Teachings From Fruit and Wine
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
of far deeper truths with you by using the teaching and the imagery I
am most familiar with. When I use the word "substrate" 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.
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 have
edited out as much of the specifically Jewish content as I could,
leaving what seems to me to be the most universal symbolism.
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.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
posted by Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat @ 1:59 PM
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