Here there’s an almond tree—you have never seen
Such a one in the north—it flowers on the street, and I stand
Every day by the fence to look up for the flowers that expand
At rest in the blue, and wonder at what they mean.
D.H. Lawrence, Letter from Town: The Almond Tree
The Test
Commentary
(3) ויגמל שקדים AND BORNE ALMONDS — That it was recognizable, that the fruit was recognized as almonds. This language is similar to “And the child grew (ויגמל) and was weaned (Genesis 21:8)”. This expression is frequently used of the fruit of trees, as e.g. (Isaiah 18:5) “And the blossom become a ripening (גמל) grape”. But why almonds? Because it is a fruit that blossoms earlier than all other fruits; so, too, the punishment of him who sets himself in opposition to the institution of the priesthood comes quickly, just as we find stated in the case of Uzziah (II Chronicles 26:19) “And the leprosy instantly broke out in his forehead”. — Its translation in the Targum is: וכפת שגדין, meaning that it produced a kind of cluster of almonds, knotted together, one upon the other (Aramaic כפת denotes “tied”).
"and bore ripe": The usage of this word in Genesis 21:8 clarifies its meaning here: "And the child grew and was weaned...." Many say, because of the almonds, that the staff came from that tree. This inference, however, is not proof. By way of homiletical explanation, the word "almonds" is from the same root as "watchful" in Jeremiah 1:12: "For I am watchful to bring my word to pass."
תנו רבנן עשרה דברים נבראו בערב שבת בין השמשות ואלו הן באר ומן וקשת הכתב והמכתב והלוחות קברו של משה ומערה שעמד בה משה ואליהו פתיחת פי האתון ופתיחת פי הארץ לבלוע את הרשעים ויש אומרים אף מקלו של אהרן שקדיה ופרחיה ויש אומרים אף המזיקין
The Sages taught: Ten phenomena were created on Shabbat eve during twilight, and they were: Miriam’s well, and manna, and the rainbow, writing, and the writing instrument, and the tablets, the grave of Moses, and the cave in which Moses and Elijah stood, the opening of the mouth of Balaam’s donkey, and the opening of the mouth of the earth to swallow the wicked in the time of Korah. And some say that even Aaron’s staff was created then with its almonds and its blossoms. Some say that even the demons were created at this time.
ויוצא פרח ויצץ ציץ, “it had brought forth sprouts, produced blossoms, and borne almonds.” The reason the staff produced almonds instead of some other fruit is because not only are almonds highly regarded but they are the first to mature after winter. The word שקד suggests a kind of eagerness such as the prophet Jeremiah describing G’d as “eager” to carry out His promise/threat. In that particular instance the almond tree symbolized the bitter taste of some almonds and G’d used it as a threat of the Jewish people tasting the bitterness of exile. We have other examples of similar meanings of the simile of almonds. The people of Israel were to learn from this that if someone challenges the hierarchy as established by the Torah not only would he be punished but his punishment would be swift. The attribute of Justice would be activated against such a person. King Uzziah was a case in point; he was punished immediately he offered incense, his forehead becoming afflicted with tzoraat, the dreaded skin disease (Chronicles II 26,19).
Other Episodes with Aaron's Staff
The Rod of Aaron and the Sin of Moses, William H. Propp, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 107, No. 1 (Mar., 1988) at 26: "In sum, the sin of Moses is striking the crag with Aaron's rod and addressing the people instead of displaying the rod and commanding rock to produce water. I have said that this rod was a monitory sign to the rebellious Israelites. It was also a symbol of the primacy of the tribe of Levi and in particular of the exclusive priesthood of the house of Aaron, which just been confirmed in the Korah rebellion. In illegitimately employing the rod of Aaron, the Levite Moses disobeyed [Adonai] and deserved death."
From Holman's Bible: "Aaron's Rod that Budded"
http://thebiblerevival.com/clipart/1890holmanbible/bw/aaronsrodthatbudded.jpg
Almond Blossoms are Also Related to the Menorah
The wisdom of the Menorah with its cups, its calyxes and petals, where will you find it? It is well hidden! (Referring to Job 28:12 "But where can wisdom be found; Where is the source of understanding?...It is hidden from the eyes of all living, Concealed from the fowl of heaven. (Job 28:12, 21 TNK)). However, its essence is the hammered work of 6 branches which issued from the 7th (interpreting Ex. 25:31-2 as a mystical reference to sefirot) and upon them was the lamp of God and all of them shining to a side of its display. All this is possible to understand from our words that we wrote in another place and this is their heading: That Moses found the matter of the Menorah difficult to comprehend (see, B. Menachot 29a)
Contemporary Reflection, Rachel Adler, in The Torah: A Women's Commentary, Tamara Cohn Eskenazi, Andrea L. Weiss, at 540: "Clearly the Menorah embodies some kind of metaphor. But metaphor has rules, just like tennis or Scrabble. One rule is that there has to be some link between the tenor (the topic under discussion) and the vehicle (the concrete object to which it is being compared). What, then, is tall, has a keneh (stem), with kanim (branches) extending from it, and p'rachim (flowers) intermixed with bud-like swellings (kaftorim)? The Menorah is a representation of a flowering almond tree! The almond tree is distinctive not only in that it blossoms early, but also in that it then rapidly buds leaves, develops new branches, and forms its sustaining fruit--all before the flowers' calyx drops off (Nogah Hareuveni, Nature in Our Biblical Heritage, 1980, p. 130). Its Hebrew name, shaked, means "the early waker," and it may symbolize God's watchfulness God's watchfulness or the speed with which God responds (Jeremiah 1:11). It is also the legitimating emblem of the Aaronite priesthood. At the end of Korah's rebellion in Numbers 17, Moses deposits the staffs of all the Israelite chieftains in the Tent of Meeting, "and there the staff of Aaron...had sprouted; it had brought forth sprouts, produced blossoms and borne almonds" (17:23).
"The spoils in general were borne in great heaps. Above all stood those taken from the temple at Jerusalem. They consisted of a golden table of the weight of many talents and a lampstand, also made of gold, but constructed differently than those we use ordinarily. Its middle shaft was fixed upon a base from which small branches extended in the likeness of a trident, and each one had a wrought socket for a lamp at the top. These lamps were seven in number, representing honor paid to the number seven among the Jews." (Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 7:148-9)
The Menorah, the Burning Bush and the Almond Tree
(1) Now Moses, tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, drove the flock into the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. (2) An angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire out of a bush. He gazed, and there was a bush all aflame, yet the bush was not consumed. (3) Moses said, “I must turn aside to look at this marvelous sight; why doesn’t the bush burn up?” (4) When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him out of the bush: “Moses! Moses!” He answered, “Here I am.” (5) And He said, “Do not come closer. Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground.
Sinai & Zion, Jon Levenson, at 20-1: "[T]here is an unmistakable play on Sinai in the account in Exod. 3:1-6 of the burning bush (sene), which Moses encountered at Horeb. The marvel that attracts Moses' attention here is a bush that burns and burns, but is never burnt up--the prototypical renewable source of energy. The document from which this narrative is drawn refers to the mountain of God not as Sinai, but as Horeb (v 1). Still, the closeness in sound of sene ("bush") and Sinay ("Sinai") cannot be coincidental. Perhaps the play on words here derives from the notion that the emblem of the Sinai deity was a tree of some sort; hence the popular association of Sinay and sene. In fact, a blessing on the tribe of Joseph identifies [Adonai] with "the one who dwells in the bush" (Deut. 33:16). If "bush" is not a scribal error for "Sinai," the tree here is not merely a device to attract attention, as one might think from Exodus 3, but is, rather, an outward manifestation of divine presence. [Adonai] is the numen of the bush. The conjunction in Exodus 3 of bush or tree (we do not know the precise meaning of sene) and fire is not surprising in light of later [Adonai]istic tradition. "[Adonai] your God," thunders a Deuteronomistic homilist, "is a devouring fire, a jealous God" (Deut.4:24). In the encounter of Moses and the burning bush, two of [Adonai's] emblems--tree and fire--clash, and neither overpowers the other. The two will appear again in tandem in the menora, the Tabernacle candelabrum which is actually a stylized tree, complete with "branches," "almond-shaped cups," calyces," and petels" ) (Exod. 25:31-39). This arborescent lampstand appears not only in the Tabernacle which served as Israel's central sanctuary in the period of wandering in the wilderness, but also in the Temple that was to be built by Solomon in the early monarchical era (1 Kgs 7:49). The Temple at Jerusalem was lit by the fires of a burning tree."
Almonds Were a Choice Product of the Land of Canaan
The Almond Tree's Early Blooming was Used as a Metaphor for Watchfulness and Fruitfulness
(5) When one is afraid of heights And there is terror on the road.— For the almond tree may blossom, The grasshopper be burdened, And the caper bush may bud again; But man sets out for his eternal abode, With mourners all around in the street.—
Origin and Dissemination of Almond, Thomas M. Gradziel https://eurekamag.com/pdf/038/038900919.pdf
"The almond is the earliest deciduous fruit and nut tree to bloom in spring due to its relatively low winter chilling requirement and quick response to warm growing temperatures in the spring (Tabuenca et al. 1972; DiGrandiHoffman et al. 1994). In nature, the almond growth cycle is well adapted to a Mediterranean or desert climate where plants are dormant during winter precipitations and associated low temperatures. Blooming and vegetative growth occur in late winter or early spring when temperatures become mild (Tabuenca et al. 1972; Egea et al. 2003)...The Hebrew name for almond is or shaqed, which has its roots in an ancient Semitic term, as seen in the Akkadian sˇiqdu and Ugaritic thaqid as well as in old Ethiopic language. Shaqed may also be translated as "watchful," symbolizing God's watchfulness over his people; as in Jeremiah 1:11–12, "And the word of the Lord came to me, saying 'Jeremiah, what do you see?' And I said, 'I see an almond branch.' Then the Lord said to me, 'You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.'" An early biblical reference, Numbers 17:8, describes how the staffs of the 12 princes of Israel were placed into the Tabernacle after the Exodus. Only the staff of Aaron of the house of Levy, which was almond, flowered. This was interpreted as a sign of divine favor to Aaron, of God"s watchfulness over him and his descendants (Rosengarten 1984). According to tradition, the staff of Aaron bore sweet kernels on one side and bitter kernels on the other, symbolizing sustenance if the Israelites followed the Lord but bitterness if they were to forsake of the Lord.
Almond Trees in Blossom
