[Avodah] Haetz and Shehecheyanu

Micha Berger micha at aishdas.org
Thu Feb 15 09:00:25 PST 2018


Sorry, I shouldn't have approved RAM's email, as it's a reply to something
I wrote him privately. No context!

Well, here's the exchange, my email and his, starting with my quote
of RAF:

On Wed, Feb 14, 2018 at 04:00:09PM +0100, Arie Folger via Avodah wrote:
: Perhaps we're missing a little obvious fact. Could it be that the joy
: of seeing fruits is particularly felt by farmers, and that back when
: everyone was a farmer of sorts, even if only in their garden (remember,
: before the advent of refridgirators, either you had your own vegetable
: garden or didn't eat them fresh)...

Me:
> The refigerator comment is a distraction, since (as you make clear below)
> you're talking about a change that was at least 500 years ago.

RAF, continuing:
: Nowadays, hardly anyone is a farmer, and therefore we do not feel much joy
: upon seeing the new fruits, hence we switched to blessing upon eating ...
: So 500 years ago, in teh time of the Ramo, we were already not necessarily
: rejoicing upon the mere sight of a new fruit, but the joy still lingered.
: Meanwhile, we do not even necessarily feel the seasons in the grocery
: store, therefore there are a bunch of fruits for which we no longer recite
: shehe'hiyanu.

Me, continuing:
> I did mention that the whole taqanah of making shehechiyanu on new fruit
> was not about looking for a dragonfruit or a gooseberry, or some other
> exotic fruit you never otherwise would have spent that kind of money
> on. And that the shift from an agrarian society's excitement that a new
> crop came in to what we do togay is a much bigger change. One that I
> wonder whether shehechiyanu really is apporpriate altogether.

> Ironically, you can get an imported apple today at a time when it's
> out-of-season in your part of the world for less money than that
> dragonfruit. And for those of us in many parts of the world, the more
> local one isn't so local that it's noticably fresher in taste. There is
> no experience of a new season. Whether or not you wait to actually eat
> it.

I thought I was just  repeating myself, so I didn't send to the list:

On Wed, Feb 14, 2018 at 06:40:11PM -0500, Akiva Miller via Avodah wrote:
: Yes, I can totally agree with this. It is an important question; maybe
: we should drop this Shehecheyanu entirely? My suspicion is that it may
: simply fade away of its own accord, simply from a lack of relevant
: situations, exactly like the Shehecheyanu on seeing someone again
: after a long while. Truth be told, I have made Rosh Hashana several
: times without a new fruit, because despite my going to the market, I
: simply didn't see any fruit that was both new and tasty.
: 
: BUT - do not lose sight of this question being a different one than
: we've been discussing so far. Namely: *IF* the Shehecheyanu is going
: to be said, is it before or after the Haetz?

Chodesh Tov!
Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             If you won't be better tomorrow
micha at aishdas.org        than you were today,
http://www.aishdas.org   then what need do you have for tomorrow?
Fax: (270) 514-1507              - Rebbe Nachman of Breslov


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