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Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Beshalach Exodus 13:17-17:16
By Shlomo Riskin
Efrat, Israel - This week’s Torah portion, also known as the Sabbath of
Song since it features the song of the Israelites at the Splitting of the
Reed Sea, always falls out very close to the semi-Festival of Tu BeShvat,
known as the New Year for Trees (Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1,1). This fifteenth
day of the Hebrew month of Shvat signals the date when the majority of the
rains have nourished the fields of Israel and when the diligent almond trees
have begun to sprout forth their white and pink flowers; from this
perspective, our optimistic nation already begins to sense spring in the air
even in the midst of winter with the slow awakening of nature portending the
beginning of redemption for which we all yearn. The Biblical reading of the
exodus from Egypt provides a national parallel to the rebirth of nature, and
the song at the Reed Sea finds a sonorous echo in the early songs of the
birds who now are beginning to return to roost.
We generally celebrate Tu BeShvat with a special “seder” in honor of the
festival which features four cups of wine and fruits indigenous to our land
as well as with the planting of fruit trees. Since fruits, and especially
the seven species of wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and
dates for which the Land of Israel is specifically praised (Deut 8: 7-9),
play a major role in these celebrations, it is interesting at this time of
year to explore the religious symbolism of fruits, if indeed fruits contain
a special message at all.
We have already taken note of the fact that our Biblical text poetically
praises the Land of Israel in large measure because of its luscious fruits:
“The Lord your G-d is bringing you to a good land, a land with flowing
streams and underground springs, gushing out in valleys and mountains. It is
a land of wheat, barley, grapes, figs and pomegranates, a land of oil –
olives and honey dates. You must therefore bless the Lord your G-d for the
good land that He has given you” (Deut 8:7-10).
Nevertheless, when Moses prays to enter the Holy and Promised Land at the
end of his life, Rabbi Simlai Comments: “Why did Moses desire to enter the
Land of Israel? Did he find it necessary to eat from its fruit? Did he find
it necessary to be sated with its goodness? Certainly not! But this was
Moses’ desire: There are many commandments, which the Israelites must
perform which can only be fulfilled in the Land of Israel. I wish to enter
the land in order that I may fulfill all of them…” (B.T. Sotah 14a). Our
Talmudic Sage seems to be denigrating the idea that our desire for Israel be
predicated upon the luscious quality of its fruit; it can only be predicated
upon the special commandments and unique service of the Divine, which is
only possible in Israel.
This is likewise the opinion of the fourteenth century religio –legal
codifier of Jewish law, Rabbenu Yaakov Ba’al HaTurim, who rules that we
are to delete the concluding, underlined words of the blessing which is to
be recited after eating any of the five grains or five species for which
Israel is praised: “Have mercy, Lord our G-d, upon Israel Your nation and
upon Jerusalem Your city… so that we may rejoice in its rebuilding, eat of
its fruit and be sated with its goodness…We thank you for the land and its
fruit…” He argues, “These words are not to be said, for we are not to
desire the land because of the good quality of its fruit but rather because
of the commandments dependent upon the land which we can perform on it” (Tur
Orah Haim Siman 208).
One of the major commentaries on the Tur, Rav Yoel Sirkus (known as the
Bach), strongly disagrees. “Is it not true that it is the very sanctity of
the Land of Israel, which draws its nourishment from the sanctity of the
Divine Presence ‘who dwells in the midst of the land,’ will have an
effect on the fruits which emerge from the land?! … And therefore it is
proper that we include in the blessing ‘so that we may…eat of its fruit
and be sated with its goodness,’ because in the eating of its fruit we
shall be nourished by the sanctity of the Divine Presence and its purity,
and be sated by its goodness.”
I would add only one more point to the unique quality of the Land of Israel
and its fruits. After the flood, G-d makes a clear division between the
behavior of the people and the fertility of the land throughout the world:
“… I will no longer curse the land because of the people because the
nature of the heart of man is evil from his very beginnings…” (Genesis
8:19). The one exception to this rule is the Land of Israel. There is one
view in the Talmud that a significant expression of the uniqueness of the
Land of Israel is that the flood never reached it (B.T. Zevahim 113a). We
recite in the second paragraph of the Shema that the produce of Israel is
dependent upon the morality of its inhabitants, and the Bible iterates and
reiterates that our right to remain on our land – and benefit from its
produce – depends upon our morality and piety. Hence our ability to eat of
the fruit of Israel is a direct result of our worthiness – and so our
desire to eat the fruit of Israel is tantamount to our desire to be true
children of G-d. Herein lies the true message of Tu B’Shvat – our desire
to enjoy the fruits of Israel !
Shabbat Shalom
Shlomo Riskin
Chancellor Ohr Torah Stone
Chief Rabbi - Efrat Israel
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