Pomegranate - Return To Holiness

ט' שבט ה'תשס"ז

The fifth product of the Land of the Divine Feminine eaten during Tu B'Shevat is the pomegranate (rimon, רימון). Thought to be the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, rimon can mean either the pomegranate fruit or shell.

In Jewish kabbalah, a shell is a kelipah. A kelipah is "the outer shell which conceals the godly light within all creation; hence, it is the unholy side of the universe."

As the epitome of unholiness, the root from which rimon is derived is RMM (רמם), meaning "exalting", "raise from a low level", "elevating" and "bringing to life" [1]. Moreover, Ramchal [2] teaches in Secrets Of The Redemption:

At present the shell is in an impure state, but it is needed - its role is to protect the inside. However (in the era of redemption), then the shell itself will be on a holy level.

Thus, the pomegranate contains within its symbolism the holy seeds of "unholiness" and through the meaning of the root, elevates and transforms the impure to the pure. In other words, by eating of this fruit, we are raising the shell which is our material animal nature, elevating it to a holy nature, and bringing vitalized holiness into our life. We are returning our physical nature, not to innocence, but to experienced holiness.

Footnotes:

[1] Etymological Dictionary Of Biblical Hebrew, R' Matityahi Clark (p. 245)

[2] Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, Secrets Of The Redemption (p. 102)