In Leviticus 23; 40 Moses conveys the Torah’s commandment: “On the first day [of the Festival of Sukkot] you must take hold for yourself… Fruit of the Beautiful Tree…” Using cryptic language, the scripture does not clearly identify the fruit it speaks of.
This in-depth mini-series focuses on the page in Masechet Sukkah that records the teachings of our Sages about this very question. Here, the Talmud sets out to solve the mystery of the enigmatic Etrog’s ID once and for all!
To be sure, our sacred oral tradition has always identified it as the Citron, yet is there any proof for this in the biblical text itself? The words of our Sages are richly illuminated by the multi-layered commentaries of the medieval and modern era.
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Episode Two: “THE FRUIT HUNTERS”
Having successfully completed round one of the quests to identify the biblical roots the Torah’s Mitzvah Fruit, the hunt continues as we seek out additional messages encrypted into the text of the Scripture.
In an interesting twist, now Gathering Fruit becomes like Cornering Animals!
While last time around it was botanical beauty linked to fruit tree taste symmetry, the search for a Positive ID on the Torah’s Mitzvah Fruit now looks pasts photosynthesis parallels and instead chooses to focus on sheepish commonality.
Can the range of cyclical diversity found in a common Sheep Pen be reflective of a Tree’s Harvest biodiversity and will seasonal overlap become a most telling feature?
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