If you were
hiking in the Dead Sea region in the direction of Anatot, and you were to
look left to the east, you would see in the distance the wilderness of Jericho
shimmering in the sun, mottled with patches of green against the light yellow
of the naked saltlands. There, far away, between the Dead Sea and Jericho,
grows the "cursed lemon of the wilderness," the a'ra'r.
Said
the prophet Jeremiah: "Cursed is he who trusts in man, who makes mere
flesh his strength, and turns his thoughts from the Lord. He shall be like
the a'ra'r in the wilderness, which does not sense the coming of good:
It is set in the scorched places of the desert, in a salty land without inhabitant."[1]
The "cursed a'ra'r" in the wilderness is also found in Psalms,
"a prayer of the lowly man when he is faint and pours forth his plea
before the Lord"[2];
"You will surely arise and take pity on Zion, for it is time to be gracious
to her; the appointed time has come. Your servants take delight in its stones,
and cherish its dust. The nations will fear the name of the Lord, all the
kings of the earth, Your glory. For the Lord has built Zion; He has appeared
in all His glory. He has turned to the prayer of the a'ra'r and has
not spurned their prayer." [3]
Researchers
Hannah and Ephraim Hareuveni presented the results of their long and detailed
research,[4]
concluding that the a'ra'r mentioned in the book of Jeremiah and the
psalms is the tree Calotropis procera, also known today as the Sodom
apple. According to the Bedouin tribe studied by the Hareuvenis in the wilderness
of Jericho, the tree is cursed from the days of Sodom and Gommorah which is
why they call it the "cursed lemon." Its fruit is large and attracts
the eye by its wholesome appearance, but it contains only desiccated, silken
"threads" that serve as "parachutes" for the dry, brown
seeds.
Once,
say the Bedouin, in the days of "Master Lot," the fruit was juicy
and refreshing. But when men sinned and were punished with the curse of Sodom
and Gemmorah, this fruit was cursed with them. When mankind repents of its
evil ways, the fruit of the cursed lemon will be cleansed and its juice will
be as delicious and satisfying as it was before the destruction of Sodom and
Gemmorah. In their research article, the Hareuvenis give several similar examples
from the homilies of the Sages. For instance, Rabbi Oshaya (Yoma 21b) tells
of the wondrous golden trees that Solomon planted in the Temple courtyard.
When enemies entered the Temple, the trees stopped giving fruit and withered
away, "but the Lord shall return them."
This cursed
a'ra'r appears to stand in the arid and salty wilderness spreading
its "palms" in prayer. Its broad leaves appear like upturned hands.
When the psalmist describes the redemption of Zion from its ruin, he sees
it in the form of the a'ra'r praying for redemption like "the
lowly man when he is faint and pours forth his plea before the Lord,"
and God in His infinite mercy does "not spurn their prayer."
Jeremiah,
on the other hand, does not appeal for mercy to rehabilitate the a'ra'r.
On the contrary, while the tree planted by waters will "not cease to
yield fruit," representing the reward of the person who trusts in God,
the a'ra'r symbolizes the curse of dryness that will fall upon "the
man who makes mere flesh his strength."
APPLES Table of Contents
Vol. 4.10 / Kislev 5762 / November 2001
