Moral/Spiritual Lessons From Fruit

[Guest guest]

B " H

 

I'd like to share a number of teachings that come from mystical

Judaism that relate to fruit and a by-product of fruit, namely wine.

It is not my intention to foist my beliefs on you. It is my intention

to share what I mean by food being physical representations, symbols

if you will, of deep truths with you by using the teaching and the

imagery I am most familiar with. When I use the word " substrate " in

the title of my group The Moral/Spiritual Substrate of Eating

(to which you are all invited) it is to those profound, unseen

moral/spiritual truths that I refer. It should be needless to say

that I'd like you to share the benefit of the richness of your

traditions as well.

 

Years ago it was explained to me, in the form of a parable, that God

intended that the trees in The Garden should be fruit trees, not

fruit bearing trees. The Rabbis who taught me this went so far as to

tell me that the entire tree was intended to be edible, in fact the

tree and the fruit were to be one and the same. The earth did not

respond to God's command and instead of producing fruit trees, the

earth produced fruit-bearing trees.

 

The above teaching confounded me. I know and trust the wisdom of the

Jewish tradition enough to know that if something sounds childishly

simplistic to me it is I who does not understand and the deceptive

simplicity is no reason to dismiss the teaching out-of-hand. " Fruit

trees and not fruit-bearing trees? " , I wondered for years. " Whatever

does that mean? What does it really mean? " " The earth was able to

do other than what God had commanded?! " That was even more confusing

to me than the business with the trees.

 

A goodly number of years went by before I picked up a little book and

in it was the explanation of the proverb. The author of the book

will forgive me. We are supposed to name those from whom we have

received a teaching, but I was so excited by having finally

understood the proverb that I neglected to note the Rav's name. He

explained that God intended a world in which cause and effect would

be one. God intended no delay or dichotomy because cause and

effect. They were intended to be one. The fruit tree, then,

represents a world of cause and effect that are simultaneous and

identical. The world of cause and effect as we know it is represented

by the fruit-bearing trees.

 

The " earth " , it transpires, is the human mind – the paradigmatic

fertile field. (I shoulda known that. Guess I was too close to the

forest to see the trees.) It was our minds that are not responding

to God's call. This is an effect of the free will be are given. We

can choose to ignore God, or to misunderstand. However, God's will

is for us to live in a world in which cause and effect are

simultaneous and identical, if and only if those fruits are morally

and spiritually sweet. We are not intended to live in a world of

hardship. The fact that we do is our own will, not God's.

 

We Jews celebrate a holiday known as Tu B'Shvat. I won't go into

details here. Suffice it to say that it is the New Year for Trees

(we have four new years every year – any excuse to party). We hold a

Seder (step-by-step ceremonial meal) on Tu B'Shvat which is both like

and unlike the seder we conduct on Passover. The following about

fruit and wine is learned from that Kabbalistic ritual:

 

The three types of fruits correspond to three types of characters.

Some people are like fruits that are edible inside and inedible on

the outside; they are difficult to get to know, but you are rewarded

when you peel away the top layer.

Other people are like fruits that are edible on the outside, but have

an inedible pit; you meet them quickly, but you will never know them

completely.

Then there are those fruits that are edible inside and out, like the

people with whom you form quick and lasting friendships.

We do not discard fruits because of an inedible peel or pit;

likewise, all kinds of people are worth knowing.

 

The fruits that we eat on Tu B'Shvat also correspond to the different

worlds in Kabbalah. According to the Kabbalah, there are four worlds

or levels of creation: EMANATION, CREATION, FORMATION, and ACTION

(our world of physical reality).

 

The first fruits we eat tonight are fruits with inedible peels, which

symbolize the world of ACTION: pomegranates, almonds, tangerines,

kiwis, walnuts, pistachios, pine nuts, chestnuts, hazelnuts, peanuts,

grapefruits, coconuts, and oranges.

 

We now take fruits from the second category. These fruits are edible

on the outside, but have inedible pits, symbolizing the Kabbalistic

world of FORMATION: olives, dates, peaches, persimmons, avocados,

apricots, loquats, plums, cherries, and mangos.

 

Now we take the fruit form the third category, those fruits that are

completely edible, symbolizing the Kabbalistic world of CREATION:

grapes, figs, carobs, citrons, apples, strawberries, lemons,

raspberries, and pears. The Torah may be compared to the fruits in

this category. Every part of these fruits is good to eat.

 

The fourth Kabbalistic world of EMANATION is purely spiritual and

cannot be symbolized in any concrete way; therefore it cannot be

represented by physical food. The world of Emanation relates to God's

love, mercy, wisdom and other essential and omnipresent realities

that people perceive with their hearts rather than their five senses.

 

During the Tu B'shvat seder we use white wine and red wine. The white

wine symbolizes the dormancy that there is during the winter months.

It also symbolizes the realm of the spirit. The red wine symbolizes

the earth and the fertility of life. There are four parts to the

seder. The first cup of wine is with the white wine and we take a

drink and say a blessing. A little while later, we move to this other

realm where we put a little bit of the red wine in the white wine to

acknowledge another level of existence and the introduction of the

earthly in combination with the with the spiritual. The third cup of

wine is more a balance between the spiritual and the physical. And

finally, the final cup of wine is entirely red; it's really

representative of our connection with the earth and the hope and the

prayer that the Spring will be productive and that the trees will

bear their fruits and the earth will offer what it offers.

 

The above post is, perforce, perfunctory and abbreviated. I edited

out as much of the specifically Jewish content as I could, leaving

what seems to me to be the most universal symbolism, because I posted

it on general vegetarian groups. As Jews you may wish to search

Tu B'Shvat+fruits and Tu B'Shvat+wine and get more information.

 

The fact that the juice of the fruits that have the hardest shells

(nuts) is actually oil, and not juice at all, has entertained my mind

for some time. Oil gives us the richest source of energy and can be

burned – this burning produces light and heat. Oil is a salve and a

preservative. All of the nuts give us oil. Oil can be extracted, of

course, from olives and in Roman times a very expensive oil was

extracted from the pit of a fruit we think is apricot. The

relationship of juice and oil in fruits makes me wonder at the

phenomenon. I am quite sure there are worthwhile moral/spiritual

lessons to be learned from that phenomenon.

 

When we eat and drink mindfully, noticing the physical phenomena that

characterize food and drink as well as our reactions to food and

drink, we can gain entry into subtler, more delicate worlds - the

levels from which our world is being emanated.

 

Hope you had a wonderful Purim. We sure did.

 

Doreen

[Guest guest]

Thank you for this post. I found it very interesting because of resonance that

I have been experiencing along the lines that you have described.

 

Diane

 

 

 

 

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