Apple

A type of fruit.

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The Fragrance of Blessing

TALMUD

Isaac's blessing to Jacob includes a reference to the smell of a field. In the Talmudic tractate Taanit, Rav Yehuda, son of Rav Shmuel bar Sheilat, in the name of Rav, interprets Isaac's comment about Jacob's smell as referring to the smell of a field of apple trees.

The Gemara mentions a couple of other statements in the name of the same Sages mentioned above. First, it cites a verse that is referring to the Babylonian exile. “To give to you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). Rav Yehuda, son of Rav Shmuel bar Sheilat, said in the name of Rav: These are palm trees and garments of linen, which are long-lasting and bring benefit as long as they exist. With regard to Isaac’s comment about Jacob: “And he said: See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed” (Genesis 27:27), Rav Yehuda…

Taanit 29b:2

The Sweet Apple of Rosh Hashanah

COMMENTARY

The specific practice of blessing and eating a sweet apple with honey on Rosh Hashanah highlights the importance of the apple over the honey and the necessity of a blessing even after the hamotzi. The Mishnah Berurah, Israel Meir Kagan's late 19th-century commentary on Jewish law, discusses customs related to Rosh Hashanah, including the symbolic act of eating a sweet apple with honey.

(3) A sweet apple with honey - and the apple is the main thing, and one blesses on it and exempts the honey. And even if one eats the apple after the blessing of hamotzi, one still needs to bless on it. And there are those who have the custom to dip the hamotzi in honey.

Mishnah Berurah 583:3

The Apple of Love

TANAKH

The apple is used as a symbol of refreshment and sustenance, particularly in the context of love and affection. The Song of Songs, a poetic dialogue between two lovers, uses the imagery of apples to convey deep yearning and overwhelming emotion.

“Sustain me with raisin cakes,
Refresh me with apples,
For I am faint with love.”

Song of Songs 2:5

The Apple Tree Metaphor

COMMENTARY

The apple tree is used as a metaphor to illustrate the unique and intimate relationship between the Jewish people and God. Rashi, the preeminent 11th-century French biblical commentator, offers an allegorical interpretation of the Song of Songs, comparing the apple tree to the Holy One, Blessed Is He.

As an apple tree. When an apple tree is among trees that do not bear fruit, it is more precious than all of them, for its fruit is good both in taste and in fragrance. So is my beloved among the sons. Among the young men. The allegory is: So is the Holy One, Blessed Is He, superior to all the gods. Therefore, “in His shade I delighted and sat.” The Midrash Aggadah [explains], this apple tree, all flee from it because it provides no shade; so did all the nations flee from the Holy One, Blessed Is He, at the giving of the Torah, but I, “in His shade I delighted and sat.”

Rashi on Song of Songs 2:3:1-2

The Apple Tree Metaphor #2

TALMUD

The Jewish people's commitment to action before understanding is likened to an apple tree whose fruit grows before its leaves. The Babylonian Talmud in tractate Shabbat uses this metaphor to highlight the unique virtue of the Jewish people.

Rabbi Elazar said: When the Jewish people accorded precedence to the declaration “We will do” over “We will hear,” a Divine Voice emerged and said to them: Who revealed to my children this secret that the ministering angels use? As it is written: “Bless the Lord, you angels of His, you mighty in strength, that fulfill His word, hearkening unto the voice of His word” (Psalms 103:20). At first, the angels fulfill His word, and then afterward they hearken…

Shabbat 88a:8

Apples, Chaim Soutine. Metropolitan Museum of Art image. Public Domain Dedication (CC0)

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