Dead-on Facts

*The Dead Sea is the lowest point on Earth, located 1,312 feet below sea level.

*The air above the Dead Sea contains 6 to 8 percent more oxygen molecules per cubic meter than sea-level air, helping patients with lung disease breathe easier.

*The Dead Sea contains about ten times more salt than the ocean, making it almost impossible for life forms to survive there. This salt also makes it easy to float without even trying.

A Mother Lode of Marvelous Minerals

The Dead Sea, which is in the Jordan Valley between Israel and Jordan, is actually a lake. Water that flows into it from the Jordan River cannot drain because the Dead Sea is lower than the land around it. Evaporation, therefore, is the water's only exit. As the water evaporates, it leaves behind huge quantities of salt and 21 other minerals- twelve of which are not found in any other body of water.

For more than 2,000 years, people have treasured Dead Sea minerals for their healing properties. For example, potassium energizes the body by regulating the nervous system's electrical process; calcium increases blood circulation by strengthening cell membranes; magnesium, which is essential for cell metabolism, calms the nervous system; and bromide lowers blood pressure. Some people even indulge in Dead Sea mud baths, covering their bodies with the area's mineral-rich mud.

Because the Dead Sea is far below sea level, sunlight must pass through an extra atmospheric layer, weakening the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays and allowing people to sunbathe more safely. These two factors- an abundance of therapeutic minerals and the healing quality of the sun without its dangers- bring relief to people with joint conditions like arthritis and skin diseases like psoriasis.

The ancient historian Josephus wrote that one should praise the Dead Sea, because its salt heals the human body. It looks like he was right!

Living Laboratory
Although Yam Hamelah, the Dead Sea contains so much salt that it is almost impossible for anything to live in it, salt itself has positive meaning in Jewish tradition.

For centuries, Jews have recognized salt as a valuable preservative, a flavoring for food, and a useful remedy. When God made an everlasting covenant with Aaron, God called it brit melah, Bemidbar 18:19, literally “a covenant of salt,” an expression of the permanence of the promise. In ancient Israel, salt was necessary for all offerings to God. Even today, salting meat is an important step in making it kosher. These references make use of salt as a symbol of the everlasting relationship between God and Israel.

The next time you sprinkle salt on your food, think about how you are preserving the eternal nature of your relationship with God.