Vayikra 2:11 records that “no minhah sacrifice that you offer to G-d shall be made with leaven (hametz), for no se'or or devash may be turned into smoke as an offering by fire to G-d (JPS translation).” This verse means that the minhah sacrifice, which was a grain sacrifice, could not contain devash. Today the term devash means honey from bees, but is that its meaning in the Torah?
Rashi in his comments on Shemot 13:5 explains that devash means the juice that comes from dates and figs, and in his comments on Vayikra 2:11 he writes that any juice from a fruit is called devash. (Rashi on Eruvin 4b, rov, writes that the word devash in the Torah always means juice from dates.) Ibn Ezra (on 2:11) notes that many understand the word devash as juice from dates, and he believes that this definition has support from the book of Ezra. Nahum Sarna (1986, p. 47) notes that the term devash corresponds to the Arabic words dibs, which means syrup from grapes and dates. Devash is also listed as one of the seven species of the land of Israel in Devarim 8:8, and Tigay (1996, p. 94) in his comments on the verse, writes that, "since this verse is a list of agricultural products, devash must refer to the nectar of dates and figs."
A different definition is that devash means dates, see Rashbam on 2:11. Rambam (Laws of Blessings 8:1) writes that dates are considered as being one of the seven species, while devash is not. This means that one recites the blessing meayen shalosh after eating dates, but not after eating honey from bees. We see that the Rambam is following the interpretation that the term devash in the Torah is dates, and then dates are part of the seven species, while honey from bees is not one of the seven species even though today it is called devash, see Mishnah Berurah 208:1. (Encyclopedia Talmudit 7:195 notes that by the time of Chazal the word devash was understood to mean bee honey, see Mishnah Nedarim 6:9.)
There are some interpreters who understand devash to also refer to bee honey. Hoffmann (comments on 2:11) notes that Philo thought that the word devash in Devarim 8:8 means bee honey, but he thinks that devash must be dates since dates were such an important fruit in Israel that they had to be included in the verse. Rabinowitz (1977, p.137, see also Levine, 1989, p. 12) writes, "that while in the biblical period, devash was essentially the juice extracted from fruit (not necessarily from dates), it was primarily the juice of dates, although bee honey is also included." His reason for including honey from bees is from the story of Shimshon's riddle, Shoftim 14:8, and not from the Torah.
The Rambam (Mishnah Torah, Laws of prohibitions of the altar, 5:1) records that the prohibition of 2:11 is when the devash is added to any sacrifice or when the devash itself is offered as a sacrifice. The Mishnah Le-Melekh (Judah ben Samuel Rosanes, 1657-1727, Turkey) in his commentary on the Rambam notes that the Rambam did not define the term devash. (Was he relying on his ruling in Laws of blessing 8:1?) The Mishnah Le-Melekh quotes the Raah (?), that devash has to be juice from fruits and not bee honey since the following verse 2:12 seems to refer to devash as an offering of first fruits (which is not placed on the altar) and honey from bees cannot be considered a first fruit.
However, in addition to recording the prohibition of placing devash on the altar, 2:11 also records the prohibition of putting se’or on the altar, and states that the minhah sacrifice cannot become hametz. This conjunction implies that se’or and devash are forbidden since they could cause the grain of the sacrifice to become hametz, see Ibn Ezra on 2:11. This would means that devash ferments, just like se’or, but the Talmud (Pesachim 35b, see also Shulchan Arukh Orah Chayyim 462:1, though see Rashi on Pesachim 36A) states that fruit juices do not ferment. However, the Shulchan Arukh 462:2 writes that fruit juices with water speeds up the fermentation process. The Torah does not refer to any water being offered as part of the minhah sacrifice, but maybe the prohibition is that nothing is to be added to the minhah that might possibly enhance the fermentation process.
This question how to define devash also relates to our understanding of the phrase “a land flowing with halav (milk) and devash,” Shemot 3:8. Does the phrase mean milk and bee honey, milk and dates, milk and the juice of dates or milk and the juice of all fruits?
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