Beauty & Sweetness in 5777

Photo by The Curated Feast

It all began with an apple.🍎

Or at least that's the case if you believe the Book of Genesis. Yet, botanical anthropology suggests that if Eve did really offer Adam a primitive apple, it was a hard and sour fruit.

Apples appear in mythology across cultures. Quite interestingly, ancient languages use the same word to name any type of fruit that grows on a tree, so in fact, mythic references to apples may actually referred to peaches, plums, oranges, or pears instead!

In medieval times, apples were considered so special that people would you use a sharp utensil to carve their personal hopes and prayers into apple skins before they were eaten.

Today for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, we eat apples and honey together. 🍎🍯 It is the year 5777 in the Jewish Calendar. Interestingly, neither the Bible nor the Talmud dictates the custom of dipping apples and honey for the new year. Still, dipping apples in honey reminds the Jewish people of our connection to the Holy Land. 

Also, in a 13th Century mystical text, it was said that beauty "diffuses itself in the world as an apple." L'Shana Tovah everyone!

[Information Via ReformJudaism.Org and Flora Mirabilis: How Plants Shaped the World]