READING: between after midnight and sunrise of Sunday

Zohar for All. Introduction of The Book of Zohar. The Twelfth Commandment, item 245

The Twelfth Commandment

245) The twelfth commandment is to bring the first fruit of the tree, as it is written, “And every tree which has fruit yielding seed.” Everything that befits Me is forbidden for you to eat. He permitted to them and gave them all of His tithing and the first fruit of the tree, as it is written, “I have given unto you,” to you and not to the generations following you.

This relates to the verse in which He ends the eleventh commandment, where it is written, “All the tithe of the land, of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s.” He says that here it writes, “And every tree which has fruit yielding seed.” As it is the first fruit there, it is the first fruit here. And He says, “Everything that befits Me is forbidden for you to eat,” meaning not specifically the tithing, but the first fruit as well, from the verse, “…of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s.” “The Lord’s” means everything that befits Me, including the first fruit of the tree.

Thus, this verse, “And every tree which has fruit yielding seed,” engages in the first fruit, too. This is why it was said that He permitted to them and gave them all of His tithing and the first fruit of the trees, since the writings relate only to the tithing and the first fruit.

Do not be surprised by the words, “Of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s,” being said about the eleventh commandment and not this commandment. Indeed, The Zohar mixes them right at the beginning of the eleventh commandment, for it says, “There are two commandments here.” The printer, however, divided them into two. It follows that he cut them in the middle and left the verse about the first fruit in the eleventh commandment.

And another precision: The text concerns the tithing and the first fruit because of the words, “I have given you,” meaning not to the generations following you, that is, only you have I given to eat, and not to the generations after you. Hence, it cannot be said that the writing speaks merely of the yield of the land, which we, too, are permitted to eat. Rather, it speaks only of the yield of the land that we are forbidden to eat, which is necessarily the tithing and the first fruit.