הלכה אויף שיר השירים 2:5

One should make it a practice on both nights of Rosh Hashanah to eating according to this order at his table: Dates are first. He should recite the blessing, "who has created the fruit of the tree," and eat a date [tamrah]. And afterward, he should say, "May it be His will that our enemies come to an end [yitamu]." Then one should eat a second date. And his intention should be for the lower enemies with this petition. And then he should eat beans [rubiya] — and that is what we call lubia in Arabic — and he should say, "May it be His will that our merits increase [yirbu]!" And according to that which the brilliant Magen Avraham wrote, that one should also make petitions according to the apparent meaning [of the sound of the Hebrew and Aramaic words] in the language of the country, we people of Baghdad who call it lubia should accordingly say, "May it be His will that our merits increase and You take us to heart [telabevenu]!" And it is like that which we are accustomed to saying two petitions with pumpkin [kra, "May it be His will that You rip up [tikraa] the bad decree of our punishment, and may our merits be read out [yikreu] before You," [the latter] being the meaning of the tearing, which is based on kraa. And likewise is it with the matter of beans in our country's language [Arabic]. And then one eats leeks [karti] and says, "that our enemies and haters be cut off [yekaretu)!" And with this, his intention should be for the evil forces created by the inequities of a person and the drops of seminal emissions that we have in mind with the recital of Shema at bedtime. And about them, it is said, those that inhabit a man's house are his enemies (alluding to Micah 7:6). And after the leeks, one eats the beets [selek] and says, "that our enemies be removed [yistalku], etc." And with this, his intention should be for the prosecutors and the forces of judgment that accuse [us] above. And afterward, he should eat the pumpkin and say, "that You rip up the bad decree of our punishment (and his intention should be for the name, Karaa [which refers to God's judgment]) and may our merits be read out before You!" And then one eats a sweet pomegranate and says, "that we should be as full of commandments as the pomegranate!" And then one should eat an apple cooked in sugar and say, "May it be His will that a sweet and good year be renewed upon us!" But we do not say, "like honey." And the later scholars, may their memory be blessed, wrote [that] the reason that we bring an apple [to the table] is as a hint about the field of holy apples from the secret of See, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field (Genesis 27:27). And, with the help of the Heavens, it appears to me that the reason for the apple on Rosh Hashanah night is because the apple has three types of enjoyment, taste, appearance, and smell. And that is a good omen for our request for general bounty — which is 'life, children, and sustenance' — for the whole year. And, with the help of the Heavens, it also appears to me that there is another reason, according to that which is written in the Zohar, Parashat Shemini 40, about the verse: refresh me with apples (Song of Songs 2:5): The apple removes the wine, and directs [God's] will, such that the wine not cause damage. And that is [why] we eat an apple after the wine, so that the wine does not cause damage. Hence, people's custom is to dunk the apple into a cup of wine, as is written in the books. And it is known that wine is [considered indicative of the] restrictive powers [gevurot]. Yet now on Rosh Hashanah, our entire goal is to flavor and sweeten the restrictive powers. That is why we eat an apple. And, with the help of the Heavens, there is another reason that appears to me: It is found in the holy Zohar that the root of all the fruits is in Kingship [Malkhut], whereas only the root of the apple is in the Male, which is the secret of Splendor [Tiferet]. And this is as I have written in a preface [about this] in another place. And that which Ari, may his memory be blessed, wrote is well known: That the months of summer, from Nissan to Tishrei, are in the Female, which is the secret of Kingship, whereas the months of winter are in the Male, which is the secret of Splendor. And that is why on Rosh Hashanah, which is the beginning of the months of the Male, we eat an apple, the root of which is in the Male.

And what is the proper love? He shall love the Lord with an exceeding great and very strong love so that his soul be tied to the love of the Lord, finding himself in a constant tremor, as if he were suffering of lovesickness, when his mind is free because of love for that woman, being continuously agitated about her, whether he sitting down, or whether he is standing up, even when he is eating and drinking. More than this should the love for the Lord be in the heart of those who love him, meditating therein constantly, even as He commanded us: "With all thy heart and with all thy soul" (Ibid.). This is what Solomon allegorically said: "For I am love-sick" (Songs 2.5). And, the whole book, Song of Songs, is an allegory on this subject.

The root of loving God is loving God with all your heart (Deut. 6:4). Our Creator commanded us to serve him with love,¹The term “love” is the preferred reading. that the love of our soul be bound up with His soul in joy and in His love and with a good heart. And the joy of this love is of such intensity and so overpowers the heart of those who love God, that even after many days of not being with his wife and having a great desire for her, in the hour that a man ejaculates he does not find it as satisfying as the intensity and power of loving²Ibid. God and finding joy in his Creator. And all the pleasures of playing with his children are as naught compared to the pleasures of the heart of the man who loves God with all his heart and soul and with all his might, i.e., with all his thoughts, about how to love God and how to make the public acquire merit and sanctify God’s name, and how to devote himself with love to the Creator,³Berakoth 61b. as did Phineas the priest who dedicated himself with love for his Creator to be zealous in His name. Let him not covet money in a situation where there is a Sanctification of God’s name if he resists taking money, as we find with Abraham, “that I will not take a thread or a shoe latchet” (Gen. 14:23). And so (it was) with Elisha who did not want to take money from Naaman. Let him not neglect the study of the Law because of pleasures, playing with his children or attachment to his wives. Also let him give up leisurely walks, meeting with women, sweet songs, in order that his heart may be whole in the joy of God, toiling and laboring in that which is the will of the Creator. He should take a lesson from one of flesh and blood. If he knew a matter to be the desire of a king, he would not yield nor rest until he fulfilled the will of the king, who is a worm like himself. He would be overjoyed that his deeds received the notice of the king and especially if it met with the will of the Creator who is eternal. Therefore must he labor all the more and seek how to fulfill the will of His commandments. He who serves out of love, occupies himself with Torah and commandments, goes in paths of proper wisdom and occupies himself with Torah and loves God with great love, not for any other reason, and not for fear of evil, nor for the purpose of inheriting the good. But he serves in truth, because the Holy One, blessed be He, is truth and in the end the good will come because of it.⁴Nedarim 62a. He must love the Creator with a great and strong love until he becomes sick because of his love, as the man who is love-sick for the affections of a woman and reels constantly because of his love, when he sits, rises, goes and comes, also when he eats and drinks. He neither sleeps nor slumbers because of this love. Greater than this should love of the Creator be in the hearts of those who love Him and they should be absorbed in it constantly,⁵Rosh ha-Shanah 4a. as we were commanded, “with all thy heart, with all thy soul …” (Deut. 6:4); and this is what Solomon in his wisdom said by the way of simile: “For I am love-sick” (Cant. 2:5). And this is a matter as clear as day and sun, for all who know that love of the Creator is not bound up with the heart of man until he is absorbed in it continuously, so as, for example, to forsake all else in the world outside of Him, as He commanded us “with all thy heart” (Deut. 6:4). This is impossible except through the apprehension of the mind. Therefore this is the truth, and the sum of it all is, that man must understand and study in the wisdoms and disciplines that make known to him his Master⁶Shabbath 75a. according to the intellectual ability that he possesses to understand, consider and comprehend.⁷Maimonides, Hilkhoth Teshuvah, 10:6. And the Creator, blessed be His name and exalted be His revered and awesome fame, commanded us to love and fear His name, as it is written “and thou shalt love the Lord thy God” (Deut. 6:4); and it is said, “thou shalt fear the Lord thy God” (Deut. 6:13). And which is the way in which to love Him and fear Him? In the hour that the individual comprehends the great and wondrous works of God, the Holy One, blessed be He, which are beyond assessment and limit, he immediately loves, praises, glorifies and yearns deeply to know that great, revered and awesome name.⁸Moses Maimonides, Book of the Divine Commandments, trans. Charles Chavel (2 Vols.; London: Soncino Press, 1940), I, 82, commandment 3. And thus did David say, “My soul thirsteth for God for the living God” (Ps. 42:3). And when he reflects upon these matters he will be startled, he will fear, and will tremble that he is a very small and lowly creature standing with poor and scanty knowledge before Him.⁹Maimonides, Hilkhoth Yesode Ha-Torah, 2:2, adds the words, “Who is omniscient,” (literally, “Whose knowledge is complete”). And so did David say, “When I behold Thy heavens the work of Thy fingers etc…. What is man that Thou art mindful of him” (Ps. 8:4).