Rectifying the Sin of the Tree of Knowledge.
Back in the 18th century, a fascinating story circulated among
Jews that the Queen of Prussia, Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, wife of King Frederick William III, had resorted to a Jewish segulah involving an esrog to ensure the healthy birth of her eldest son, who was later to become King
Frederick William IV. Louise, who had given birth to a stillborn girl in October
1794, wanted to maximize her chances that her next pregnancy would result in a healthy son.
It is interesting to note that Louise was believed to have been descended from a
prominent Tunisian rabbinical family through her father, Karl II Ludwig von
Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Karl’s ancestress, Madragana, wife of King Alonso III of
Portugal, was a descendant of Nissim ben Yaakov Ibn Shahin, one of the foremost Jewish scholars of the eleventh century and
the leader of the North African Jewish community. Nissims’s father, head of the beis midrash in Kairouan, Tunisia, wrote a letter to Rav Sherira Gaon asking about the authorship and composition of the Mishnah and Talmud. The famous response is known as Iggeres Rav Sherira Gaon.
According to the tale related about the Queen of Prussia, she obtained an esrog on Hoshana Rabbah, bit off the pitom, spit it out and recited a special prayer while contributing money to charity. Whether or not his healthy birth was the direct result of his mother’s actions, King Frederick William IV would grow up to pass a law in 1847 recognizing the corporate status of individual Jewish communities in his kingdom.
The text of the tefillah used for this segulah is cited in several sources, including Moed Lekol Chai of Rav Chaim Palaggi (siman 24:25) and Matei Efraim, siman 660, se’if 6.
It was traditionally recited by women in German or in the original Hebrew. In English translation it reads as follows:
“L-rd of the universe, if one woman, [Chavah], tasted the fruit of the tree of the
Garden, shall Your wrath fall on all women?
If I had been in the Garden of Eden at that time I would not have listened to the snake and would not have tasted the fruit of the tree. I did not eat nor did I reap benefit from the esrog during the seven days of Sukkos,
as it was then ordained to fulfill a commandment. Even today, Hoshana Rabbah, when the time is passed for the observance of the commandment, it is not my wish to enjoy its use.”
Another version is: “Ribbono Shel Olam, Chavah gave Adam to eat the fruit of the
eitz hada’as and as a result brought death to the world. Had I been there I would not have eaten the esrog and I would not have agreed to what Chavah did. In that merit please accept my prayers and save me and my unborn child from dying during childbirth.”
According to one tradition, a childless woman who wanted to give birth to a son
would bite the pitom, although some believe that biting the pitom is a segulah to conceive, not necessarily to bear a male. The pitom would then usually be placed under the pillow or near the woman during childbirth to ease her pain.
But where did this practice originate?
Bereishis Rabbah (15:7) speculates that the tree from which Chavah ate in Gan
Eden was an esrog tree and goes on to explain why the pri eitz hadar, which is part of the arbaah minim on Sukkos, is an esrog.
He describes how the Ramban connects the shaking of the four minim of Sukkos
to atone for the sin of the eitz hada’as. The consequence of the sin of the eating
from the eitz hada’as tov va’ra, of course, was Hashem’s punishment of Chavah and her female progeny with the pain of labor and childbirth: “I will greatly increase your pain and your anguish; in pain you shall
bring forth children” (Bereishis 3:16). By biting the pitom off the esrog, a pregnant woman is thus symbolically declaring, “In the same way I have no enjoyment now, I had no enjoyment then [at the sin of the
eitz hada’as]” (Taamei Haminhagim Likkutim 68), saying in effect that she has no
wish to partake of any benefit Chavah may have had when she ate from the original esrog.
The custom is also referenced in the fourth volume of Sefer Moadim, where Dr. Yom Tov Lewinski writes that he came across a manuscript describing the practice during which the woman has in mind that Hashem should protect her during childbirth and the baby should come out healthy.
In Halakhic Positions of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik by Aharon Ziegler, he explains that according to the Midrash, the eitz hada’as was only forbidden before Shabbos and would have been permitted immediately afterwards. Because Chavah was unable to hold herself back for even that long she was punished. For this reason the pregnant woman states, “You see, Hashem,
I had an esrog in my hands throughout all of Sukkos, yet I controlled myself against temptation and didn’t eat of it until after
Yom Tov. Likewise, had I been in Gan Eden, I would have waited until after Shabbos. I therefore beg that You will hear my cry and mitigate my pain and suffering.”
In one of the responsa of Rav Chaim Kanievsky, he was asked whether it is permitted to bite the pitom off the esrog on Hoshana Rabbah or must one wait until after Shemini Atzeres (which is Simchas
Torah in Eretz Yisrael). He opined that it is forbidden and it is necessary to wait. His father-in-law, Rav Elyashiv, was of the same opinion, the reason being that Hoshana Rabbah is still part of the festival and it is prohibited to derive hana’ah from something that is still muktzah for a mitzvah.
In fact, some rabbanim were opposed to the minhag of biting off the pitom. The
Minchas Elazar writes that this customhas no makor, claiming that it was printed in the new editions of Matei Efraim but does not appear in the original. He forbids biting the pitom on Hoshana Rabbah itself
and only permits it after Simchas Torah.
Another custom of pregnant women associated with the esrog is the eating of
esrog jelly made from the fruit of the previous Sukkos as a segulah for a safe and easy delivery. As explained in Taamei Haminhagim (siman 815), the minhag is to preserve the slices or pieces with sugar and turn
them into a jam, which is then eaten on Tu Bi’Shvat, the New Year for trees. Rebbetzin Batsheva Kanievsky, the late daughter of Rav Elyashiv and wife of Rav Chaim Kanievsky, was famous for her esrog jelly.
The Talmud also states (Menachos 27a) that one who eats from the esrog will have fragrant children.
AMI