons inspired them to join Orthodox Congregation Beth Jacob in Oakland eight years ago.
Marianne said the landscaping is “fabulous” and feels quite “biblical.”
“It’s very peaceful and serene,” she said. “We’re basically in downtown Jerusalem, but instead of hearing the noise of the city, we wake up to birds.”