This week's Torah portion, also known as the Sabbath of Song since it features the song of the Israelites at the Splitting of the Reed Sea, always falls very close to the semi-festival of Tu BeShevat, known as the New Year for Trees (Mishnah, Rosh Hashanah 1:1). This fifteenth day of the Hebrew month of Shevat signals the date when the majority of the rains have nourished the fields of Israel and when the diligent almond trees have begun to sprout forth their white and pink flowers; from this perspective, our optimistic nation already begins to sense spring in the air, even in the midst of winter, with the slow awakening of nature portending the beginning of redemption, for which we all yearn. The Biblical reading of the exodus from Egypt provides a national parallel to the rebirth of nature, and the song at the Reed Sea finds a sonorous echo in the early songs of the birds that now are beginning to return to roost.



We generally celebrate Tu BeShevat with a special seder in honor of the festival, which features four cups of wine and fruits indigenous to our land, as well as with the planting of fruit trees. Since fruits, and especially the seven species of wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates for which the Land of Israel is specifically praised (Deut. 8:7-9), play a major role in these celebrations, it is interesting at this time of year to explore the religious symbolism of fruits, if indeed fruits contain a special message at all.



We have already taken note of the fact that our Biblical text poetically praises the Land of Israel in large measure because of its luscious fruits: "The Lord your G-d is bringing you to a good land, a land with flowing streams and underground springs, gushing out in valleys and mountains. It is a land of wheat, barley, grapes, figs and pomegranates, a land of oil - olives and honey dates. You must therefore bless the Lord your G-d for the good land that He has given you." (Deut. 8:7-10)



Nevertheless, when Moses prays to enter the Holy and Promised Land at the end of his life, Rabbi Simlai comments: "Why did Moses desire to enter the Land of Israel? Did he find it necessary to eat from its fruit? Did he find it necessary to be sated with its goodness? Certainly not! But this was Moses' desire: There are many commandments that the Israelites must perform that can only be fulfilled in the Land of Israel. I wish to enter the land in order that I may fulfill all of them." (Babyloian Talmud, Sotah 14a). Our Talmudic sage seems to be denigrating the idea that our desire for Israel be predicated upon the luscious quality of its fruit; it can only be predicated upon the special commandments and unique service of the Divine, which is only possible in Israel.



This is likewise the opinion of the fourteenth century religio-legal codifier of Jewish law, Rabbenu Yaakov Ba'al HaTurim, who rules that we are to delete the concluding words of the blessing recited after eating any of the five grains or five species for which Israel is praised: "Have mercy, Lord our G-d, upon Israel Your nation and upon Jerusalem Your city, so that we may rejoice in its rebuilding, eat of its fruit and be sated with its goodness. We thank you for the land and its fruit." He argues, "These words are not to be said, for we are not to desire the land because of the good quality of its fruit, but rather because of the commandments dependent upon the land, which we can perform on it." (Tur, Orah Haim, siman 208)



One of the major commentaries on the Tur, Rabbi Yoel Sirkus (known as the Bach), strongly disagrees. "Is it not true that it is the very sanctity of the Land of Israel, which draws its nourishment from the sanctity of the Divine Presence 'who dwells in the midst of the land,' will have an effect on the fruits that emerge from the land? And therefore, it is proper that we include in the blessing 'so that we may eat of its fruit and be sated with its goodness,' because in the eating of its fruit we shall be nourished by the sanctity of the Divine Presence and its purity, and be sated by its goodness."



I would add only one more point to the unique quality of the Land of Israel and its fruits. After the flood, G-d makes a clear division between the behavior of the people and the fertility of the land throughout the world: "I will no longer curse the land because of the people, because the nature of the heart of man is evil from his very beginnings." (Genesis 8:19) The one exception to this rule is the Land of Israel. There is one view in the Talmud that a significant expression of the uniqueness of the Land of Israel is that the flood never reached it (Talmud, Zevahim 113a). We recite in the second paragraph of the Shema that the produce of Israel is dependent upon the morality of its inhabitants, and the Bible iterates and reiterates that our right to remain on our land - and benefit from its produce - depends upon our morality and piety. Hence, our ability to eat of the fruit of Israel is a direct result of our worthiness - and so our desire to eat the fruit of Israel is tantamount to our desire to be true children of G-d. Herein lies the true message of Tu BeShevat - our desire to enjoy the fruits of Israel!