The connection between Isaac Newton and Steve Jobs is fairly obvious -- the apple of course! But King Solomon? That's a honey of a query. Certainly, he didn't ask: "To bee or not to bee a lover of apples?"
It turns out that this fruit was the apple of his eye. Look at what he penned in The Song of Songs: "As an apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. Under its shadow I delight to sit, and its fruit was sweet to my taste."Now there's an Aha moment! In one breath we have an apple and a sweet taste. To paraphrase Newton -- for Solomon, the apple was the force directly proportional to the amount of sweetness we need.
Or perhaps Solomon was more like Steve Jobs, who simply enjoyed picking apples?
Whatever the reason, the lines penned by our ancient king of wisdom could very well be the origin of the apple-eating custom on Rosh Hashanah. And the tradition of dipping this fruit into the sweet, sticky fluid made by bees?I don't want to upset the apple cart. I'm going to let you and your students/children connect the dots.
I'll be back soon with some more unusual traditions and thoughts about the High Holy Days.
King Solomon Credit
Isaac Newton Credit
Steve Jobs Photo Credit
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