[Avodah] FRUITFUL QUESTION

[Richard Wolberg]

All of the m'forshim agree that we don't know for sure what fruit was from the Eitz hadaas and that 
it was NOT an apple. Perhaps a fig because of the fig leaves. Somewhere it was asked why we dip an 
apple in honey on R"H. Why not a pear or peach or mango, etc. According to the Midrash the apple
symbolizes Gan Eden which has the scent of an apple orchard. In Kabbalah it is called "the holy apple
orchard." In fact when Yitzchok commented regarding Yaakov (Bereshis 27:27), "Behold, the fragrance 
of my son is like the fragrance of a field, which God has blessed", Rashi explains that this refers to the 
scent of an apple orchard; the scent of Gan Eden. Furthermore, when Shlomo Hamelech depicts the 
love God harbors for His nation, he writes (Shir Hashirim 8:5): "Beneath the apple tree I aroused your 
love." Eating an apple, therefore, on R"H is an attempt to remind God of our age old love.

Now my question is why should it not have been an "apple"? With all of the above commentaries, it would
seem quite logical that the fruit could very well have been an apple.