Reb L's G-dcast Amram Landau

It's been almost two months now, and the pain is still there. I do keep thinking that he hasn't really gone. The first words that we learn, or instinctively say - even before we have an understanding of our surroundings, are Mummy or Daddy - Abba or Ima. They are the comfort, the pillows (Kariot in Hebrew - and you just thought it was a tasty Israeli breakfast cereal!) that cushion us from pain. Without them, we are exposed and in pain.

The Gemoro tells us that the child begins to call these words around the time that it begins to 'taste wheat'. This is the beginning of Da'as - knowledge, understanding, connection. It is Da'as which allows us to really live. But it is Da'as that also enables sin, as without it, we are blameless.

This is what brought death to the world - the first 'chet' (etymologically similar to chita - wheat). It is what stopped when the Torah was given, and then abruptly restarted with another 'Chet', of the golden calf. The original three weeks, which should have been weeks of intense happiness were inverted in a moment, to a history of pain and exile.

We look to regain it in the month of Av - literally 'Daddy' - where the pain will dissipate and we will be reunited with our Father.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, or so it said. Ah...the ubiquitous apple. This expression is used to denote the way that our behaviours reflect the things that we learned from our home environment. Nature or nurture, we have traits which originate from the previous generation. Like it or lump it, we're stuck with it. 

It is no accident, that this same fruit is the one borrowed by certain people - not of the Jewish persuasion - to express the rather depressing notion that we are condemned to be tainted by sin, just by being born in the physical world. The original Adam's 'apple' - stuck in the throat of the first human being (and as expressed through even the purest archetypal fairy-tale characters - think Snow White) means that we are born sinful, they say, redeemable only through a belief in 'he who must not be named', rather than actions. Yes, like it or lump it, it leaves a lump in our throats - literally and metaphorically. It is a distortion of Chazal's understanding of how Adam's error is really manifest and rectifiable.

The Gemoro which identifies that first fruit, mentions four possibilities - none of which is the apple - a probable mistranslation. But the apple still has its place in Midrashic and Talmudic literature. Let's explore some fascinating ideas in this mysterious area. 

Yes - deliberate misspelling. What is so special about the apple? In the UK, it is seen as a pretty regular fruit. Tasty, but ordinary. According to the translation that we will use today, the Tapuach is the apple. Vilified by many in its identity, yet its song is a sweet recall of the special relationship between Hashem and His beloved nation - taken from Shir Hashirim. When others were not interested in the responsibilities of what the Torah might demand of them, along came a downtrodden nation and embraced it before knowing what was in it.

This apparently impulsive move - criticised by some, is lauded by Hashem as typical of the trust placed in Him. That same depth of relationship is alluded to elsewhere in Shir Hashirim, when talking of the determination of the nascent Jewish nation (in particular the mothers) to ensure continuation and relationship.

Let's see what secrets it may hold at its core.

I would like to dedicate this podcast to our father ר' יהודה אריה בן ר' יצחק מאיר - הריני כפרת משכבו, as we reach the end of the Sheloshim period. Please feel free to listen and forward to as many people as possible. Anything positive gleaned from here, should be a merit for his Neshomo. (Anything else - blame on me). It is also the reason for the double length feature.

We are about to discover some of the secrets of the date palm. Unique, in it being a member of both the 4 Minim of Succos, and the 7 minim of Israel, it is also the only one of the sweet 7 which the spies - having praised its sweetness (the Midrash confirms the date as being the source of the honey with which the Land flows, along with the milk) - did not dare bring back. Perhaps that would have backfired for them.

We will learn about ego, or the lack of it thereof. 

Which is more than appropriate when thinking of out father - a special man who only lacked one thing...

...An ego. 

'I'm stuffed! I'm going to burst!' The phrases that we say when we are uncomfortably full... possibly because we couldn't resist the great food that was available...we feel like we are about to explode.

Rimon - the fruit that appears stuffed with seeds, bursting with goodness... (Fun fact of the day - Rimon is a hand grenade in Modern Hebrew).

What is the idea of the song expressed by the stuffed pomegranate?

Fyi...a paper by a non-Jewish doctoral student of computer science at Columbia University. He shows that pomegranates from six test countries have on average 613 seeds. Curious.

http://www.aquaphoenix.com/misc/pomegranate/ This is the link to his CV http://www.aquaphoenix.com/about/

The song that the pomegranate sings is an interesting choice. Referring to the beauty behind the veil, the verse from Shir HaShirim hints to the modest humility of one who does need to show off. Their beloved knows of their virtues.

When works on oneself on the inside, you need not say anything...the positivity can be seen on the outside too. What treasures lie within? Take a peek behind the veil...