I love capers. The intense, salty flavor of the caper compliments pastas, salads, fish and martinis so well. Mediterranean cuisine of all sorts (Italian, Greek, Cypriot,etc.) make generous use of the caper and have used them for thousands of years. In addition to the bud, which we call a “caper”, people eat the berries (which are larger and harder than the buds and especially well suited for martinis) and the leaves (which are pickled and used in salads or meat dishes). I have not had the caper leaves, but I will look for them now.Capers are ubiquitous in the Eastern Mediterranean. Indeed, capers grow in the Kotel (the Western Wall or the Wailing Wall (a slightly derogative name) which is the last remaining piece of the Temple and extremely holy to Jews). Today’s Daf considers the theological problems presented by the caper and its various edible elements.

Before diving into the Daf, however, I owe you an apology. My last post was 25 days ago. I am behind in Tractate Shabbat. I do hope to catch up. I have been busy at work and that has interfered to some extent with my posting. That excuse is only half-true. To be honest, the continuing home confinement has sapped me of energy. I have missed one child’s college graduation and one child’s high school graduation. Although I have more time in my day and more say over how I spend that time, I find that I do less. Today, I decided to try and get started again. My motivation is to learn and to share. I hope it carries me through. In particular, I do not want to disappoint my most loyal reader (my father)! I will pick back up with the Daf cycle when we get to Chapter Nine of Tractate Shabbat in a couple of days. For now, I will try to go back and pick up some of the Daf‘s I missed in Berakhot.

We left off in Berakhot considering which blessings are appropriate before we eat various foods. Today, we consider the many problems raised by the caper bush and its various edible constituents. To recap, the main blessings before food are as follows:

1. Borei p’ri ha’eitz – before we eat the fruit of the tree;
2. Borei p’ri hagafen – before we drink wine or eat grapes (a very special case);
3. Borei p’ri ha’adamah – before we eat vegtables;
4. Hamotzi lehem min ha’aeretz – before we eat bread (again, a very special case);
5. Borei minei mezonot – for grains; and
6. Shehakol niyah bidvaro – for everything else.

To see these blessings in Hebrew, English and transliteration, see My Jewish Learning. Importantly, when we eat a meal with multiple constituents or a food with multiple ingredients, we only say the blessing for the primary food, which covers the whole meal. Bread is always primary. Beyond that, we need to discern the primary food to know what is the correct blessing.

As we stated, capers present a lot of challenges. Do we say the same blessing when we eat the leaves as when we eat the berry? What about the bud? Before answering what prayer we must say about capers, the Talmud turns to a different rule. We are commanded not to eat the fruit of a tree for three years after we plant it, provided the tree is in Israel. An Israeli tree that has not reached three years is known as Orlah. The rule only applies to the frut of the tree, not to other parts of the tree. Accordingly, we can eat the leaves of a young caper bush and even the capers (which are considered husks covering the berries). We cannot however eat the berries of a young Israeli caper bush. This ruling confuses us because we say the fruit of the tree blessing (number 1 above) for the berries and the capers. Why do they get inconsistent treatment in the two cases?

We also consider whether a caper bush can be planted in a vineyard. Biblical law prohibits planting grain and vegetables in a vineyard, but allows planing fruit trees in a vineyard. Hillel and Shammai dispute whether we can plant a caper bush in a vineyard, indicating a dispute as to whether the bush is a fruit or something else. Eventually we conclude that the caper berry is a fruit requiring the fruit of the tree blessing (number 1), but the caper (which is a husk over the unripe berry) is a vegetable which requires blessing number 3 above (which contradicts an previous statement).

Why do we care? Is this deciding how many angels fit on the head of a pin? If you view the Torah as God’s all-encompassing plan for the world, then working out which blessing we say over which part of the caper bush is working out God’s plan for the world. We are not debating minutiae, rather we are finding the underlying rules, applying them to novel situations and then making sure they are consistent with all of our other rules (we accept implicitly that God would not allow a contradiction). We go on to consider pepper (the spice, not the vegetable), ginger and various types of porridge – always seeking God’s plan for the world. By reciting the proper blessing in ambiguous situations, we are not only signalling our subservience and obedience to God, but we are showing that we are truly made in God’s image by following God’s rules for the world.

One interesting side note in the Daf. The Daf considers a paste made in India with ground ginger and honey. The Talmud says it comes from the Heenduai – the land of the Hindus. This means our Rabbis around the year 1000 in the Common Era in Babylonia (modern day Iraq) were aware of the Hindus almost 2,000 miles away. The prevelance of Indian products and knowledge of Hinduism attests to the interconnections of the two civilizations through trade.

It’s really good to be back! This blog can be hard work, though, and I am out of practice. I need to celebrate my return with a very cold martini with two caper berries!