In the Torah, God promises numerous times that the Land of Israel will be blessed with an abundance of grapes well-suited for winemaking, and in modern times the country has again become the source of many fine vintages. Scientists have recently found evidence that some of these modern grapes are direct descendants of ancient local cultivars. Judy Siegel-Itzkovich writes:

Seeds that provide a genetic link between two modern varieties of red and white grapes cultivated over 1,100 years ago—and apparently were mentioned in two different books of the Bible—have resulted in an “extraordinary and thrilling discovery” by archaeologists at Tel Aviv University (TAU) and the University of Haifa.

“One ancient seed was found to belong to the Syriki variety, still used to make high-quality red wine in Greece and Lebanon. Since winegrapes are usually named after their place of origin, it is quite possible that the name Syriki is derived from Nahal Sorek, an important stream in the Judean Hills. A second seed was identified as related to the Be’er variety of white winegrapes still growing in the sands of Palmachim on the Mediterranean seashore.”

[In recent years, archaeologists found] a large hoard of grape seeds, discovered on the floor of a sealed room at Avdat, [an ancient city in the Negev]. The researchers explain that these seeds have been relatively well-preserved thanks to protection from climatic phenomena such as extreme temperatures, flooding, or dehydration. In the hope of discovering which varieties the seeds might belong to, the researchers prepared to extract their DNA in the paleogenetic lab. . . .

Finally, the two samples of the highest quality, both from around 900 CE, were identified as belonging to specific local varieties that still exist today. . . . For the first time ever, the researchers were able to use the genome of a grape seed to determine the color of the fruit, discovering that it was in fact a white grape—the oldest botanical specimen of a white variety ever identified.

While it is commendable that administrators of several universities finally called upon police to crack down on violent and disruptive anti-Israel protests, the actions they have taken may be insufficient. At Columbia, demonstrators reestablished their encampment on the main quad after it had been cleared by the police, and the university seems reluctant to use force again. The school also decided to hold classes remotely until the end of the semester. Such moves, whatever their merits, do nothing to fix the factors that allowed campuses to become hotbeds of pro-Hamas activism in the first place. The editors of National Review examine how things go to this point:

Since the 10/7 massacre, Columbia’s Jewish students have been forced to endure routine calls for their execution. It shouldn’t have taken the slaughter, rape, and brutalization of Israeli Jews to expose chants like “Globalize the intifada” and “Death to the Zionist state” as calls for violence, but the university refused to intervene on behalf of its besieged students. When an Israeli student was beaten with a stick outside Columbia’s library, it occasioned little soul-searching from faculty. Indeed, it served only as the impetus to establish an “Anti-Semitism Task Force,” which subsequently expressed “serious concerns” about the university’s commitment to enforcing its codes of conduct against anti-Semitic violators.

But little was done. Indeed, as late as last month the school served as host to speakers who praised the 10/7 attacks and even “hijacking airplanes” as “important tactics that the Palestinian resistance have engaged in.”

The school’s lackadaisical approach created a permission structure to menace and harass Jewish students, and that’s what happened. . . . Now is the time finally to do something about this kind of harassment and associated acts of trespass and disorder. Yale did the right thing when police cleared out an encampment [on Monday]. But Columbia remains a daily reminder of what happens when freaks and haters are allowed to impose their will on campus.