Another matter: “You shall take a bunch of hyssop” – that is what is written: “Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest [so is my beloved]” (Song of Songs 2:3). Why is the Holy One blessed be He likened to an apple tree? It is to say to you: Just as the apple tree appears to the eye with nothing,2It does not have many leaves when its fruit first appear. but it has taste and fragrance, the same is true of the Holy One blessed be He, as it is stated: “His palate is sweet; all of Him is lovely” (Song of Songs 5:16).
He appeared to idolaters but they did not wish to accept the Torah, and the Torah was in their eyes like a matter lacking substance, but [in fact] it has taste and aroma. Taste [ta’am], from where is it derived? It is as it is stated: “Consider [ta’amu] and see that the Lord is good” (Psalms 34:9). It has food, as it is written: “My fruit is better than gold, than fine gold” (Proverbs 8:19).
It has fragrance, as it is stated: “The fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon” (Song of Songs 4:11). Israel said: We know the power of Torah; therefore, we will not move from the Holy One blessed be He and his Torah, as it is stated: “In its shadow I delighted and sat, and its fruit was sweet to my palate” (Song of Songs 2:3). Likewise, there are items that appear to be lowly, and the Holy One blessed be He issued a command to perform several mitzvot with them.
The hyssop appears to a person to be insignificant, but its power is great before God, as in several places He analogizes it to the cedar: In the purification of the leper, the burning of the heifer, and in Egypt he issued a command to perform a mitzva with the hyssop, as it is stated: “You shall take a bunch of hyssop.” Likewise, regarding Solomon it is stated: “He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that emerges from the wall” (I Kings 5:13), to teach that large and small are equal before the Holy One blessed be He.
With small items He performs miracles, and by means of the hyssop, which is the lowliest of the trees, he redeemed Israel; that is: “Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest.”