Torah Thoughts Be-Shallach

 Be-Shallach

Tu Bishvat

January 10/11,2014

Shevat 9/10,5774

Sweet; Merriam-Webster.com defines “Sweet” as “ pleasing to the taste; (2) : being or inducing the one of the four basic taste sensations (Bitter,Salt,Sour and sweet) that is typically induced and mediated especially by receptors in taste buds at the front of the tongue.”

15:23-25 Vayavo'u Maratah velo yachlu lishtot mayim miMarah ki marim hem al-ken kara-shmah Marah.

They came to Marah, and found the water was not palatable.

So, they complained to Moses, and he cried out to G-D, “What shall we drink?!”  G-D said, “Take the tree branch over there, and toss it in the water.”  Moses threw the branch into the water, and…………..the water became “sweet”!

15:27 Vayavo'u Eilimah vesham shteim-esreh einot mayim veshiv'im tmarim vayachanu-sham al-hamayim.

Then they came to Eilimah, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees; so they camped there by the waters.

Let’s skip to 15:31, Vayikre'u veit-Yisrael et-shmo man vehu kezera gad lavan vetamo ketsapichit bidvash.

And the house of Israel called its name manna, and it was like white coriander seed, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

How significant is all this I ask? Bitter water to that of SWEETNESS from tree bark!? Wandering in the desert with 70 palm trees, AND some palms, are DATE palms and produce the date fruit that is very “SWEET”.   Manna that has the taste of a wafer dipped in honey, also extremely “SWEET”.

I see significance because of G-D testing and asking the people to show reverence and “Faithfulness” with what is happening and what staples that have been provided, and G-D is indeed providing them “Sweetness”.  Sweetness of the pallet with that of food and water, and sweetness in the Mitzvahs that G-D has granted to allow them to their journey of freedom, to the Land of Milk and Honey!

The land of Israel is often referred to as “the land of ‘Milk and Honey’ ”, and historians can tell you this is derived from the milk of, and the honey from the “Date and Fig Trees” and what they yielded originally, and from the foliage obviously surrounding them……..Once again, “SWEET”.

  Tu Bishvat- there is a 'tree' that we can connect to sweetness. The Rabbis notice that G-d doesn't ever 'show' Moses, but instead, 'instructs' him, like the word of Our Torah.  The Torah is called the Tree of Life, and the two wooden rollers of the Torah scroll are called 'atzei hayyim'. (Etz Hayim is the name of the  Chumash and commentary, and The famous midrash, Shir HaShirim Rabbah compares the Torah to a variety of fluids: water, wine, oil, honey, and milk. The phrase 'milk and honey' is usually understood to refer to the land of Israel, as I’ve shared, but the ancient Rabbis see it as a metaphor for Torah. Just as milk and honey are sweet and nourishing throughout, so are the words of the Torah, as it says, "Sweeter also than honey".  “

 It is indeed the Torah that can 'sweeten' our lives!   And may we all adhere: “May the words of Your Torah be sweet in our mouths, and in the mouths of your people, the house of Israel? May the sweetness of the carobs, figs, and dates we eat this coming Tu BeShivat remind us of the sweetness in our lives, and inspire us to bring sweetness into the lives of others around us.

-Amen-