Dates are put to the test in a randomized, controlled trial for cervical ripening. In the 19th chapter of the Koran, Mary is giving birth to Jesus. I didn’t even know Jesus was in the Koran. The things they don’t teach you in Hebrew school. It says, “And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm tree.”  She cries out, and she is answered by Gabriel, Archangel and, evidently, obstetrician—who knew? Shake the tree, he says, and “it will drop upon you ripe, fresh dates,” and you’ll be all better—no epidural necessary….