The Taste and Smell of Tu Bishevat

Eating Fruit on Tu Bishevat

Tu Bishevat, the new year of the trees, is the day on which the sap begins to rise through them, enabling them to come back to life after the winter and produce sweet, ripe fruit.

In the book, Torat Emet (by Rabbi Yehudah Leib Eiger of Lublin), it is written that it is customary to eat fruit on Tu Bishevat because it gives God pleasure when a Jew enjoys the delicious fruit that God placed in His world and blesses Him for it. God's pleasure above is manifest below as the renewed vigor of the trees to produce well-formed and juicy fruit.

Taste and Scent

The essence of any fruit is its taste and scent, relative to the physical body of the fruit, this is its spiritual dimension.

In the terminology of Kabbalah: the flavor of the fruit is its da'at, its consciousness. As it is said: "Teach me good taste and knowledge." The origin of the flavor of fruit is the inner meanings of the teachings of the Torah, which will be presently revealed when Mashiach arrives. The tree of Tu Bishevat alludes to the Torah, as it is said, "The Torah is a tree of life to those who hold fast to it." When Adam was banished from the Garden of Eden (after the primordial sin), he was prevented from coming in contact with the tree of life. The Mashiach will rectify the primordial sin and thus lead us to the tree of life so that we may eat its fruits "and live forever." We will then be able to taste, i.e., to consciously internalize, and identify with the pleasing, sweet delightfulness inherent in the fruit of the tree.

The scent of the fruit is its keter, the super-conscious aspect of the soul, the source of the pleasure (nachas) the Jew affords his Creator when he performs His will. This aspect of the fruit alludes to Mashiach himself (as well as to the spark of Mashiach present in every Jew), who is distinguished by his sense of smell. As we are taught, Mashiach will judge and rectify reality by using his sense of smell. On this level, the tree of Tu Bishevat signifies the essence of the Jew, as it is said, "for man is a tree of the field." The fragrant smell of the tree is the fragrance of the source of the Jewish soul, which is antecedent in God's infinite light to the source of the Torah. Whereas the taste is the taste of the Torah, the scent is the scent of the soul.

Purity of Heart

The Torat Emet continues: "But all depends on one's purity of heart, as our sages said: 'when the source of purity was lost [when the Temple was destroyed], fruit lost its taste and fragrance.'"

From this it follows that purity of heart is the inner source of the spiritual dimension of fruit. The purer the heart, the more fragrant and tasty the fruit.

King David asked of God: "Create in me a pure heart, O God; and renew within me a ready spirit." In Chassidut it is explained that a pure heart is one devoid of any worries, and thus free to rejoice and trust in God. The fruits of the tree of life are good, luscious and sweet, tasty and fragrant. On Tu Bishevat let us enjoy the fruits of the land of Israel (our beloved homeland, as dear to us as a mother is to her son) and praise our Father in heaven, thereby drawing up the sap of life (the Hebrew word for "sap" [שרף] is cognate with "fire"), the fiery, holy enthusiasm in our service of God in holiness and purity. Thus, will we merit the good taste and good scent, the spiritual dimension of physicality, delight in the goodness of the earth and bring delight to the Creator of the world.