Hasidut untuk Imamat 23:40

Here is what Maimonides writes, in his Introduction to the [mishnaic] Order of Zeraim: “Know that each commandment which God gave to Moses was given to him with its explanation. He would articulate first the commandment itself followed by its explanations and commentary and all else. They would write down the commandments and study its explanations orally [literally, Kabbalah, that is, the received explanations]. So too did our rabbis teach: “And God spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, saying…so too the principles and details of all the commandments are from Sinai.” ²⁵⁶See the Midrash Sifra to Leviticus 25:1. For example, God told Moses “and you shall dwell in booths for seven days.”²⁵⁷Leviticus 23: 42-43. Afterwards He informed him that this obligation is incumbent upon males but not females, that the ill are exempt as are travelers, and that the roofing must be made from plants, and He informed him that eating and drinking and sleeping must be done within it, and that its height must be at least ten handbreadths from the ground, etc.. So too with regards to all six hundred and thirteen commandments, with the commandments themselves written and their explanations transmitted orally. Nonetheless, though these explanations are all received and there is no disagreement about them, we are able to use the wisdom of the Torah granted us to derive these explanations through reasoning and exegesis and proofs and hints contained in the Bible. When we see sages in the Talmud disagreeing in their analyses and bringing a proof for one of these explanations, such as when the verse refers to a ‘fruit of the beautiful tree,’²⁵⁸Ibid verse 40. that perhaps it refers to a pomegranate etc. Until they proffer the proof of “a tree whose wood and fruit taste the same,” and “a tree whose fruit remain on it from year to year”²⁵⁹See Talmud Sukkah 35a.—these proofs were not brought because they were actually confused, for we have seen without doubt from Joshua onwards that they always used the etrog in the lulav bundle. These sages were merely establishing a hint in the verse for the accepted explanation.”

Rosh Hashanah for the 'tree', not for the 'trees,' unlike the others in the mishnah (which are plural). This hints at that which we have received from our rabbis - that on Tu B'Shevat one should pray for God to provide them with a beautiful, perfect, kosher etrog at the time it is needed for the mitzva. This is the day when the sap rises in the trees according to the merits of each member of Israel, and how good and pleasant it is that one pray on this day, the foundational moment of new growth, for God to provide for them in the right time the 'fruit of the hadar tree.' (Lev. 23:40) Behold, their prayers will bear fruit! This is what the Tanna hinted at when he used the singular 'tree,' in order to indicate the specific tree which the Torah clearly intends for fulfilling a commandment.

“Take unto yourselves the fruit of the goodly tree.” (Lev. 23:40)