Up In the Olive Tree
Illustration © D. Yael Bernhard
This illustration from my picture book The Life of An Olive (Heliotrope Books, 2016) is the image for May 2025 in The Jewish Eye 5785/2025 Calendar of Art. The book opens with a historical timeline that begins in the year 70CE, when the great Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. The Jewish people were scattered, though many remained in the ancient land of Israel. Waves of conquest rose and fell over the centuries. Through it all, the olive tree stands as silent witness to the unfolding of history. Olive trees can live for over a thousand years if pruned and tended. Each spread in the book shows the tree in a different era, from the Roman conquest to Byzantine times, through the Middle Ages and beyond. In this illustration, the tree is almost 2000 years old, and has split into several gnarled and pitted trunks – but it still bears fruit.
It’s springtime in the Galilee – May 15, 1948, to be precise, a landmark day in Israel’s history. This is the day when British troops left Palestine, and the land known as Eretz Yisrael became a nation for the second time in the lifespan of the olive tree. Up in the tree, a boy watches the convoy of trucks rumble away over the scrubby hills, while a soldier of the Haganah – the underground army of the fledgling Jewish state that eventually became the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) – also watches from a jeep. On this very same day, the Arab-Israeli War, also known as the War of Independence, began – a bloody war that lasted for fifteen months, ending with an armistice and the new independent nation of Israel. It wasn’t the first time Israel was attacked, and it wouldn’t be the last.
I wrote The Life of an Olive for readers age 8 and up. It is beyond the scope of the book to enter into the complexities and controversies of Israel’s history. My objective was to give young readers a glimpse of the long span of history, with a snapshot of each era showing both the changes and consistencies that marked the passage of time. I also wanted children to imagine what it would feel like to climb up an ancient olive tree and sit in its dappled shade. These trees are like magnificent living sculptures – a world of wonder, for a child.
The Jewish people and their nomadic Israelite predecessors have lived in that ancient land for millennia, with wave after wave of other tribes coming and going, rising and falling, from Philistines (after whom Palestine was named by the Greeks and Romans) to Babylonians, from Assyrians and Mamelukes to Arab and Christian crusaders. Through it all, olive trees and humans have been intertwined and interdependent. To this day, the people of Israel – whether Jewish, Arab, Christian, Bedouin, or Druze – all love olives and olive trees. Palestinian, Lebanese, and Israeli cuisine revolve around this ubiquitous fruit and its singularly nutritious oil. It was a fascinating subject to research, write about, and illustrate. Of the 40+ children’s books I’ve published, this one was closest to my heart.
To research this book, I traveled to Israel four times, participated in the olive harvest, and visited a community olive press, where olive growers whose leaders are probably fighting each other today peacefully discussed harvesting techniques and recipes for pickling and pressing olives. That’s Israel – a land of paradox, and a place of nearly unfathomable richness and complexity. To understand Israel, you really have to go there. The Life of an Olive is only a simple introduction, as seen from the perspective of a very old tree that is as deeply rooted in the land as the Jewish people.
The book also introduces readers to wildlife of the region. Hovering in the sky is a bee eater, a colorful bird that’s particularly active in spring. These fast and fearless birds specialize in catching winged insects in flight, including wasps and bees that are busy pollinating flowers.
The Middle East is a land bridge between three continents, and provides a stopping ground for millions of migrating birds each year. Not far from this olive tree is the Hula Nature Reserve, a renowned bird sanctuary in northern Israel. I enjoyed learning about hoopoes and mongooses, antelopes and other animals of the region that are new to me – many of which I saw firsthand at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo. One species I did not get to see, however, is the Syrian brown bear, which is now extinct. It is illustrated on the page that shows the second century CE.
The Jewish Eye 5785/2025 Calendar of Art is available in my webstore, on Amazon, or if you’re local, directly from me. All the images may be viewed in my webstore. A signed copy of The Life of An Olive is also available in my webstore.
The original illustration of Up In the Olive Tree is for sale. It’s an acrylic painting on watercolor paper, roughly 16” wide, with added texture in colored pencils. Please inquire for more information if you’re interested.
A good week to all!
D. Yael Bernhard
https://dyaelbernhard.com
Have you seen my other Substack, The Art of Health? In addition to being a visual artist, I’m also a certified integrative health & nutrition coach with a lifelong passion for natural food cooking and herbal medicine. Now in its second year, this illustrated newsletter explores cutting-edge concepts of nutrition. I strive to make relevant information clear and accessible, and to anchor essential health concepts in unique images. Check it out, and if you like it, please subscribe and help spread the word. Your support keeps my work going!