By : Morris Jastrow Jr. Kaufmann
Kohler Frank H. Knowlton
—In Rabbinical Literature:
Identified with Four Trees
Difficulty of Identification
word "apple" is the
commonly accepted translation
of tappua?, from the root napa?
(to exhale = the sweet-scented).
It is of pleasant smell ("the
smell of thy nose like apples,"
Cant. vii. 9 [A. V. 8]), and is
used to revive the sick ("comfort
me with apples, for I am sick
of love," Cant. ii. 5). The
tree offers a pleasant shade ("As
the apple-tree among the trees
of the wood, so is my beloved
among the sons. I sat down under
its shadow with great delight,"
Cant. ii. 3, Hebr.; "I raised
thee up under the apple-tree:
there thy mother brought thee
forth," Cant. viii. 5). It
is mentioned also in Joel i. 12,
together with the pomegranate;
and it gave the name "tappua?"
to a number of towns (Josh. xv.
34, 53; xvi. 8; xvii. 7). "Apples
of gold in pictures ["baskets,"
R. V.] of silver" are mentioned
in Prov. xxv. 11. Whether so called
because of their red color, or
whether oranges are here meant,
is uncertain. The Septuagint renders
it, a fruit "sweet to the
taste" (Cant. ii. 3).
the time of the Mishnah the "tappua?"
was cultivated in large quantities
and many varieties (Kil. i. 4;
Ter. xi. 3; Ma'as. i. 4; Tappu?im
of Crete, Men. 28b). Apple-wine
is spoken of in Tos. Ber. iv.
1 and Ab. v. 12. About the correctness
of the translation of "tappua?"
there is a wide difference of
opinion among botanists and linguists,
especially as the Greek, Latin
malum, originally comprised the
pomegranate, the quince, and other
fruits similar to the Apple—all
more or less symbolical of love,
and therefore sacred to Aphrodite
(see Hehn, "Kulturpflanzen,"
1874, ii. 203-207). The Arabic
name tuffa? is probably derived
from the Syriac (see Frankel,
p. 140). The tappua?—distinguished
in the Mishnah from the quince,
which is called parish (Ma'as.
i. 3), and from the Hazur (the
crab-apple), (Kil. i. 4, Yer.
Ter. ii. 3) —is declared by most
authorities to be none other than
the Apple that, if not as delicious
as the European or the American
Apple, is planted in orchards
and near the houses in Palestine
and Syria, and is especially prized
for its aroma (see Credner, Commentary
on Joel, pp. 135 et seq., who
refers to Ovid's "Metamorphoses,"
viii. 676; Winer, "B. R."—following
ii. 355, iii. 1295; and with reference
to Josephus, "Ant."
xvii. 7, [where its use in case
of sickness is testified to by
the story of King Herod] and to
Avicenna, quoted in "Harmar,"
i. 369; Immanuel Löw, "Aramäische
Pflanzennamen," pp. 155 et
seq.; W. R. Smith, in "Journal
of Philology," xiii. 65).
The Apple is handed to the sick
or faint to revive them by its
aroma. Rosenmüller ( "Handbuch
der Biblischen Alterthumskunde,"
iv. 308) and Houghton (in "Proceedings
of the Society of Biblical Archeology,"
xii. 42-48), however, seek to
identify it with the quince, which,
according to Post, "has a
sour, acrid taste, and is never
sweet." Others identify it
with the citron (see Delitzsch's
Commentary to Cant.) and the article
"Apfel" in Riehm's "Dict.");
but the citron (a Persian fruit)
was not transplanted to the Mediterranean
shores before the common era (according
to Pliny, "Naturalis Historia,"
xii. 3; Theophrastus, "Historia
Plantarum," iv. 4). The same
objections hold good against the
identification of the Apple with
the apricot, as proposed by Tristram,
"Fauna and Flora of Palestine,"
p. 294.J. Jr. K.
Apple mentioned in Cant. ii. 3
is taken symbolically; see the
following examples from Cant.
R. ad loc.: "'As the apple-tree
among the trees of the wood' offers
no shade in the heat like other
trees, so would the nations not
seek the shade of Sinai's God;
Israel only would sit under His
shadow with delight. Or, 'as the
apple-tree unfolds blossoms before
leaves, so did the Israelites
show their faith in God before
they heard the message' [Ex. iv.
31: "And the people believed;
and when they heard"]. The
same applies when on Sinai they
said: 'All that the Lord said
we will do and hearken' [Ex. xxiv.
7, Hebr.; compare with Cant. R.
ii. 3, Shab. 88a, where the erroneous
word piryo (its fruit), instead
of ni??o(its blossoms), puzzled
the Tosafists]. Or, 'as the apple-tree
ripens its fruit in the month
of Siwan, so did Israel display
its fragrance at Mount Sinai in
Siwan' [Ex. xix. 1, 2]. Again,
'as for the apple-tree the time
from the first blossoming until
the ripening of the fruit is fifty
days, so was the time from the
Exodus to the giving of the Law
on Sinai fifty days.' Or, 'as
for a small coin you may get an
apple and derive enjoyment even
from its sweet odor, so may you
obtain your redemption easily
with the help of the Law.' Or,
'as the apple excels in fragrance
all trees, so does Israel excel
the nations in good works.'"
As the apple-tree among the trees
of the wood, so even those that
are void of merit are still full
of good deeds, as the pomegranate
is of seeds. The heathen are the
trees in the wood without fruit,
and Israel among them is as the
apple-tree" (Yalk Cant.
986). Ex. R. xvii.: "Why
has God been likened to the apple-tree?
Just as the apple offers its beauty
to the eye without any cost, and
has a delicious taste and perfume,
so God's law (His mouth) is most
sweet. He is altogether lovely."
God had appeared to all the nations,
but they would not accept the
Torah, not realizing what is said
in Ps. xxxiv. 9 [A. V. 8], "O
taste and see that the Lord is
good," and in Prov. viii.
19, "My fruit is better than
gold, yea, than fine gold."
But Israel said: "I sat down
under his shadow with great delight
and his fruit is sweet to my taste"
(Cant. ii. 3). Also the words
"Comfort me with apples"
(Cant. ii. 5) are referred to
the words of the Law, especially
the Haggadot, which have delicious
taste and fragrance combined like
apples (Pesi?. R. K. xii. 101b;
Cant. R. ad loc.).
Targ. translates "tappua?"
in Cant. ii. 3 "ethrog"
(orange or citron); in ii. 5 and
vii. 9 "tappua? di gintha
di Eden" (paradise-apple).
In Cant. viii. 5 tappua? is taken
symbolically for Mount Olivet
as giving forth all the dead at
the time of the resurrection,
or is taken for Sinai as in Cant.
R. Aquila seems to take Cant.
viii. 5 as referring to the fruit
of the tree of knowledge, as he
immeka,"= "there wast
thou corrupted." Thus also
Jerome (see Delitzsch, Commentary,
p. 127). Here is probably the
source of the common view that
the forbidden fruit was an Apple
(according to R. Abba of Acre
[Acco], Gen. R. xv., an ethrog,
the so-called "paradise-apple").
In church symbolism the story
of Hercules with the apples of
the Hesperides and the dragon
wound around the tree served as
the representation of Adam's fall,
and Hercules as that of Jesus
as deliverer, the Apple being
often used as a symbol of the
first sin (Piper, "Symbolik
der Christlichen Kirche,"
i. 67, 128; Nork, "Mythologisches
Lexikon," s.v. "Apfel").
dipped into honey are eaten on
the eve of the Jewish New-Year
while the following words are
spoken: "May it be Thy will,
O Lord, that the year just begun
be as good and sweet a year!"
(Tur Orah Hayyim, 583). In Kabbalistic
literature tappua? is an attribute
of God, synonymous with tiferet
(beauty), because, says the Zohar
(Lev. xvi.), "tiferet diffuses
itself into the world as an apple.
with Four Trees.
is perhaps no Biblical plant-name
that has given rise to more discussion
than has the identification of
the . Four distinct fruit-bearing
trees, the Apple (Pyrus malus),
the citron (Citrus medica), the
apricot (Prunus Armeniaca), and
the quince (Cydonia vulgaris),
have been suggested as its equivalent.
Of these, two may be dismissed
at once—the Apple and the citron.
The Apple, far from being a native
of Palestine, is, on account of
the tropical climate, but rarely
cultivated there, and with no
success. The fruit is small, woody,
and of very inferior quality.
citron is beyond doubt a native
of India, where it has been known
and cultivated, even under different
forms, from prehistoric times.
At an early date its cultivation
spread into western Asia, whence
it was obtained by the Greeks,
possibly as early as the time
of Alexander's Asiatic campaign.
It was cultivated in Italy in
the third and fourth centuries,
and by the fifth century had become
well established; but it was not
until the tenth century of the
common era, according to Gallesio,
that its cultivation was extended
by the Arabs into Palestine and
viewed only in the light of present-day
distribution and abundance, the
apricot might lay undisputed claim
to being the Hebrew [but see above],
for, according to Canon Tristram,
it "is most abundant in the
Holy Land. . . . The apricot flourishes
and yields a crop of prodigious
abundance; its branches laden
with golden fruit may well be
compared (Prov. xxv. 11) to 'apples
of gold,' and its pale leaves
to 'pictures of silver.'"
The apricot, as its specific name
(Prunus Armeniaca) would imply,
has been supposed to be a native
of Armenia, and it has been reported
in the neighborhood of the Caucasus
mountains in the north, and between
the Caspian and Black seas in
the south, but grave doubt exists
as to its being found wild there.
to De Candolle ("Origines
des Plantes Cultivées"),
it is now settled beyond reasonable
question that the apricot is a
native of China, where it has
been known for two or three thousand
years before the common era. Its
cultivation seems to have spread
very slowly toward the West, as
supported by the fact that it
has no Sanskrit or Hebrew designation,
but only Persian names, zard alu
(yellow plum) and mishlauz—under
which latter designation, or its
corruption mishmush, dried apricots
are still exported from Syria—which
has passed into Arabic. Among
the Greeks and Romans the apricot
appears to have been introduced
about the beginning of the common
era; for Pliny, among others,
says that its introduction into
Rome took place about thirty years
before he wrote.
is reasonable to suppose that
the spread of the apricot may
have been rapid and effective
after its first introduction to
the civilization of the West,
for it is a delicious fruit, of
the simplest cultivation and of
great productiveness. The exact
time of its introduction into
Palestine can not be determined,
but it very probably occurred
before it became known to the
Greeks and Romans, as the Hebrews
had scant relations with Armenia,
the country through which the
apricot (appanuth) came. It may,
therefore, be reasonably assumed
that, although agreeing well with
the description of the Biblical
tappua?, the apricot is not the
tree referred to in the Scriptures.
claims of the quince to represent
the tappua? of the Hebrew Scriptures
have been ably set forth by the
Rev. W. Houghton ("Proceedings
of Society of Biblical Archeology,"
xii. 42-48). This is the only
one of the four species suggested
that is undoubtedly indigenous
to this general region. According
to De Candolle:
quince grows wild in the woods
in the north of Persia, near the
Caspian Sea, in the region to
the south of the Caucasus, and
in Anatolia. A few botanists have
also found it apparently wild
in the Crimea, and in the north
of Greece; but naturalization
may be suspected in the east of
Europe, and the further advanced
toward Italy, especially toward
the southwest of Europe and Algeria,
the more it becomes probable that
the species was naturalized at
an early period around villages,
in hedges, etc."
absence of a Sanskrit name for
the quince is taken to indicate
that its distribution did not
extend toward the center of Asia,
and, although it is also without
a Hebrew name, it is undoubtedly
wild on Mount Taurus. It is much
more difficult to connect the
quince with the Hebrew "tappua?"
than it is to identify the latter
with the apricot. On this point
tree [quince] is a native of the
Mediterranean basin, and is, when
ripe, deliciously fragrant, but,
according to our western tastes,
by no means pleasant to the taste
when uncooked, but on the contrary
austere and unpleasant. This latter
fact is regarded generally as
destructive of its pretensions,
but for my part I hesitate to
throw over the claims of the quince
to denote the tappua?, on account
of its taste. The flavor and odor
of plants or other things is simply
a matter of opinion. Orientals
set a high value on flavors and
odors which to European senses
are unpleasant moreover, we must
seek for the reason why such and
such a fruit was regarded with
seeking a probable reason for
this liking for the tappua?, Houghton
calls attention to the mandrake
(Atropa mandragora), which, though
to most Europeans it has a very
fetid and disagreeable odor, is
still highly regarded by the natives
of Palestine asa love-philter
to strengthen the affection between
the sexes. The same argument may
possibly apply to the quince,
which came to be so esteemed for
its flavor and odor, not as measured
by European standards, but as
tinged by Oriental conditions.
The Hebrew word in the expression
"its fruit was sweet to my
taste" does not, it is said,
imply either a saccharine or glucose
sweetness; "the bitter waters
which were made sweet" (Ex.
xv. 25) were made pleasant, their
bitterness was destroyed; "the
worm shall feed sweetly on him"
(Job xxiv. 20) must mean shall
feed on him with pleasure; and
so in Cant. ii. 5, "his fruit
was sweet to my taste," meaning
probably not only on account of
the acid juice of the fruit, but
because of its associations with
friendship and love.
Hastings, Dict. Bible;
Cheyne, Ency. Bibl.;
Hamburger, R. B. T.;
Winer, B. R.;
Hehn, Wanderungen der Kulturpflanzen;
De Candolle, Origines des Plantes
Credner, Commentary on Joel, p.