The fruit of the jewish pomegranate

The pomegranate is a tree that offers a singular and unique fruit the size of a large apple, whose interior is populated with sweet grains.

Its area of origin is established between Kurdistan, Afghanistan, Syria and ancient Persia, there are Latin numbers that express that they are abundant in grains; that’s how the Romans called it a grain apple.

It is a fruit linked to the history of the people who settled in Mesopotamia and the Near East prior to the first millennium BC and who had languages with a common origin.

The legend attributed to the pomegranate the place that the apple occupies in the temptation that Eve induced in Adam and as such it is a fruit of paradise.

In the Rome of the Empire it was a symbol of fertility and wealth and it continued to be considered that way until the Middle Ages when the Andalusians highlighted the culinary qualities of cultivated pomegranates and the medicinal qualities of sour or wild ones.

In Greece it was consecrated to the goddess Aphrodite, while in Syria it was consecrated to the goddess Rimmel.

The Arab historian Ahmad Al Razid wrote that the city today called Granada was known as Garnatat Al Yahud, whose translation means Granada of the Jews.

The truth is that the number of this city is synonymous with a sweet and beautiful fruit, pleasing to the palate and the eye, with a delicate perfume and delicious flavor with a history and a thousand-year-old poetic ritual.

Said fruit maintains a very special and essential meaning for the Jews, to the point of considering it sacred. According to tradition, when you open a pomegranate, whatever its size, the fruit always contains, in all cases, 613 grains. This is the number of precepts that a good Jew must fulfill in order to be an ethical and fair person.

This town also grants the pomegranate the symbolism of abundance, which is why pomegranates should be taken during the celebration of the Jewish New Year in early autumn, when the fruit is ripe and sweet to drink.

Among the various festive celebrations on the Jewish calendar, undoubtedly the most solemn and important is the weekly Shabbat, the Sabbath rest.

During it, no one can work or be worried or sad; It is a day of solace and rejoicing that should be dedicated to study, prayer, and the well-being of body and spirit.

Like all the designated days of the year in the Hebrew year, the festival begins on the eve of the previous day, that is, on Friday, once the first three stars have appeared in the sky and ends on Saturday itself when the same thing happens.

Rosh Ha-shana or New Year is celebrated with a hearty dinner with adaphine, a very popular dish among Sephardic Jews because it is traditionally made in a clay pot on Friday night and eaten on Shabbat, and also an inevitable fruit, the pomegranate, being a vehicle of good omen.