The mishnah in the beginning of the seventh perek of Pesachim instructs one who is roasting his Paschal lamb to employ a spit made of pomegranate wood. The Gemara explains that wood from a pomegranate tree is choicest because little moisture will escape from the branch during the roasting. Yet we are commanded not to cut down fruit-bearing trees. Wouldn’t one be violating this dictum by utilizing a freshly cut branch of a pomegranate tree?
One could postulate that branches were taken only from old trees that no longer produced fruit. However, the Gemara clearly says (according to one answer) that young trees were used. The Panim Yafos concludes that to fulfill a great mitzvah, one is even allowed to cut down a viable fruit tree. Cutting down a fruit tree is normally deemed destructive. However, when the wood is used for a great mitzvah, that is reckoned constructive. Other commentators suggest that one doesn’t violate the prohibition of cutting down fruit trees unless he cuts down the entire tree; merely trimming branches would be acceptable. This last point is matter of great debate.
It is interesting to note that Dr. Jon Greenberg, in a column entitled Torah Flora, suggests that the use of pomegranate wood as a spit to roast raw meat has a side benefit. The bark contains isopelletierine, which is toxic to parasites.
The Talmud frequently cites a pomegranate as a metaphor for mitzvos. It is therefore apropos that pomegranate wood be utilized for the mitzvah of roasting the korban Pesach.
The Gemara says on the last page of Chagigah that the fires of purgatory do not have dominion over the sinners of Israel, because they are filled with mitzvos like a pomegranate. This enigmatic statement leaves one with many questions. First, if the people referred to here are truly sinners, then how do they have so many mitzvos? Second, Rav Moshe Chaim Luzzatto writes in his magnum opus, Mesillas Yesharim, that no matter how many good deeds a person does, he will be punished for his sins. There are separate accounts for good deeds and bad ones; one account will not counterbalance the other. (On Rosh Hashanah, a person may be deemed to have more merits than sins, but that just means that overall he is a good person and may deserve to live that year. But ultimately, whether it be in this world or later, no sin goes unpunished unless one repents.) So how could it be that the fires of Gehinnom won’t affect a person on account of his many mitzvos?
Third, what exactly does the Gemara mean that the sinners are filled with mitzvos like a pomegranate? A pomegranate isn’t filled with mitzvos! Fourth, if even sinners are compared to a pomegranate, why do we ask Hashem on Rosh Hashanah night, when we eat the pomegranate, that our merits should be like a pomegranate? That’s setting our goals pretty low. It’s as if we’re asking, “Hashem, help us be at least like the sinners!” (This is the Pri Chadash’s question.)
Lastly, the Gemara in Megillah (6a) makes a similar point as the Gemara in Chagigah, but only in reference to the residents of Tveryah (Tiberias). The Gemara relates that even the “empty ones” of the city of Tveryah are filled with mitzvos like a pomegranate. So why are the inhabitants of Tveryah singled out for this accolade, when in fact the same statement can be made regarding all of Klal Yisrael?
There are many different answers to all of these questions. Some ideas are offered here, and the reader is urged to research the matter further. The Sifsei Chachamim says that the sinners being discussed here are ones who are negligent in their performance of positive mitzvos, but who do try to be careful not to violate the negative precepts. The Gemara is telling us that an individual who refrains from committing a sin when he had the opportunity to do so is rewarded for that mitzvah of refraining. The She’eris Nassan explains, therefore, that these sinners deserve both reward and punishment, and that is precisely what the Gemara means. The fires of purgatory do not have total dominion over these sinners to the point of obliteration. After their stay in Gehinnom, they will be rewarded eternally for their mitzvos. This is true despite the fact that their mitzvos consist of merely refraining from sinning. A truly wicked person, however, is punished for his sins and then destroyed.
Why does the Gemara compare these individuals to a pomegranate? The simple answer is that just as a pomegranate is filled with seeds, these individuals are filled with mitzvos. A pomegranate was chosen because it has a lot of seeds (Sifsei Chachamim on Megillah). According to this explanation, a cantaloupe would have been a good choice, too, but what’s the Aramaic word for cantaloupe? Besides, a pomegranate is one of the seven species of produce that Eretz Yisrael is praised for.
However, the answer that everyone is taught in preschool is thus: Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Ehrenreich (1864–1944, rav of Shimlau) writes that he heard that a pomegranate was chosen because it has 613 seeds (613 corresponding to the number of mitzvos in the Torah). He goes on to say that if there is a valid source for this tradition, then he would accept it as an answer. Being unsure, he goes on to give another answer. I came across one other commentator (quoted in Margolios HaShas) who affirmatively opined that a pomegranate was chosen for the comparison because it has 613 seeds.
Reuvain Stein (he gave me permission to use his real name) grew up in Detroit. He attended Michigan State University. He was only traditionally Jewish at the time. One Shabbos, he was eating shalosh seudos with some of his Bnei Akiva friends when they started discussing their dessert—a pomegranate. One of his friends claimed that a pomegranate has 613 seeds. Reuvain leeringly responded, “Yeah? If there are 613 seeds in that pomegranate, I’ll start being shomer Shabbat next week!” So they began the painstakingly slow process of counting the seeds. They peeled it very carefully, making sure not to inadvertently cut through any seeds. They then separated the seeds, carefully making sure to count each seed only once. The final count was—you guessed it—613. He became fully shomer Shabbos and eventually went on to attend Yeshiva Darchei Noam in Yerushalayim. He is now raising his wonderful Yiddishe family in Canada. (He maintains, though, that he would have become shomer Shabbos even if not for this incident.)
Alexander Haubold, while a graduate student at Columbia University, did a study on the number of seeds in pomegranates. He tested pomegranates from the United States, Singapore, Iran, Spain, Turkey, and Brazil. According to his results, the number of seeds found in pomegranates varies widely. However, he did not test any pomegranates from Israel! Mr. Haubold requested that this author help him obtain pomegranates from Israel. However, the local Jewish food stores seem to carry pomegranates only from California; Israeli ones are not sold here.
In defense of the preschool teachers, perhaps only a certain species of pomegranate and only those of a certain maturity and size have 613 seeds. My father pointed out to me that perhaps the idea of 613 seeds means that an average pomegranate has at least 613 seeds. The idea that one can achieve numerical symbolism while surpassing the intended number is mentioned by the Rema in relation to Shabbos candles. The minhag is to light two Shabbos candles—one for “zachor” and one for “shamor.” However, the Rema writes that one may light more than two candles and the symbolism will still be there. In other words, if one lights six Shabbos candles, he has lit two plus four.
There is one interesting tidbit of information from Haubold’s study: He tested 206 pomegranates and found that the number of seeds in them varied from 286 all the way up to 1,370. Nevertheless, when he averaged the number of seeds in all the pomegranates it came out to—you guessed it—613!
(Admittedly, if Haubold had added even one more pomegranate to his study, he likely would have ended up with a different average.)
While we are on the topic of cutting and dissecting pomegranates, we can answer the remaining two questions. The Asifas Z’keinim (brought in Tehillah L’Yonah on Megillah) writes that the sinners of Klal Yisrael are filled with mitzvos like a slice of a pomegranate. However, Tveryah was a special city due to all the tzaddikim that lived there (at the time this Talmudic statement was referring to). That had the astounding effect that most, if not all, of the residents of Tveryah were filled with mitzvos like a full pomegranate. We ask Hashem on Rosh Hashanah that we should be like them as well, and be full of mitzvos like the many seeds in a whole pomegranate.
Maggid shiur and Rebbe at Yeshiva Ateres Shimon in Far Rockaway. He leads the Daf Yomi chaburah at Eitz Chayim of Dogwood Park in West Hempstead, and writes “Delving into the Daf” each week for The Jewish Home.
