tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2556022894010597695.post6530008385199781591..comments2023-05-16T07:25:05.645-04:00Comments on Sefer Ha-Bloggadah: 1:2:90-93: Many Fruits, One TreeBZhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18242965196421853025noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2556022894010597695.post-34627361375523933472008-09-10T16:37:00.000-04:002008-09-10T16:37:00.000-04:00"the etrog is known in our tradition as one of the..."the etrog is known in our tradition as one of the most beautiful and useful fruits, a plant with sweet smell, sweet taste, and evidently even edible wood."<BR/><BR/>Clearly the reality is that while still beautiful and sweet-smelling, the modern etrog has neither a sweet taste nor is the wood useful or edible. Perhaps the character of the etrog changed since it played the role of the forbidden fruit? Perhaps the etrog we have today is not the etrog suggested in the Torah as etz pri hadar, the fruit of the goodly tree.<BR/><BR/>As one who has for several years tried to get some use out of post-Sukkot etrogim, the effort applied to etrog-flavored vodka or etrog marmalade certainly don't suggest why this fruit would have been so tempting.<BR/><BR/>While probably not the apple, a better case might be made for the fig or the date as that most desirable of fruits.<BR/><BR/>A riff on the sense of the midrash, what would it take, (what flavor, what aroma, what culinary use,) to tempt one to flagrantly disobey a direct command of the Deity and eat that particular fruit?<BR/><BR/>It is a challenge all Jews face daily as we decline one "gratification" or another for the sake of mitzvah!Andy Hoffmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14507667190106054766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2556022894010597695.post-13788908345678774552008-09-09T17:47:00.000-04:002008-09-09T17:47:00.000-04:00Thanks for the insightful summary of the midrash. ...Thanks for the insightful summary of the midrash. However, I understand R' Yehoshua b. Levi's claim differently. I think he's concerned not with the feelings of the tree, but with the feelings of the human. If the tree is identified, then forever after, people who see that tree will be reminded of, and will comment about, the sin of Adam and Hava. If the tree is not identified, those occasions will not arise.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com