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<DIV><FONT lang=0 color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial>From: Arie Folger <A href="mailto:afolger@aishdas.org">afolger@aishdas.org</A><BR><BR><BR>>>
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_of_palm we are dealing<BR>with
an important edible product of a tree, about which I saw no<BR>indication that
it bears any other commestble fruits. So does one make<BR>a ha'etz on it, or if
not, why not? <<<BR><BR>-- <BR>Arie Folger,<BR></FONT></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV>There are hundreds of species of palm trees and some of them grow edible
fruit, e.g. dates and coconuts. We have many, many different kinds of palm
trees here in Florida.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>But I think the bracha on hearts of palm is adama because these are plants
that are planted and harvested like vegetables. The fact that if allowed
to continue growing, they would eventually grow to be trees, is not
relevant. Right now they are veggies and not trees. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Also I think ha'etz is said only on fruit. What bracha would you make
on the roots, leaves, bark or branches of a tree? I think
adamah. Hearts of palm are part of the tree itself -- they would grow up
to be wood if allowed to grow. They are not fruit.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>After writing the above I came across the following halachic article by R'
Yirmiyohu Kaganoff on the subject. Baruch shekivanti:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>--quote--</DIV>
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<P>Whereas most of the other items listed in this article are all relatively
recent innovations to the Jewish diet, Jews have been eating hearts of palm for
probably two thousand years. The Gemara (Berachos 36a) cites a dispute what
bracha to recite on them! Rav Yehudah contended that the bracha should be
ha’adamah like any other vegetable, whereas Shmuel held that it should be
shehakol since it eventually hardens. The Gemara then points out that there are
other vegetables such as radishes that harden and become inedible, and yet the
bracha is ha’adamah. This seems to conflict with Shmuel’s opinion. Shmuel
responds that farmers plant radishes intending to eat them as radishes, whereas
palm trees are not planted intending to eat the hearts!</P>
<P>The Gemara concludes that the halacha is like Shmuel that the bracha on palm
hearts is shehakol, and this is the accepted psak halacha (Shulchan Aruch
204:1). However, contemporary canners and producers of palm hearts do not
usually harvest them from wild growth because of environmental and market
availability concerns. Instead, they cultivate plantations of particular species
of palm for the hearts just like any other cash crop. Based on this information,
it seems that the correct bracha before eating palm hearts should be ha’adamah
and not shehakol. (It would not be ha’eitz because one is eating the stem, not
the fruit.)</P>
<P> </P>
<P>--end quote--</P>
<P><A href="http://rabbikaganoff.com/archives/1527">http://rabbikaganoff.com/archives/1527</A></P>
<P> </P></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT lang=0 color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><B>--Toby Katz<BR>==========<BR><BR></FONT><FONT lang=0 color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"></B>--------------------
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