Why Israel Is Likened to a Nut in the Garden

Pesikta Rabbati 11:1

Curated by Arthur·Told by Maggid·

"Judah and Israel were many, like the sand by the sea in multitude" (1 Kings 4:20). You find that Israel endure in the world only by the merit of the commandments they perform in the land. Balaam said, "Who can count the dust of Jacob" (Numbers 23:10) — who can count the commandments Israel perform with the dust: one sows and observes "You shall not sow your vineyard with mixed kinds" (Deuteronomy 22:9); one plows and observes "You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together" (Deuteronomy 22:10). Even when Israel come to a deficiency and the Holy One, blessed be He, brings chastisement upon them, they return and multiply again, as in the days of David, when seventy thousand fell, yet they increased in the days of Solomon beyond what they had been. "To the nut garden I went down" (Song of Songs 6:11). Why are Israel likened to a nut? Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin said in the name of Rabbi Levi: all trees, when struck, cover their roots and live; but the nut tree, when struck, exposes its roots and lives. So Israel: "He who covers his transgressions shall not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them shall obtain mercy" (Proverbs 28:13). Another explanation: just as the nut is made of four chambers, so when Israel went out to the wilderness, Moses made them four banners with the Divine Presence in their midst. Another: the nut is a plaything for a child and a delight for kings; so Israel, when worthy, "kings shall be your nurturers" (Isaiah 49:23), and when they sin, "I have become a laughingstock to all peoples" (Lamentations 3:14). Another: when other fruits fall to the ground and are soiled, the soul recoils from eating them; but the nut, if it falls and is soiled, one washes it and eats it. So Israel, though soiled with sins all year, Yom Kippur comes and washes them clean, for "on this day He shall atone for you, to cleanse you" (Leviticus 16:30). Another: take a nut, throw it into a basket, and add sesame or pepper or pulse among them, and they will all hold together as you cannot do with dates or figs. So Israel receive everyone who comes to convert. Rabbi Levi said: the nut has three kinds — soft ones that crack of themselves, middling ones that break with a tap, and hard ones that resist even a stone. So among Israel are those who do a commandment of their own accord, those who do it the moment they are asked, and those who, even when pressed many times, are of little use. Yet even so, said Rabbi Levi, the door that is not open to the commandment is open to the physician.

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