Kinneret Mandel Hy"d
Kinneret Mandel Hy"dArchive

A new strain of wheat developed in Israel has been named for Kinneret Mandel, who was murdered seven years ago at the age of 23. Kinneret, her 21-year-old cousin Matat Adler, and 15-year-old Oz Ben-Meir were slain by Palestinian Authority terrorists as they stood at a hitchhiking stop in Gush Etzion.

Kinneret's father, Itamar Mandel, is in charge of field crops for the Har Hevron regional authority. When he was sitting shiva in mourning for Kinneret, a friend from a seed company came to comfort him. As he looked through family albums he saw a photo of Kinneret standing in the middle of a field of wheat and said to her father: "This girl deserves to have a special strain of wheat named after her."

“Kinneret’s life was cut short and we thought that wheat, one of the symbols of life, would be a very nice memorial for her,” her father said.

The new strain, Kinneret Wheat, grows well in areas with harsh climates. It is suitable for areas that have 100-200 millimeters of rain annually. It will soon be planted in different areas in Israel and the world.