Community Magazine October 2019

22 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE לעילוי נשמתם של משה בן עליזה, יצחק הלל בן עליזה, והנרייט לאה בת עליזה, דוד בן גילה, רבקה בת גילה, יהושע בן גילה, משה בן גילה, שרה בת גילה, יעקב בן גילה, ואליאנה בת גילה. ולרפואה שלמה ליוסף בן אהובה מסעודה, שילת אהובה בת עליזה, ודניאל בן עליזה. brought us to the Land of Israel, where He would provide for us ample vegetation – like in Gan Eden – and we would live as Adam and Havah were supposed to live, faithfully obeying Gd’s laws and in return receiving His bountiful blessings. If so, thenwe can gain a clearer understanding of another tragic story told in the Humash – the story of the spies, who were sent to scout the Land of Israel in advance of Beneh Yisrael ’s entry into the land. When we read the story of the spies, it is hard to overlook the unusual emphasis placed on the land’s fruits. Moshe specifically instructed the spies to examine the trees of Eretz Yisrael and to bring back samples of its fruit (Bamidbar 13:20). The Torah takes great pains to tell us of how the spies took some grapes, figs, and pomegranates from the Land of Israel and showed them to the people upon their return to the camp (Bamidbar 13:23,26-27). What is so important about the land’s fruits? Were the fruits going to arouse the people’s excitement? Is this what makes the Land of Israel so special – its grapes, figs, and pomegranates? A remarkable explanation is offered by the work Imreh Yosef . He explains that as the purpose of the nation’s settlement of the Land of Israel is to correct the sin of Adam and Havah, the fruit of the land of Israel is, ideally, to be the way all trees in the world were supposed to have been – with flavor in the bark! As the cause of the sin was the ground’s disobedience – the reversal of the sin’s effects includes the reversal of the ground’s betrayal of Gd, such that the trees are made of tasty bark, as originally intended. This is what Moshe wanted the spies to see, and to show the people – that even the bark of the trees in the Land of Israel had flavor! The Imreh Yosef explains on this basis why the Torah describes the spies as cutting both a zemorah (branch) and a cluster of grapes (Bamidbar 13:23). They brought back not just grapes – but also a branch, a piece of bark, in order to show the people that in Eretz Yisrael , the curse is reversed, the world returns to its initial idyllic condition! Alas, the spies failed. The Torah continues, “ vayisa’uhu ,” which literally means, “they carried it,” or “they lifted it.” But the Imreh Yosef explains that the spies “lifted” themselves, feeling proud and conceited over their status of distinction. And as a result of their arrogance, the Torah continues, “ bamot bishnayim ” (“with a stick, with two”) – the branch and the fruit became “two,” separate and apart. Nothing can ever be achieved through arrogance and conceit. And so, once the spies began priding themselves, the Land of Israel lost its special idyllic quality – and the bark once again lost its flavor. The Etrog With this background, we can return to the celebration of Sukkot and gain deeper insight into the significance of this holiday. The Torah refers to the etrog with the term peri etz hadar – literally, “a beautiful fruit of a tree.” But the Gemara infers from the words “ peri etz ” that the etrog tree has a unique quality – “the flavor of its bark and fruit are the same.” The taste of the etrog can be sensed even in the bark of the etrog tree.