You shall be courageous and take from the fruit of the land (Bamidbar 13:20)

Why did Moshe command the Meraglim, the Spies he sent to Eretz Yisrael, to take fruit from the Land? I think the reason might be because looking at a piece of fruit can increase one’s love and trust in Hashem. When a person looks at fruit, he clearly sees there is a G-d who watches over ever little detail of the world.

Let me share with you some beautiful thoughts about an apple that Rav Avigdor Miller shares with us in his sefer Rejoice O Youth.

Look at the outside of an apple. It has a smooth skin which contains oils that make the apple waterproof. Not only that, but the oils also give off an aroma to make the fruit more desirable. Also, the skin has a beautiful red color to it, but that color only appears when the apple is ripe. The color is green and hidden within the leaves on the tree when it is unripe. When it ripens, it catches one’s eyes and advertises with its red color that it is now good. The red color also arouses one’s appetite.

The apple also has a stem which supports the apple and lets water and nutrients pass from the tree to the apple. When the fruit no longer needs the tree because it is now fully ripe, the stem “as if it possessed by a built-in automatic timed-release, loosens its grip to allow the fruit to come off easily.”

Also notice that the fruit is filled with juice, but when the apple is sliced, the juices do not come spilling out. They are masterfully held together by the pieces of the fruit and only when squeezed for juice do the juices separate.

The seeds of an apple are enclosed within a tough, leathery skin, which protects the seed. This outside layer makes the seed undesirable so the one eating the fruit spits it out on the ground. Well, these seeds grow into new apple trees. So, within the apple, there is a mechanism so more apples can be grown.

This is only a few examples regarding one fruit! There are so many amazing things we can see from every fruit that Hashem created. Now, did the apple wake up one day and say, “Hey, I think I should be red,” or “I think I should make sure to make undesirable seeds that people will spit on the ground so I can reproduce.” Of course the apple did not think this. The apple was created this way by Hashem.

If Hashem takes so much care for each individual apple then certainly He will take care of us. This is the message Moshe wanted to send to the Jewish people, but the Meraglim missed this point. We should learn a lesson from this, though, and make sure to look closely at any and all fruits we eat. Each one is a beautiful sign that Hashem cares so much for everything in this world.

Good Shabbos!
-yes
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