Daf Ditty Yoma 79 :‫ כוֶֹתֶבת‬Phoenix dactylifera

Phoenix dactylifera, commonly known as date or date palm, is a flowering plant

species in the palm family, Arecaceae, cultivated for its edible sweet fruit. The
species is widely cultivated across Northern Africa, the Middle East and South
Asia, and is naturalized in many tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. P.
dactylifera is the type species of genus Phoenix, which contains 12–19 species of
wild date palms, and is the major source of commercial production.

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§ We learned in the mishna: On Yom Kippur, one who eats food the volume of a large date is
liable. Rav Pappa asked:

Jastrow

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The large date-bulk that they said is the measure that determines liability for eating on Yom
Kippur, does this refer to the volume of a large date with its pit or without its pit? Rav Ashi
asked a similar question: The mishna that states that a bone that is a barley-grain-bulk imparts
ritual impurity, does this refer to the volume of a barley grain with its husk or without its husk?
And is that referring to a wet kernel or a dry one? The Gemara clarifies: Rav Ashi did not ask
the question that Rav Pappa asked, regarding the size of the date-bulk on Yom Kippur because
the answer was clear to him. Since it is stated in the mishna: Large, it means as large as possible,
which must include the pit. Conversely, Rav Pappa did not ask the question that Rav Ashi asked
regarding the size of the barley-grain-bulk because the answer was clear to him. Wet barley is
called shibbolet and not barley; without its shell it is no longer called barley but is called ushla.
Therefore, the mishna must be referring to dry barley within its shell.

Rava said that Rav Yehuda said: The volume of a large date that they said is larger than an
egg-bulk. The Sages have an accepted tradition that with this amount of food, the mind of the
one who eats is settled, and he is not afflicted. Less than this amount, the mind is not settled.
The Gemara raises an objection from what we have learned: An incident happened on the festival
of Sukkot. They brought a cooked dish to Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai to taste, and they
brought to Rabban Gamliel two dates and a tankard of water. Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai
and Rabban Gamliel said to them: Bring them up to the sukka, and we will eat there. And a
baraita was taught in that regard: They did not act this way because that is the halakha, that
such food must be eaten in the sukka. Rather, they wished to be stringent upon themselves and
not eat anything outside of the sukka.

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On the other hand, the Gemara reports: And when they gave Rabbi Tzadok food that was less
than an egg-bulk to eat, he held it in a cloth and did not wash his hands. And he ate it outside
of the sukka and did not recite Grace after Meals afterward.

Until now, the Gemara has assumed that the volume of a large date is more than that of an egg.
Rav Zevid disagreed with what was mentioned earlier and said: This is not so. Rather, the volume
of a large date that they spoke of is less than an egg-bulk, as we learned in a mishna: Beit
Shammai say: With regard to leaven, the sourdough used to make dough rise, ownership of the
volume of an olive-bulk violates the prohibitions in the following verses stated regarding
Passover:

‫ ִשְׁבַﬠת‬,‫ ֵאת‬,‫ ֵיָאֵכל‬,‫ ז ַמצּוֹת‬7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days; and
-‫ ְול ֹא‬,‫ ָחֵמץ‬g‫ֵיָרֶאה ְל‬-‫ ַהָיִּמים; ְול ֹא‬there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there
.g‫ְגֻּבֶל‬-‫ְבָּכל‬--‫ ְשֹׂאר‬g‫ֵיָרֶאה ְל‬ be leaven seen with thee, in all thy borders.
Ex 13:7

“And no leavened bread shall be seen with you” and

‫ ל ֹא ִיָמֵּצא‬,‫ְשֹׂאר‬--‫יט ִשְׁבַﬠת ָיִמים‬
,‫ֹאֵכל ַמְחֶמֶצת‬-‫ִכּי ָכּל‬ :‫ְבָּבֵתּיֶכם‬
--‫ְו ִנְכ ְרָתה ַהֶנֶּפשׁ ַהִהוא ֵמֲﬠַדת ִיְשָׂרֵאל‬
.‫ וְּבֶאְזַרח ָהָאֶרץ‬,‫ַבֵּגּר‬
19 Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses;
for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, that soul shall be
cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a
sojourner, or one that is born in the land.
Ex 12:19

“Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses”

However, the amount of leavened bread that must be owned to violate the prohibition is the
volume of a large date.

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Rather, it cannot be proven from here. Proof can be found from here: How much must one eat
to obligate those with whom he ate in an invitation [zimmun] for Grace After Meals? An olive-
bulk of food suffices to obligate those with whom they ate in a zimmun; these are the words of
Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Yehuda says: An egg-bulk is the minimum measure to obligate those with
whom they ate in a zimmun. The Gemara clarifies: With regard to what do they disagree? Rabbi
Meir holds that the verse

‫ ְיהָוה‬-‫וֵּבַרְכָתּ ֶאת‬--‫ ְוָשָׂבְﬠָתּ‬,‫ י ְוָאַכְלָתּ‬10 And thou shalt eat and be satisfied, and bless the LORD
.‡‫ָל‬-‫ָהָאֶרץ ַהֹטָּבה ֲאֶשׁר ָנַתן‬-‫ ַﬠל‬,g‫ֱא„ֶהי‬ thy God for the good land which He hath given thee.
Deut 8:10

“And you shall eat and be satisfied and bless the Lord your God” should be understood as
follows: “And you shall eat”; this is referring to eating. “And be satisfied”; this is referring to
drinking. The definition of eating throughout the Torah is consuming an olive-bulk. Rabbi
Yehuda holds: “And you shall eat and be satisfied” is referring to eating that causes
satisfaction, and what is that? The volume of an egg-bulk. Less than that amount of food is not
satisfying.

Summary1
In discussing afflicting ourselves on Yom Kippur, the rabbis identify fasting as a form of
affliction. But might it be permitted to eat a very small amount of food and continue to be
afflicted? How much food might that be?

The rabbis focus on amounts of food that might be permitted on Yom Kippur. Less than a date-
bulk? Less than an egg-bulk? Less than an olive-bulk? The rabbis debate about whether the date-
bulk includes its pit or not. Then they argue about whether a date-bulk might be larger than an
egg-bulk. What they want to avoid is eating enough to "settle the mind", which would lessen our
affliction on Yom Kippur.

The laws of Sukkot and the laws of Pesach are used to untangle this debate. On Sukkot, meals
must be eaten in the sukkah. Would a date-bulk count as a meal, or would it be a 'snack' that could
be eaten outside of the sukkah? The same questions apply to an egg-bulk. And can fruits be called

1
https://dafyomibeginner.blogspot.com/search?q=yoma+79

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meals? On Pesach, leaven is not permitted and leavened bread is not permitted. But is a minimal
amount allowed - and if so, how much?

The notion of measuring something important with an approximate measure - a date-bulk or a

cubit - is remarkable. Even more remarkable when we remember that the punishment for
transgressing these halachot can be karet - death, excommunication, and/or death at the hand of
heaven. One would imagine that a very precise measure would be necessary to determine
liability. Perhaps there was more leniency in practice than it would seem.

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 THE SIZE OF A DATE AND ITS PIT

Rav Mordechai Kornfeld writes:2

Rav Papa asks whether the size of a Koseves (date) mentioned in the Mishnah (73b) as the
minimum quantity for which a person is liable for eating on Yom Kippur refers to the date with its
pit or without its pit.

What is Rav Papa's question? The Mishnah clearly states, "One who eats [the amount of food equal
to] a fat date, it and its pit, is liable."

(a) RASHI (DH b'Gar'inisah) explains that Rav Papa's question addresses the meaning of the
words in the Mishnah. Does the Mishnah mean to say that the Shi'ur is the size of a fat date together
with its pit, or does the Mishnah mean to say that the Shi'ur is the size of a fat date or the size of
its pit (as both are the same size)? (In many places the letter "Vav" means "or.") That is Rav Papa's
question.

(b) TOSFOS (DH Koseves) rejects Rashi's explanation because if those were the two sides of Rav
Papa's question, he would have had no such a question. He surely would have assumed that the
Mishnah means the size of a date together with its pit. It is not reasonable to suggest that the
Mishnah would say the size of a date or the size of its pit, because it is impossible for the two to
be exactly the same size. The Mishnah would have said that whichever one is the smaller of the
two is the Shi'ur for which one is liable, and we would have known that certainly one is liable if
he eats the larger of the two.

Therefore, Tosfos suggests a different explanation for Rav Papa's question. Rav Papa is not
questioning the words "and its pit" in the Mishnah, but the word "a fat date." When the Mishnah
says that one who eats the amount of food equal to "a fat date... and its pit" is liable, perhaps "it"
(a fat date) already refers to a complete date together with its pit, and when the Mishnah says "and
its pit" it means a second pit, effectively making the Shi'ur one Koseves and two pits (its own pit
plus an extra pit). The other possibility is that when the Mishnah says "a fat date" it means the
Koseves by itself, without its pit. When the Mishnah then adds "and its pit" it means a single edible
date and a single pit.

(c) Tosfos cites the ARUCH who gives another explanation in the name of RABEINU NISIM
GA'ON, based on the Yerushalmi (this is also the preferred explanation of the BACH in OC
612:1). The Yerushalmi explains that when the Mishnah says that the Shi'ur of Achilah on Yom
Kippur is "like a date and its pit," its intention is to exclude the hollow space in the date. Dates
tend to have a hollow space between the flesh of the fruit and the pit. If that space would be
included in the Shi'ur, then the Shi'ur would be larger. The Mishnah teaches a stringency: one is
liable for eating the smaller Shi'ur of a date and its pit without the hollow space.

2
https://www.dafyomi.co.il/yoma/insites/yo-dt-079.htm

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In the Gemara here, Rav Papa asks whether the hollow space mentioned in the Yerushalmi is
included in the Shi'ur. When the Mishnah says that the Shi'ur is the size of a date and its pit, does
it mean to exclude the hollow space between the date and the pit (that is, only "the date together
with its pit"), or does it mean "without its pit" -- that is, the date without being snugly attached to
its pit, but with a hollow space between them?

The BA'AL HA'ITUR also explains that Rav Papa was in doubt about whether the Mishnah
means to include in the Shi'ur of a Koseves the hollow space in the date or not. However, he
explains the wording of Rav Papa in exactly the opposite manner. When Rav Papa asks that
perhaps the Shi'ur is "a fat date together with its pit," he means with its hollow space, because those
words refer to the date the way it grows naturally. When he says that perhaps it refers to "a fat date
without its pit," he means that the date and the pit have been separated from each other and the
Shi'ur of Achilah is determined by combining the date with its [removed] pit -- which means that
the hollow space is not taken into account.

The NETZIV (in MEROMEI SADEH) suggests that this is also the intention of Rashi. (His
Girsa in the end of Rashi's comment reads, "k'Kamoha u'Kegar'inasa.")

HALACHAH: None of the Poskim (with the exception of the Ba'al ha'Itur) mention either side of
Rav Papa's question. They also do not mention the pit of the date. Rather, they say that the Shi'ur
of Achilah on Yom Kippur is "the size of a fat Koseves, which is a little less than a k'Beitzah"
(RAMBAM, Hilchos Shevisas Asor 2:1; TUR OC 612:1 (the Tur leaves out the word "a
little"); SHULCHAN ARUCH OC 612:1), which is the conclusion of the Gemara (79b).

The TAZ explains that since the Gemara concludes that the Shi'ur is just less than a k'Beitzah, the
size is already known and it is no longer necessary to explain whether or not the Shi'ur of a Koseves
includes the pit (or the hollow space). (The reason why the Poskim mention that the Shi'ur is "the
size of a Koseves" if they also say that it is the size of just less than a k'Beitzah is merely because
they want to be consistent with the terminology of the Mishnah, as the LEVUSHEI
SERAD points out.)

Steinzaltz (OBM) writes:3

We have learned that one of the five forbidden, pleasurable activities on Yom Kippur is eating.
The Mishnah (73b) taught that in order to be held liable for eating, one must consume an amount
of food the size of a kotevet ha-gasah – a large date. Since this measurement is an unusual one (for
example, with regard to birkat ha-mazon – grace after meals – the minimum amount that needs to
be eaten is either a kezayit – the size of an olive – or a ka-beitzah – the size of an egg),
the Gemara on our daf attempts to define it.

3
https://dafdigest.org/masechtos/Yoma%20079.pdf

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Rava quotes Rav Yehuda as teaching that a kotevet ha-gasah must be larger than an egg, since the
Sages determined that only an amount greater than a ka-beitzah size gives a sense of satisfaction.
While ordinarily the Sages do not attempt to give explanations for the specific size requirement
given by the Torah, Rabbi Avraham Tiktin, in his Davar Be-ito argues that in this case there was
a recognition that the rules of Yom Kippur were left to the Sages to define (see
the Ran’s explanation of this phenomenon on page 73b), so we must try and understand their
underlying logic.

In an attempt to examine Rava’s position that a kotevet ha-gasah must be larger than an egg, the
Gemara brings a series of stories about the Sages and their eating habits. A baraita records that
when asked to taste the food that was being cooked on Sukkot, Rabban Yochanan ben
Zakkai insisted that it be brought into the sukkah, as did Rabban Gamliel when he was brought
two kotavot with water. Both Rabbis knew that the food that they had been brought did not really
need to be eaten in the sukkah, but they were stringent on themselves, and insisted that any food
that they ate could only be eaten in the sukkah.

In contrast to these Sages, the baraita also tells of Rabbi Tzadok who would eat less than a ka-
beitzah of food by wrapping it in a napkin and eating it outside the sukkah without an after-
blessing. Rabbi Tzadok’s behavior is subject to a difference of opinion between Rashi who says
that he took the food in a napkin because of his fastidiousness, while Tosafot explain that his
religious devotion was such that he treated all food as though it were teruma, so he refrained from
touching food lest it become ritually defiled. In any case, it is clear that the baraita tells Rabbi
Tzadok’s story in order to emphasize that just as there were Sages who were stringent upon
themselves, there were also those who made a point of emphasizing that it was appropriate to stick
to the letter of the law without stringencies. In this story, Rabbi Tzadok was lenient with regard
to sukkah, ritual hand washing and the blessing after food.

Minchas Chinuch (Mitzvah 316) inquires whether the benefit from food which is prohibited on
Yom Kippur is that which is experienced when food is in one’s mouth, or whether it is the benefit
one enjoys when the food enters into one’s stomach.4

The difference would be whether we calculate the food that is between the teeth and in one’s gums
towards the total amount consumed. Here, the mouth has enjoyed the food (as we find in Chullin
103b), but because this food has not been swallowed, the stomach has not benefited.

4
https://dafdigest.org/masechtos/Yoma%20079.pdf

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Another case would be where half a ‫ כותבת‬was chewed and swallowed, but it was vomited out.
Subsequently, the person ate an additional amount to complete the full volume of a ‫ כותבת‬.Here, a
full ‫ כותבת‬has passed through the mouth. Yet because the first half was removed from the stomach
before the second half was eaten, the stomach never was filled with a full ‫ כותבת‬at any moment.
Minchas Chinuch brings a proof to resolve this issue from our Gemara.

In trying to determine whether a ‫—הגסה כותבת‬a large date—is larger or smaller than an egg, the
Gemara proposes an argument. We know that one who eats food the volume of an egg is satisfied
(‫ משבעא‬,(while a date has the ability to soothe one’s mind (‫ דעתא מיתבא‬,(although not fully satisfy
one’s appetite.

We see, concludes the Gemara, that a date must be smaller than an egg. The volume necessary to
“settle one’s mind” happens earlier than the point of fully satisfying one’s appetite. We see, posits
the Minchas Chinuch, that the nature of consuming food on Yom Kippur is a function of filling
one’s stomach, because it is there that soothing one’s mind or satisfying one’s appetite occurs, and
not just when food is introduced into the mouth.

Mark Kerzner writes:5

How much does one have to eat on Yom Kippur to be liable? - The volume of food equal to a large
date.

Rav Pappa wondered, "Date with the pit or without?" A similar question was asked by Rav Ashi
about a human bone the size of a barley seed, which makes one ritually impure. Rav Ashi asked,
"Dry seed or moist? With the shell or without?"

Note that each of the Sages did not have any problem with the other one’s question. Rav Ashi
would tell you that "large date" implies as large as it can be, that is, with the seed. In turn, Rav
Pappa would retort that a barley seed that is fresh has a different name, "shibolet," and one with
the shell is called "ushla." So the choice of the words itself in the rule already gives us the answer.

And why specifically a large date was used a measure of prohibition for Yom Kippur? After all, it
is less than an egg and is this not considered a meal!? - The Sages estimated that this volume cools
off the hungry person's mind , although it does not satisfy him completely.

5
http://talmudilluminated.com/yoma/yoma79.html

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 How large is a large date?

RABBI ELLIOT GOLDBERG WRITES:6

When it comes to quantities of food, the rabbis did not use cups and ounces like we do today.
Instead, they used common food items to describe the amounts they were talking about. This is all
well and good as long as everyone has a similar understanding about the size of common produce
and the size of those items remains constant across time and space. Oops.

In the mishnah back on Yoma 73b, we learned that one who eats food that is equivalent to a large
date, including its pit, on Yom Kippur, is liable for violating the prohibition of eating on the
holiday. On today’s daf, the rabbis consider the question of how large a large date is.

The Gemara initially suggests this answer:

Rava said that Rav Yehuda said: The volume of a large date that they said is larger than an egg-
bulk. The sages have an accepted tradition that with this amount of food, the mind of the one
who eats is settled, and he is not afflicted. Less than this amount, the mind is not settled.

Rav Yehuda suggests a date and its pit is large if it’s bigger than an egg. But true to form, the
Gemara cites an incident that suggests that this statement may not be correct:

An incident happened on the festival of Sukkot. They brought a cooked dish to Rabban Yoḥanan
ben Zakkai to taste, and they brought to Rabban Gamliel two dates and a tankard of water.
Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai and Rabban Gamliel said to them: Bring them up to the sukkah,
and we will eat there. And a baraita was taught in that regard: They did not act this way because
that is the halakha, that such food must be eaten in the sukkah. Rather, they wished to be
stringent upon themselves and not eat anything outside of the sukkah.

An amount of food larger than an egg must be eaten in a sukkah. But according to this teaching,
Rabban Gamliel ate his two dates in the sukkah not because he was required to, but because he
was being more strict than necessary. This suggests that the volume of two dates is smaller than
an egg.

If both these teachings are correct, we can conclude that two dates are smaller than an egg which
is smaller than one large date including its pit. The Gemara finds this hard to believe. Can the
volume of a large date and its pit be greater than two pitted dates?

According to the Gemara, it is. Date pits are so big that a large date and its pit holds more volume
than two dates without pits. According to a well-known talmudic dictum: “In two kavs of dates
there is one kav and more of pits.”

6
Myjewishlearning.com

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Rav Zedid disagrees with Rav Yehuda, suggesting that the volume of a large date and its pit is less
than that of an egg. This is based, in part, upon how Rabbi Yehuda (no relation to Rav Yehuda)
reads Deuteronomy 8:10, the verse from which we derive the obligation to recite Grace After
Meals: “You shall eat and be satisfied and bless the Lord your God.” For Rabbi Yehuda, it is the
experience of satisfaction that triggers the obligation to bless. How much food causes one to be
satisfied? According to Rabbi Yehuda, it’s an egg-bulk.

It’s logical to assume that the volume of food that yields satisfaction is greater than that which
merely settles the mind. So according to this view, an egg must be bigger than a large date and its
pit.

In either case, both Rav Zedid and Rav Yehuda seem to agree that measurements of food are rooted
in the effect they have on the one who consumes them. Is this a helpful approach? I’m not so sure.
Living in a home with teenagers, I can attest that the amount of food needed to satisfy hunger, or
even to settle one’s mind, varies widely by individual.

In the end, neither opinion helps us standardize rabbinic weights and measures. In fact, to this day
scholars have a range of understandings of the rabbinic definition of the volume of a date, an olive,
and an egg.

In any case, we are not talking here about particularly large quantities of food. My advice? Next
Yom Kippur, if you are fasting, avoid food altogether. And if you are interested in the rabbinic
conversation about volume specifically, or weights and measures generally, stay tuned — we’ll
return to this topic many times before this Daf Yomi cycle is done.

Rabbi Johnny Solomon writes:7

Having been taught in the Mishna (Yoma 8:1, 73b) that one who eats the equivalent of a ‫כותבת‬
‫( הגסה‬a large date) on Yom Kippur is liable, today’s daf (Yoma 79a) attempts to understand what
this unusual measure is, and it is here where we are told that it is an amount that ‫דבהכי מיתבא דעתיה‬
– ‘enables a person’s mind to be put at ease’.

As we are told in tomorrow’s daf (see Yoma 80b), while eating food the size of a ‫ כותבת הגסה‬may
only take the ‘edge’ off the hunger of someone with a larger appetite (such as Og, the king of
Bashen), and greatly relieve others with a more modest appetite, this measure is still substantive
enough that someone who is hungry who eats this amount of food will feel [at least] a [partial]
sense of physical relief.

Yet just as there is a certain amount of food which we need to eat to put our mind at ease and keep
the hunger at bay, I believe that there is also a certain amount of Torah – which our Sages often
compare to food – which we need to learn to help put our soul at ease and keep the spiritual hunger
at bay.

7
www.rabbijohnnysolomon.com

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This is one of the reasons why I learn daf yomi, because before I eat my physical breakfast each
day, I know I need a spiritual breakfast as well to give some comfort and nourishment to my soul.
And this is also why, if we are fortunate enough to conceive or encounter a beautiful Torah thought,
we should share it with others, for perhaps they may not realise how hungry they are, but upon
‘consuming’ that Torah thought, it will help take the edge off their spiritual hunger - and give some
comfort and nourishment to their soul.

Rav David Brofsky writes:8

Just as one says a blessing before eating and drinking, so too afterwards one must express
gratitude to God, through reciting a berakha acharona. In order to become obligated to say
a berakha acharona, one must eat or drink a minimal amount, a shiur, within a certain amount of
time. What is the shiur of food, or drink, one must consume, and within how much time?
Furthermore, what is the halakha when one eats different foods, or foods and liquids?

The Shi’ur of Eating for a Berakha Acharona

8
https://www.etzion.org.il/en/halakha/orach-chaim/prayer-and-blessings/summary-halakhot-berakha-acharona

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 The Talmud (Sukka 6a) teaches that “most of its measurements are a ke-zayit (the size of
an olive).” Indeed, throughout the Talmud, we see that the minimum amount that one must eat in
order to fulfill a mitzva or for which one is punished is generally a kezayit. In this context as well,
regarding the berakha acharona, the Talmud (Berakhot 37b) relates:

Moreover, R. Hiyya b. Abba said: I have seen R. Yochanan eat salted olives and say a
blessing both before and after… R. Yirmiya asked R. Zeira: How could R. Yochanan
make a blessing over a salted olive? Since the stone had been removed, it was less than
the minimum size! He replied: Do you think the size we require is that of a large olive?
We require only that of a medium sized olive, and that was there, for the one they set
before R. Yochanan was a large one, so that even when its stone had been removed, it
was still of the requisite size. For so we have learnt: The olive spoken of means neither
a small nor a large one, but a medium one.

The Rif (Berakhot 27a) derives from this passage that while one must say a blessing before eating
even the smallest amount, as it is prohibited to benefit from this world without a
blessing (Berakhot 35a), one only says a berakha acharona after eating the equivalent of a ke-
zayit, the size of an olive. Tosafot (38a s.v. batzar), the Rosh (Berakot 6:16), and
other Rishonim arrive at the same conclusion.

Why is a berakha acharona only said after eating a kezayit of food, unlike a berakha
rishona, which is said before tasting even the smallest amount?

Rashi (39a, s.v. batzar) explains that the obligation to say Birkat Ha-Mazon, the model for
every berakha acharona, is derived from the verse (Devarim 8:10), “And you shall eat, and be
satisfied, and bless the Lord your God.” The minimum amount that is considered to be an act of
“eating” is a ke-zayit. Thus, only eating a ke-zayit is considered to be an act of “eating” that
warrants a berakha acharona. Alternatively, we might suggest that the Rabbis established that one
must say a berakha acharona after deriving benefit from a “significant” quantity of food (and not
just any benefit). Generally, a ke-zayit is viewed as a significant amount. Therefore, one who eats
(and derives benefit from) a ke-zayit of food must say a berakha acharona.

There may be halakhic ramifications to this question.

Birya – A Complete and Natural Whole Unit of Food

The Yerushalmi (Berakhot 6:1) implies that one must say a berakha acharona even after
eating a “birya,” something in its whole, natural form, such as a grape or a pomegranate seed.

Tosafot (ibid.) understand that the Yerushalmi argues with the Talmud Bavli – which, as
we saw above, teaches that one says a berakha acharona after eating a ke-zayit – and the halakha
is in accordance with the Bavli. This is the view of the Rif (ibid.) and the Rambam (Hilkhot
Berkahot 3:12) as well. Other Rishonim (R. Yosef cited by Tosafot above; Rosh ibid.; Rashba 39a;
Rabbeinu Yona 27b, et. al.) raise the possibility that the Yerushalmi does not argue with the Bavli;

14
the passage from the Bavli refers to an olive that is not whole. The Rosh even recommends that
one refrain from eating a birya that is less than a ke-zayit due to this debate.

Seemingly, we might suggest that according to Rashi, one should certainly not say a
blessing after eating a birya smaller than a kezayit, as eating less than a ke-zayit is not considered
to be an act of “eating.” However, if a berakha acharona is said after benefiting from a
“significant” portion of food, then one could argue that although a birya lacks size, it has
“importance” (as is seen in numerous other halakhot; see Makot 13a, Chullin 100b and 119b), and
it is therefore worthy of a berakha acharona.

The Shulchan Arukh (210:1) rules that one should only say a berakha acharona after
eating a ke-zayit of food. He cites the debate above and writes “some express doubt whether one
says a blessing after [eating] over something which is a birya, such as a single grape or
pomegranate seed, even though it is smaller than a ke-zayit; therefore, one should be careful not to
eat a birya which is less than a ke-zayit.” If one bites into the birya and does need eat it in one bite
or one does not eat its pit (such as the pit of a date, an olive, or a cherry), it is not considered to be
a birya (see Mishna Berura 210:7).

The Shi’ur for Borei Nefashot

Interestingly, the Rishonim question whether the shiur of ke-zayit is relevant only to the
blessing of Al Ha-Michya (and Birkat Ha-Mazon), or to Borei Nefashot as well. Tosafot (ibid.; see
also Rosh ibid.) records:

The Ri says: Regarding Borei Nefashot, since it is not “an important blessing” (lav
berakha chashuva hi), even [upon eating] less than the measurement [of a ke-zayit], one
says Borei Nefashot. It seems that since Borei Nefashot corresponds to the blessing of Al
Ha-Gefen, just like the Al Ha-Gefen requires a shi’ur, so too [Borei Nefashot] needs
a shi’ur.

The Rambam (ibid.) and Rid (ibid.) clearly disagrees and maintain that even the blessing of Borei
Nefashot is only said after eating (or drinking) a shiur.

Here, we may suggest a fundamental difference between Al Ha-Michya and Borei

Nefashot. As Rashi (above) explains, the blessing of Al Ha-Michya may depend upon an act of
“eating,” which by definition entails eating a ke-zayit. However, Borei Nefashot doesn’t relate to
a specific food, as we can see from the text of the blessing:

Blessed are You … Creator of numerous living beings and their needs, for all the things
You have created with which to sustain the soul of every living being. Blessed is He who
is the Life of the worlds.

Therefore, we may understand that the blessing of Borei Nefashot relates to deriving benefit from
food or drink, and there therefore may be no need for a specific amount. The halakha is not in
accordance with this view.

15
The Shi’ur Ke-Zayit and a Berakha Rishona

In this context, it is worth noting that almost all Rishonim assume that one says a blessing
before eating even the smallest amount of food (or drink) so as not to “benefit from this world
without a blessing” (Berakhot 35a). Some, however, note that the Talmud (Berakhot 35a) suggests
that the obligation to say a berakha rishona may be derived from a kal ve-chomer from Brikat Ha-
Mazon: “One says a blessing when he is satiated; all the more so when he is hungry!” Why, then,
were the rabbis stricter regarding a berakha rishona than a berakha acharona?

The Kesef Mishna (Hilkhot Berakhot 6:13) explains:

It seems to me that they said that one should say a blessing on a small amount lest he
change his mind and eat a shi’ur [i.e., a kezayit], in which case he needed to have said a
blessing beforehand, and now he is unable to fix the matter.

This interpretation implies that theoretically, one should only say a blessing over eating a ke-zayit,
an “act” of eating, but for technical reasons, the rabbis said one should say a blessing even when
eating less.

Interestingly, the Kolbo (24) cites a view that maintains that whenever one eats less than
a ke-zayit, one should say She-Hakol. He further cites R. Achai Gaon (the author of the She’iltot)
as opining that one who eats less than a ke-zayit should not say any blessing.

These intriguing positions, which are not accepted le-halakha, seem to maintain that less
than a ke-zayit is not considered an “act” of eating and one should therefore either say the
generic She-Hakol blessing, which covers all benefit from eating (as we discussed previously), or
not at all.

Similarly, the Talmidei Rabbeinu Yona (Berakhot 27b, s.v. ani) suggest that before eating
less than a ke-zayit of mezonot, one says She-Hakol. Although one may view an amount of food
smaller than the size of an olive as insignificant and not worthy of a separate blessing praising the
specific food, one still may not benefit from this world without first reciting a blessing, and at least
the blessing of She-Hakol should be recited. Again, the halakha is not in accordance with this view.

The Size of a Ke-Zayit[1]

In Relation to an Egg

How does one measure the shiur of a ke-zayit?

Some Rishonim maintain that one must determine the size of a ke-zayit based upon its
relation to the size of a ke-beitza. They arrive at this conclusion based upon an apparent
contradiction between Talmudic passages. On the one hand, the Talmud (Yoma 80a) states that
the Sages measured that the esophagus cannot hold more than the size of an egg. On the other
hand, the Talmud elsewhere (Keritut 14a) teaches that the Rabbis have calculated that the gullet

16
cannot hold more than two olive-sizes at a time. These passages seem to indicate that a ke-
zayit is half the size of a ke-beitza.

Based on these passages, a number of Ashkenazic Rishonim, including the Ri

(Tosafot, Eiruvin 80b, s.v. agav), the Ra’avia (525), the Terumat Ha-Deshen (139), and the
Maharil (Seder Ha-Haggada 31) assert that a ke-zayit is the size of half of an egg (ke-beitza).

It is important to note in this context that an olive (generally 3-6 cc) is nowhere near the
size of a half of an egg (generally 50-60 cc). It appears that the Rishonim from North Western
Europe (i.e. Ashkenaz) never actually saw an olive, which only grows in the Mediterranean
region! Indeed, R. Eliezer b. Yoel Ha-Levi (Germany, c.1140-c.1225), known as the Ra’avia,
writes:

And wherever a ke-zayit is required, the food should be measured generously, since we
are not familiar with the measurement of an olive, and so that the blessing should not
be in vain. (Ra’avia, Berakhot 107)

Therefore, it is not surprising that Ashkenazic Rishonim based their calculation of the ke-
zayit upon its relation to the egg, as described by the Talmud.

Other passages, however, point to a different size of a ke-zayit. Regarding the laws
of eiruv chatzeirot, the Talmud rules (Eiruvin 80b) that the amount of food for two meals (shtei
se’udot) is equivalent to the amount of 18 grogerot (dried figs). Elsewhere, regarding the laws
of eiruvei techumin, the gemara (Eiruvin 82b) cites different opinions regarding the amount of
food considered to be sufficient for shtei se’udot. According to R. Yochanan ben Beroka, two
meals consist of a quantity equivalent to the size of six eggs, while according to R. Shimon, it is
slightly less – five and a third eggs. Accordingly, according to R. Yochanan ben Beroka,
a grogeret is about a third of the size of an egg (6/18, or 1/3), while according to R. Shimon,
a grogeret is slightly larger (8/18).

Based upon these passages, the Rambam (Hilkhot Eiruvin 1:9) rules that two meals
equals the volume of 18 grogerot, which are equivalent to 6 medium sized eggs. Since
the gemara (Shabbat 91a) records that an olive (ke-zayit) is smaller than a grogeret, a ke-
zayit must be smaller than a third of a ke-beitza.

The Shulchan Arukh’s opinion is somewhat unclear. In Hilkhot Eiruvin (378:3, 409:7),
he rules in accordance with the Rambam that 18 grogerot are equivalent to 6 eggs, which means
that a ke-zayit must be smaller than a third of an egg. However, regarding the laws
of matza (486), he writes: “Regarding the size of a ke-zayit, some say (yesh omrim) that it is half
of an egg.”

The Acharonim note this apparent contradiction, as well as the phrase “some say” in the
context of matza. Some (see, for example, Mishna Berura 486:1 and R. Chaim Naeh, Shiurei
Torah, p. 190, n. 24) suggest that the Rambam is strict regarding mitzvot de-
oraita (Biblical mitzvot), such as matza, and most probably a berakha acharona as well, due to
the principle of safek berakhot le-hakel. Others (see R. Chaim Benish, “Shiur Ke-Zayit – Bi’ur

17
Da’at Rishonim Ve-Acharonim,” who cites numerous Acharonim) suggest that the Shulchan
Arukh did not intend to rule against the Rambam and the prevalent custom, but rather merely to
cite the only explicit shiur that appears in the Rishonim.

If the size of a ke-zayit is to be measured in relation to an egg, according to the Ri, as

cited in the Shulchan Arukh, then what is the proper measurement of an egg?
The Acharonim offer a number of approaches. The most prominent is suggested by R. Chaim
Naeh.

In 1943, R. Chaim Naeh (1890–1954), author of the Ketzot He-Shulchan, published

“Shi’urei Torah,” which defended the measurements used for generations by the community in
Jerusalem. He based some of his measurements upon a passage in the Rambam (Peirush Ha-
Mishna, Eduyot 1:2) in which he reports that the measurement of a revi’it of water is equivalent
to 27 Arabic coins known as “drahms.” Since a revi’it is the equivalent of an egg and a half
(including its shell), an egg’s volume in displaced water is 18 drahm. R. Chaim Naeh measured a
drahm, which was used as a coin in the Arab world for hundreds of years, and reported that each
drahm was 3.205 gram. Thus, 18 drahm are 57.6 gram, and the volume of an egg with its shell is
approximately 57.6 cc.

R. Chaim Naeh further estimates that according to Tosafot, who maintain that a ke-
zayit is a half of a ke-beitza, half of a ke-beitza without its shell (54.7 cc) is 27 cc. According to
the Rambam, a ke-zayit is a third of an egg, with or without its shell, 19.2 cc or 17.3 cc
accordingly.

Interestingly, recent research has determined that the drahm used by the Rambam was
actually smaller than the one measured by R. Chaim Naeh, 2.83 gram (see Yaakov Gershon
Weiss, Sefer Midot U-Mishkalot Shel Torah, p. 89). Accordingly, R. Chaim Pinchas Benish
(Midot Ve-Shiurei Torah, pp. 69, 71) claims that the volume of an egg according to the Rambam
is actually 50 cc., and the measurements of a ke-zayit are less than 17 cc (Rambam) and 25 cc
(Tosafot). He records that both R. Shlomo Zalman Auerbach and R. Ovadia Yosef accepted this
revised shiur.

Have Eggs Doubled in Size?

Interestingly, R. Yechezkel Landau (1713 –1793), author of the Noda Be-Yehuda,

questioned the commonly accepted size of an egg. Based upon another method of measuring that
appears in the Talmud (Pesachim 109a-b), R. Landau discovered a discrepancy between the
measurements based on volume and the measurements based on dimensions. (This discrepancy
was actually noted earlier by the Tashbetz 3:33 and others.) He writes (Tzalch, Pesachim 116b):

For in truth it is clear in the Shulchan Arukh (486) that the size of a ke-zayit is half the
size of an egg. However, it is clear to me by way of measurement that with the eggs that
we have in our day, a whole egg of our day is only half the size of an egg that was used
for the Torah quantities… And against our will we see that things have changed in
our time; either thumbs have grown, and they are bigger than the thumbs of the days
of the Tanna’im, or the eggs have shrunk and in our day they are smaller than the

18
 eggs of the era of the Tanna’im. And it is known that the generations progressively
decline, and it is therefore impossible that our thumbs should be larger than the
thumbs in the day of the Sages of the Mishna.

R. Landau maintains that one must attribute this discrepancy to thumbs becoming larger over
time or to eggs becoming smaller than they once were. He concludes that today’s eggs are
smaller than in the past:

It is therefore necessarily the case that the eggs of our day are smaller… and since it
has become clear that our eggs are smaller by half, therefore the size of a ke-zayit,
which is [originally] half an egg, is as the size of a whole egg of today. And thus I
evaluate the eating of matza and maror…

R. Eliezer Fleckless (1754 – 1826), a student of the Noda Be-Yehuda and author of the
Teshuva Me-Ahava, reports that when he suggested that his teacher arrived at this conclusion
because he himself was an especially tall person, R. Landau “shook his head and was quiet.”
Some (see Yehuda Ya’aleh YD 205) suggest that this indicates that the Noda Be-Yehuda
actually changed his mind!

In 1947, R. Avraham Yeshayahu Karelitz (1878–1953), known as the Chazon Ish,

published a response to R. Chaim Naeh’s Shiurei Ha-Torah in which he defended the position of
the Noda Be-Yehuda. In his Kuntras Ha-Shiurim (OC 39), he concludes that since the volume of
a ke-beitza is 100 cc, according to Tosafot, a ke-zayit is 47.5 cc (1/2 of an egg without its shell)
and according to the Rambam, it is 33 ml (1/3 of an egg with its shell).

The Acharonim and recent scholars have raised many objections to the view of the Noda
Be-Yehuda and the Chazon Ish.

Some Acharonim raise textual objections to the notion that the size of the ke-zayit and ke-
beitza are double the currents sizes. For example, the Mishna Berura (Bi’ur Halakha 271,
s.v. revi’it) notes that based on the gemara (Yoma 80a), a person’s two cheeks (melo lugmav) can
hold a revi’it, approximately the volume of 1.5 eggs. According to the Noda Be-Yehuda, a
person’s mouth should be able to hold the equivalent of three eggs (150 cc), which seems
virtually impossible.

Others object on different grounds. R. Natan Slifkin, in an essay supporting the

minimalist view of the ke-zayit, summarizes much of the scientific and archeological evidence.
For example, he cites Professor Yehuda Feliks (Kelai Zera’im Ve-Harkavah, p. 184 n. 5.), who
relates that the eggs that were preserved whole in the volcanic destruction of Pompeii two
thousand years ago were “around the size of the small Arab eggs of our time,” which he defines
as 41.4cc. Furthermore, he notes that olive pits found in archeological digs from the time of the
Mishna are no larger than olives found today (see Mordechai Kislev, “Kezayit – Peri Ha-Zayit
Ke-Midat Nefach,” Techumin 10, pp. 427-437).

Although halakhic charts often cite the stringent opinion of the Chazon Ish and list a ke-
zayit as either 33 cc or almost 50 cc, as they appear in his Kuntrus Shiurim (OC 39:17), some

19
sources indicate that the Chazon Ish himself believed that these measurements
are chumrot (stringencies) and are not halakhically required. R. Hadar Yehuda Margolin, in one
of his many enlightening articles on this topic (“Berur Shitat Ha-Chazon Ish Be-Shi’ur
Kezayit,” Moriya 107), insists that the Chazon Ish – based on his own letters (Iggerot 194) and
testimony from his nephew, R. Chaim Kanievsky – maintained that me-ikkar ha-din, we do not
assume that the size of an olive has changed, and one may assume that a third of an egg (17 cc) is
sufficient for matza and for a berakha acharona.

Some suggest following the stringent view of the Noda Be-Yehuda (and Chazon Ish)
when fulfilling the Biblical mitzva of matza (see Mishna Berura 486:1), and possibly
even Kiddush (which is based on the Biblical obligation of “zakhor”). However,
most Acharonim reject this opinion, and the common practice in Europe before WWII was
certainly not to follow this view (see, for example, Mishneh Halakhot 8:194).

Ke-Zayit is the Size of an Olive

The second approach to assessing the size of a ke-zayit maintains that there is no inherent
relationship between the size of an olive and an egg. Indeed, even the Rambam cited above never
mentions the size of a ke-zayit; he merely implies that a ke-zayit is smaller than a fig, which is a
third of the size of an egg. Many early authorities maintained that a ke-zayit was in fact a ke-
zayit, i.e. the size of an olive.

Some cite proofs from the Talmud that seem to reject the larger amounts suggested by R.
Chaim Naeh, and certainly those of the Chazon Ish.

For example, the gemara (Menachot 26a; see Rambam, Hilkhot Ma’aseh Ha-Korbanot
13:14) implies that a kohen must be able to fit the volume of two olives into his hand (ein kometz
pachot mi-sheni zeitim). It is impossible to fit within the cavity of three fingers and the palm
(kemitza) even two thirds of an egg, let alone an entire one.

Similarly, as mentioned above, the Talmud (Keritut 14a) asserts that the esophagus can
hold the volume of two eggs. Here too, it seems unlikely that one can swallow a half and egg, or
even a third of an egg, at once.

In addition, the gemara (Berakhot 37a) describes a case in which there

are perurim (crumbs) the size of a ke-zayit. If a ke-zayit were the size of a third or half of an egg,
they would certainly not be called crumbs!

Finally, the gemara (Makot 16b) describes a situation in which one eats 2-3 large ants or
10 small ants that equal the size of a ke-zayit. It seems unlikely that the Talmud refers to ants so
large that only 2-4 would equal the size of a third or half of an egg.

Aside from the proofs from the Talmud and the implicit agreement of most Rishonim that
a ke-zayit is smaller than a fig, numerous Geonim and Rishonim also explicitly support the claim
that a ke-zayit is not measured in relation to an egg and is indeed the size of an olive.

20
 For example, R. Sherira Gaon (c.900-c.1000), in a recently discovered responsum (cited
in Sefer Ha-Eshkol, vol. II, Hilkhot Challa 13, p. 52), insists that the measurements of eggs and
olives are not based upon the weight of coins, but rather upon the size of the egg and olive itself:

You asked me to explain if there is a weight given for the fig, olive, date and other
measurements in the weight of Arabic coins, and you explained that R. Hilai Gaon
clarified that the weight of an egg is 16 2/3 silver pieces. [You wondered,] if the others
do not have an ascribed weight, why is the egg given one? It is known that these other
measurements are not given any equivalent weight in silver, not in the Mishnah nor
the Talmud. If [the Sages] had wished to give a measurement in terms of the weight in
dinarim, they would have done so originally. Rather, they give the measurements in
terms of grains and fruit, which are always available, and one is not to say that they
have changed…

We practice according to the Mishna: Everything goes according to the observer…

And likewise with regard to the olive and date, it is explained in this Mishna that it is
not referring to a large one or a small one, but rather an average one – and it is also
according to the view of the observer.

Similarly, Rav Hai Gaon (939-1038), writes:

And therefore the Torah gave measurements in terms of eggs and fruits … because
eggs and fruit are found in every place. For it is known and revealed before the One
Who spoke and brought the universe into existence that Israel is destined to be
scattered amongst the nations, and that the weights and measures that were in the days
of Moses and that which were added to in the Land of Israel would not be preserved,
and that the measurements change in different times and places… Therefore, the
Sages related the quantities to fruit and eggs, which always exist and never change.
They made the quantity of an egg depend upon the view of the observer. (Ibid., pp. 56-
57)

The Rashba (Mishmeret Ha-Bayit, p. 96) and the Ritva (Shabbat 76b, printed at the back of the
Mosad HaRav Kook edition) also explicitly speak of a ke-zayit much smaller than a third of an
egg.

In addition, numerous Acharonim also reportedly maintain that a ke-zayit is indeed the
size of an olive, including R. Chaim Volozhin (Sha’arei Rachamim 51, Minhagei Ha-Grach) and
R. Avraham Bornstein (the Avnei Nezer, cited in Midot Ve-Shiurei Torah, p. 510).

Which olives are we to measure against? The Mishna (Keilim 17:8) teaches: “The ke-
zayit of which they spoke is neither a large one nor a small one, but rather a medium-sized one,
which is the egori.” Prof. Mordechai E. Kislev (“Peri Ha-Zayit Ke-Midat Nefach”) describes
three olives common to the land of Israel: the Shami (a large olive, approximately 12-13 cc), the
Melisi (a small olive, 0.5-1cc), and the Suri or Nabali olives, which range from 2.5- 6 cc). The
average olive found in Israeli measures between 3–4 cc. R. Chaim Benish (“Shiur Ke-

21
Zayit – Bi’ur Da’at Rishonim Ve-Acharonim”) suggests that one should be stringent and assume
that a ke-zayit is no smaller than the larger olives found in Israel, which measure close to 7.5 cc.

Shiur Ke-Zayit- Summary and Conclusion

Most authorities adopt the view of R. Chaim Naeh and assume that a ke-zayit is
approximately 27 cc (half of a ke-beitza). The more accurate calculation of the Egyptian drahm
leads to a slightly smaller amount. Many halakhic compendiums write that one should measure a
portion of food against a standard match box, approximately 25-30 cc (5X3.5X1.5); a plastic
bottle-cap is approximately 10 cc. Some (including R. Kanievsky, as cited above) assume that
one can rely upon the Rambam’s view and say a berakha acharona after eating at least a third of
a ke-beitza, at least 17 cc.. Others follow the tradition of R. Chaim Volozhin and others and say
a berakha akharona after eating an amount equivalent to the volume of an olive, around 3–4 cc.

Volume or Weight
The Talmud in numerous places implies that the volume (nefach), and not the weight
(mishkal), is the determining factor in measuring shiurim. For example,
the gemara (Pesachim 109a-b) defines the liquid measure of a revi’it, which is equivalent to an
egg and a half, as 2 fingerbreadths X 2 fingerbreadths X 2.7 fingerbreadths. Similarly,
the mishna (Uktzin 2:8), which we will return to shortly, teaches: “An airy loaf is evaluated as it
is. If there is a hollow inside, it is compressed.” Finally, the Tosefta (Nazir 4:1) describes how one
places a ke-zayit aguri in wine and drinks the displaced wine, clearly indicating that a ke-zayit is
measured by volume and not weight (see Rashi, Chullin 108b, s.v. chalav).

The Geonim also clearly believed that a ke-zayit was measured by volume. They write
(Teshuvot Ha-Geonim, Harkavy 268):

And if you were to suggest [that they be measured by] weight, the Rabbis did not specify
weight and Ha-Kadosh Barukh Hu did not exact with us in weight; [rather,] every
person who estimates according to his evaluation has fulfilled his obligation

The Geonim note that it is virtually impossible for every person to know the measurement of every
food. Rather, a person is to estimate according to size.

The Rambam (Commentary to the Mishna, Challah 2:6; Hilkhot Chametz U-Matza 5:12)
also clearly rejects measuring shiurim by weight. The Maggid Mishna (ibid.) explains that the
weight is not always similar to the volume, and therefore the shiurim clearly refer to volume and
not weight.

The Shulchan Arukh (456:1) cites the Tur, who describes determining
the shiur of challa thought the displacement of water. Furthermore, the Rema (486:1) implies
regarding the shiur of maror that one estimates the proper shiur based upon volume.

Interestingly, R. Yaakov Chaim Sofer (1870–1939), in his Kaf Ha-Chaim (Orach

Chayim 168:45-46), asserts that “it is unlikely that it is dependent upon the evaluation of each

22
person, as he sees it.” After citing a number of Sephardic authorities, he concludes: “It is not the
common custom among halakhic authorities to estimate all measurements, such as a ke-
zayit of matza on Pesach, and a ke-zayit of maror, and a ke-zayit for the measurement of a berakha
acharona … by weight… and this should not be changed.” Numerous Sephardic authorities rule
that a ke-zayit is measured by weight, such as the equivalent of 27 grams, although they assume
that weight is only used as a means of properly determining the volume equivalent of a ke-zayit,
as weight and volume are generally similar. Other Sephardic authorities (Ohr Le-Tzion, vol. 2 ch.
14, n. 17; Yalkut Shemesh 137; see also Machzikei Berakha 486:2) disagree and insist that one
measure the size of a ke-zayit based upon nefach.

Assuming that one measures a ke-zayit according to a food’s volume, does it matter if a
food is light or dense? Does one include air pockets in the measurement of a ke-zayit?

As mentioned above, the mishna (Uktzin 2:8) teaches: “An airy loaf is evaluated as it is. If
there is a hollow inside, it is compressed.” This mishna implies that while the food should be
compressed if there is an air pocket,, generally speaking, we do not take the density of a food into
consideration.

Most Acharonim assume that if a food is naturally light or fluffy (bread, popcorn, etc.), one
still measures by its volume (see Mishna Berura 186:3). R. Ben Zion Abba Shaul, in his Ohr Le-
Tzion (ibid.), rules that airy or fluffy foods should always be condensed.

What if a food absorbed water after it was prepared, and then expanded? Does it matter if
the food was originally that large and subsequently shrunk (i.e. raisins) and became enlarged again
or if it was always small and simply expanded?

The Rambam (Hilkhot Ma’akhalot Asurot 14:5) writes:

When an olive-sized portion of forbidden fat, a nevela, piggul, notar, or the like was left
in the sun and was reduced in volume, one who eats it is not liable.

The Rambam clearly believes that a ke-zayit is determined by its current size. However, he adds:

If afterwards one left it in the rain and it expanded, one is liable for either karet or
lashes. If originally it was smaller than an olive-sized portion and then expanded to the
size of an olive, it is forbidden to partake of it, but one is not liable for lashes for it.

Here, he indicates that if a food returns to its original size (i.e. such as raisins soaked in water),
then we follow the current volume. If, however, the food absorbed water and grew to a larger,
unnatural volume, we follow the original size.

Indeed, this appears to be the ruling of R. Yishmael ben Avraham Yitzchak Ha-Kohen
(Italy, d. 1811) in his Zera Ha-Emet (29). Similarly, the Mishna Berura (210:1) rules:

If there is an airy loaf that expanded until the air pocket are no longer noticeable, one
who eats a ke-zayit of it does not say a berakha acharona, because in truth, he did not

23
 eat a ke-zayit. Similarly, if there was a ke-zayit and it depressed and became smaller, one
does not say a berakha [acharona] over it unless it becomes bigger again.

The Mishna Berura refers here to bread that after baking expanded even more. Elsewhere (486:3
and Sha’ar Ha-Tziun 7), he rules that regarding matza, if its air pockets are not noticeable, there is
no need to compress them.

Volume or Weight - Summary

The mishna, Rishonim, and most Acharonim clearly rule that one should estimate the size
of a ke-zayit based upon volume (nefach). Volume includes natural pockets of air, which are not
noticeable. If they are noticeable, the food should be condensed in order to determine its volume.
Some Sephardic authorities maintain that one should measure according to weight, as it is often
difficult to assess the size of a piece of food.

R. Eliezer Melamed writes in his Peninei Halakha (Berakhot, pg. 217):

Every person should learn to evaluate the volume of foods in relation to half an egg…
And we already learned that a person does not have to be overly concerned, as the Rabbis
assigned each person the authority to estimate the measurement itself, despite the
probability that a person may err a bit above or below.

Although we noted above that many assume that the measurement is less than a third of an egg
and others even measure against an olive itself (4 -6 cc), his sentiment is still worth considering.

Shiur of Time for a Berakha Acharona - Kedei Akhilat Peras

The Talmud teaches in numerous contexts that in order to violate certain prohibitions or in
order to fulfill certain mitzvot that require “akhila” (eating), one must eat a specific amount
(shi’ur), most often a ke-zayit (the size of an olive), in a certain amount of time. This amount of
time is generally referred to “kedei akhilat peras,” the amount of time it takes to eat half a loaf of
bread. This amount of time is relevant in the context of eating prohibited foods (see Keritut 12b),
as well as when fulfilling mitzvot, such as matza (Berakhot 37b) and marror (Pesachim 114b).
This amount of time is also relevant in the context of eating of Yom Kippur as well (see
Tosefta, Yoma 4:3), although the shi’ur of eating on Yom Kippur is a ka-kotevet (the size of a
date).

Interestingly, the Acharonim (see, for example, Magen Avraham 210:1, Panim Me’irot
2:27) question whether this shi’ur should apply to Birkat Ha-Mazon. Some suggest that
since Birkat Ha-Mazon is dependent upon “satisfaction” (sevi’a), as the verse states, “When you
have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has
given you” (Devarim 8:10), and not “eating,” even one who eats the minimum amount over a
longer period than kedei akhilat peras should be required to say Birkat Ha-Mazon. This is not the
accepted view.

24
 The Acharonim (Magen Avraham, ibid.) assume that in order to be obligated to say
a berakha acharona, one must eat a ke-zayit of food within kedei akhilat peras. How much time
is “the time it takes to eat a half a loaf of bread”?

The Rishonim, based upon a different opinions among the Tanna’im (see Eiruvin 82b),
debate the size of a peras. In various contexts, the Rambam (Hilkhot Eiruvin 1:9; Shevitat He-
Asor 2:4; Ma’akhalot Asurot 14:8, etc.) rules that a loaf is the size of six eggs; thus, half a loaf,
a peras, is the size of 3 eggs (3 ke-beitzim). One must therefore eat a ke-zayit in the time period it
takes to eat 3 ke-beitzim. Rashi (Pesachim 44a) disagrees and rules that a loaf is the equivalent of
8 eggs, and a peras is therefore the size of 4 eggs (4 ke-beitzim). Accordingly, one has somewhat
longer to eat the ke-zayit – the time it takes to eat 4 ke-beitzim.

The Shulchan Arukh (OC 378:3, 612:4) cites both views. Some (Shulchan Arukh Ha-Rav
612:4, cited by Mishna Berura 412:8) suggest adopting the more stringent approach regarding laws
of Biblical origin. Similarly, due to the principle of safek berakhot le-hakel, one should adopt the
shorter measurement regarding berakha acharona and only recite the blessing if he completed
the ke-zayit in the shorter amount of time.

The Acharonim offer different estimates for the time it takes to consume a peras. The
Chatam Sofer (6:16), for example, suggests that this may be as long as nine minutes. The Sedei
Chemed (Asifat Dinim, Akhila 3) cites opinions that maintain that kedei akhilat peras is eight
minutes. The Bikurei Ya’akov (639:13) writes that kedei akhilat peras is an eighth of an hour, or
7 ½ minutes. Arukh Ha-Shulchan (202:8) estimates this time to be between three to four minutes.
The Kaf Ha-Chaim (210:8) rules that kedei akhilat peras is 4 minutes. (Interestingly, the Minchat
Chinukh [313:5] objects to determining set measurements of time, as each food must be estimated
separately.)

Regarding eating matza,R. Ovadia Yosef (Yechave Da’at) rules that one should preferably
follow the view of four minutes. R. Moshe Feinstein (Iggerot Moshe, OC 4:41) accepts the views
of the Marcheshet (1:14:8), who estimates kedei akhilat peras to be about three minutes.

Given that most Posekim accept a smaller measurement of a ke-zayit, ranging from 3-4 cc
– 17 cc, it is generally not difficult to consume a ke-zayit of food within a few minutes, and to thus
become obligated in a berakha acharona.

Of course, while reliance on the longer measure is a leniency regarding berakha acharona,
regarding eating on Yom Kippur, it is relied on as a stringency. A choleh (sick person) is often
instructed to eat or drink small amounts, known as “shi’urim,” in the course of a kedei akhilat
peras. Many will insist that a choleh should wait up to nine minutes between shi’urim, in
accordance with the Chatam Sofer cited above. Others adopt more lenient opinions, and one who
must eat should thus consult with a halakhic authority before Yom Kippur.

The Shiur of Liquids for a Berakha Acharona

25
 The discussion above revolved around the amount of food over which one says a berakha
acharona. What about liquids? How much must one drink in order to become obligated to a say
a berakha acharona, and in how much time?

The Rishonim debate whether the shi’ur for liquids is the same as the shi’ur for food, i.e.
a ke-zayit. Tosafot (Berakhot 39a and Yoma 79a) suggest that the shi’ur may be the same as for
food, a ke-zayit. The Rambam (Hilkhot Berakhot 1:2) rules that one only says a Borei
Nefashot after drinking a revi’it, which is the amount of liquid displaced by one and a half eggs.
The Rosh (Berakhot 6:24), and subsequently the Shulchan Arukh (210:1), cites both views, and
rules that one should preferably drink less than a ke-zayit or more than a revi’it in order to avoid a
situation of doubt. It is customary to say a berakha acharona only after drinking a revi’it of liquid.

As we discussed previously, the Acharonim discuss the size of an egg, and accordingly, the
volume of a revi’it (1.5 eggs). R. Chaim Naeh ruled that a revi’it is 86 cc (“kos” in gematria).
Although the Noda Be-Yehuda, and subsequently the Chazon Ish, maintain that our eggs are
smaller than the eggs of the ancient world, and a revi’it therefore should be measured as 150 cc
(“kos hagun” in gematria), the accepted practice is in accordance with R. Chaim
Naeh. Some suggest, based upon recent discoveries, that the size of a revi’it is actually 75 cc.

Within how much time must one drink a revi’it of liquid in order to become obligated to
say a berakha acharona?

The Rambam writes concerning prohibited foods (Hilkhot Shevitat He-Asor 2:4; Hilkhot
Ma’akhalot Asurot 14:9; Hilkhot Terumot 10:3) that regarding liquids, the shi’ur for being
considered an act of drinking is “kedei sheti’at revi’it,” the amount it time in which one ordinarily
drinks a revi’it of liquid. The Ra’avad (Hilkhot Terumot, ibid.) disagrees and rules that
the shi’ur of kedei achilat peras applies to liquids as well. The Shulchan Arukh (212:10) rules in
accordance with the Rambam. The Vilna Gaon rules in accordance with the Ra’avad.

The Magen Avraham (210:1) assumes that this debate applies to a berakha acharona as
well. The Sha’ar Ha-Tziyun (210:11) explains that “kedei sheti’at revi’it” refers to “the manner in
which people drink … in two sips.” R. Moshe Feinstein (Hagadat Kol Dodi, 3) adds that even one
who drinks a revi’it in many sips, as long as he does not interrupt. Therefore, some Posekim note
that one generally should not say a blessing after eating a bowl of soup, as a revi’it is not consumed
within a few sips. Interestingly, other Acharonim suggest that even the Rambam would adopt the
longer shi’ur regarding a berakha acharona, as the berakha acharona relates not just to the act of
eating, but the hana’ah (benefit) as well.

Should we distinguish between different types of liquids, which are consumed in different
ways? For example, some Acharonin (see Taz 210:1 and 190:1) suggest that after drinking even a
small amount of alcohol (scotch, vodka, etc.), one should say a berakha acharona. They explain
that the shi’ur of revi’it should not apply to drinks that one ordinarily drinks in small amounts.
Similarly, some Acharonim (see Maharsham 1:175) permit one to say the daytime Kiddush on less
than a revi’it of liquor for this reason. The Acharonim (see, for example, Magen Avraham
194:4, Mishna Berura 190:14) reject this rationale and insist that one only says a berakha
acharona after drinking a revi’it, regardless of the type of liquid.

26
 Similarly, some suggest that the rules regarding hot beverages, such as tea and coffee,
should be different. Some (see, for example, Ginat Veradim, OC 1:17) maintain that since it is
customary to drink them slower, and this is the “derekh hana’ato”, even one who drank a revi’it of
tea in more than kedei sheti’at revi’it should say the berakha acharona. Others suggest the
opposite – liquids that one generally drinks slowly are completely exempt from a berakha
acharona (see Sha’arei Teshuva 204:12; see also Birkei Yosef 204:6 and Yabi’a Omer 5:18:5), as
this is not the normal manner of drinking.

R. Ovadia Yosef (Yabi’a Omer, OC 5:18) analyzes this issue in great depth and concludes
that the custom if Sephardim is not to say a berakha acharona after drinking hot beverages unless
one drinks a revi’it after it has cooled off (see below). On the other hand, R. Dovid Z. Hoffman,
in his Melamed Le-Ho’il (OC 1:25), relates that his custom, as well as the custom of the Sho’el U-
Meshiv and the Minchat Chinukh, was to say a blessing after drinking hot beverages. Similarly,
the Maharam Shik (OC 85) records that this is his custom as well. The Shemirat Shabbat Ke-
Hilkhata (vol. 2, ch. 44, n. 96) relates that this was also the practice of many great rabbis, including
R. Shlomo Zalman Auerbach.

Interestingly, R. Yedael Meltzer (Sefer Etz Ha-Chaim pg. 399, cited by R. Efraim
Greenblatt in his Rivevot Efraim OC 5:166) relates that his grandfather, R. Isser Zalman
Meltzer (1870 – 1953), the author of the Even Ha-Ezel, was accustomed not to say a berakha
acharona after drinking coffee, in accordance with the ruling of the Mishna Berura (see below).
However, once R. Shlomo Zalman Auerbach visited R. Meltzer, and noticed that he said
the berakha acharona after drinking coffee. R. Auerbach, who was familiar with R. Meltzer’s
practice, questioned the change in his custom. R. Meltzer responded that a few days earlier, R.
Yitzchak Ze’ev Soloveitchik (1886 - 1959) had visited, and he noticed that he said a berakha
acharona after drinking coffee, and explained that this was in accordance with the practice of his
father, R. Chaim Soloveitchik. R. Meltzer, himself a student of R. Soloveitchik in the Volozhin
yeshiva, decided to change his practice. In turn, R. Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, impressed that R.
Meltzer, even in his later years, would change his practice, also changed his custom, and began to
say a beracha acharona after drinking coffee. R. Moshe Shternbuch (b. 1926), in his Teshuvot
Ve-Hanhagot (2:135) also records that his teacher, R. Yitzchak Ze’ev Soloveitchik, would say
a berakha acharona after drinking tea within the time of kedei akhilat peras.

The Mishna Berura (210:1) suggests that one should leave a revi’it of coffee or tea until it
cools off and then drink a revi’it, in order to become obligated in the berakaha acharona according
to (almost) all opinions.

Definition of Foods and Liquids

There are some foods whose status is in doubt, and it is therefore unclear whether they
should be treated as solids or liquids with regard to a berakha acharona.

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 For example, should we view ice-cream as a solid, in which case one says a berakha
acharona after eating a ke-zayit within the time of kedei akhilat peras? Or is it a liquid? In that
case, it would be unlikely that one would be obligated to recite a bracha achrona, as it is
uncommon toeat a revi’it of ice-cream within the time it generally takes to drink a revi’it. In
addition, as we learned previously, the blessing Borei Peri Ha-Gefen (when one drinks wine as
well) exempts other beverages. Must one say a blessing before eating ice-cream after
saying Kiddush (and drinking wine) on Shabbat morning?

The Shulchan Arukh (208:6) rules that a “daysa” (soft, grain-based cereal) that is fluid
enough to be drunk is viewed as a liquid; if it is thick enough to be chewed, it is treated as a
solid. Similarly, the Shulchan Arukh Ha-Rav (Seder Birkat Ha-Nehenin 8:8) writes: “Food
which has melted to the extent that it is fit for drinking is not longer considered to be food. So
too a liquid which solidifies and can be eaten is no longer considered to be a liquid.” (See
also Ve-Zot Ha-Berakha, pg. 44 and pg. 100).

Based on this distinction, ice-cream, jelly, pudding, and soft cheeses (cottage cheese)
would certainly be viewed as solids. More viscous dairy products would be viewed as liquids. R.
Ovadia Yosef (Yabi’a Omer OC 8:25) disagrees and maintains that these foods should be viewed
as liquids, regarding the laws of berakhot.

Tziruf – A Berakha Acharona after Eating Different Foods

Different foods upon which the same berakha rishona is recited combine to the shi’ur of
a ke-zayit. Therefore, if one eats half of a ke-zayit of an apple, and another half of a ke-zayit of an
orange, one says Borei Nefashot afterwards. Similarly, if one eats half a ke-zayit of a fruit of the
seven species and another half of a ke-zayit of another fruit of vegetable, one says Borei
Nefashot (Mishna Berura 210:1). Liquids and solids do not combine to reach a shi’ur.

We learned in previous shiurim that when eating two foods, one says the blessing over
the ikkar (the more important, primary food), which exempts the tafel (the secondary food).
Similarly, a berakha acharona is said only over the primary food, assuming that one ate a ke-
zayit (Shulchan Arukh 210:1; see Mishna Berura 210:1 as well).

The Acharonim discuss how to view a cake, the majority of the ingredients of which are
usually egg, oil, and sugar, and not flour. Must one say a berakha acharona after eating a ke-
zayit of cake or after eating a ke-zayit of flour?

The Magen Avraham (208:15; see also Derisha 208:1) maintains that one who eats a ke-
zayit of cake or cookies, even if he does not eat a ke-zayit of flour, says the blessing of Al Ha-
Michya. This seems to be the opinion of most Rishonim (see, for example,
Rif, Berakhot 37b; Rambam, Hilkhot Berakhot 3:11-12; Rosh, Berakhot 6:7, et al.), who do not
mention that one must eat a ke-zayit of flour. The Chayei Adam (50:21) records that this is the
popular custom. The Mishna Berura 208:48) cites this as well, although he concludes that
preferably one should only say a berakha acharona after estimating that he ate a ke-zayit of
flour.

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 R. Moshe Feinstein (Iggerot Moshe, OC 1:71; see also Minchat Yitzchak 9:15 and
Teshuvot Ve-Hanhagot 2:132) disagrees and expresses his amazement at the custom cited by the
Mishna Berura. He insists that one should only say the Al Ha-Michya after eating an amount of
cake which contains a ke-zayit of flour. Although, as mentioned, the custom seems to be in
accordance with the first view, many suggest being stringent and eating a ke-zayit of flour. While
hard, yeast cakes are generally mostly flour, in some softer cakes, flour may only be a ¼ or even
less of the ingredients. As we mentioned previously, many maintain that a ke-zayit is indeed the
size of an actual olive (i.e. 3-4 cc), in which case it would not be difficult to consume this
quantity of flour, even according to the stricter opinion.

One must say a separate blessing on fruit, cheese, and other fillings, and they do not
combine with the flour to equal a ke-zayit. Therefore, at times one may eat a very small piece of
cake with a ke-zayit of filling and say only a Borei Nefashot.

Borei Nefashot

The blessing of Borei Nefashot is said after drinking (except wine) and eating rice, meat,
fruits (not of the seven species), and vegetables.

Most Acharonim (see, for example, Shulchan Arukh 202:11 and Mishna Berura 202:55)
maintain that unlike the berakha rishona of She-Hakol, Borei Nefashot is not a “general”
blessing and cannot be said after eating foods which require a different blessing, such as Birkat
Ha-Mazon or Me’ein Shalosh (Al Ha-Michya, Peirot,and Gefen). Some (see Kaf Ha-Chaim
202:79) maintain that be-di’avad, one who says Borei Nefashot after even a food that requires
the Berakha Me’ien Shalosh fulfills his obligation. Furthermore, R. Moshe Feinstein (Iggerot
Moshe, OC 1:74) suggests that if one does not have a siddur and does not know the Berakha
Me’ein Shalosh by heart, he should say Borei Nefashot instead.

R. Ovadia Yosef (Yechaveh Da’at 2:22) disagrees and insists that Borei Nefashot is not a
general blessing that exempts from other blessings, even in extenuating circumstances. Indeed,
he takes this opportunity to implore us to know blessings by heart so that one does not find
himself unable to say a blessing because he does not have a siddur.

Al Ha-Michya and Al Ha-Gefen

If one ate a ke-zayit of mezonot but is unsure whether he drank a revi’it of wine or if he
ate a ke-zayit of fruit from the seven species, since he is already obligated to say Al Ha-Michya,
he should mention wine (Al Ha-Gefen) or the fruits (Al Ha-Peirot) as well (Taz 208:19).

Furthermore, if one ate a ke-zayit of fruits from the seven species and a ke-zayit of other
fruits, the blessing of “Al Ha-Peirot” suffices, as he mentions “fruits” in the blessing. If,
however, he ate vegetables, he must say a Borei Nefashot as well (Shulchan Arukh 208:13).
The Mishna Berura (208:64) notes that some Acharonim disagree and maintain that the blessing
of Al Ha-Peirot covers the vegetables as well. Therefore, he suggests that one say the Borei
Nefashot first, lest the blessing of Al Ha-Peirot cover both the fruit and the vegetables.

29
 The Sha’arei Teshuva (208:9) cites Acharonim who maintain that although one should
preferably say Borei Nefashot after eating rice, if one said Al Ha-Michya, or if one ate other
cookies or crackers with the rice and said Al Ha-Michya, the rice is exempted.
Some Acharonim (Kaf Ha-Chaim 208:41; Ben Ish Chai, Pinchas 18) maintain that even le-
khatchila, one should say only one blessing. This is also the view of R. Ovadia Yosef (Yalkut
Yosef 208:12). Others (see Shevet Ha-Levi 9:65) insist that the even the opinions cited by the
Sha’arei Teshuva are somewhat novel, and surely le-khatchila one should say both blessings.

Just as the blessing Borei Peri Ha-Gefen exempts other drinks, the blessing of Al Ha-
Gefen exempts not only the wine, but other beverages as well (Shulchan Arukh 208:15).

Waiting Before the Berakha Acharona

The mishna (Berakhot 51b) teaches that one may say the berakha acharona “until the
food in his stomach has been digested.” The Talmud (ibid. 53b) explains that this is “as long as
he is not hungry.” The Mishna Berura (184:20) records that some Acharonim estimate this to be
about 72 minutes after one finishes eating. Seemingly, this should depend on the specific food
and person. If one feels satiated even after 72 minutes have passed, one may still say the
blessing. The Acharonim write that when in doubt, a person, it is proper to eat another ke-zayit of
food in order to be obligated to say the berakha acharona.

[1] In recent years, of number of articles have been written on this topic. These articles were invaluable in producing this summary.
See, for example: Beinish, Chaim, “Shiur Ke-Zayit: Midot Ve-Shiurei Torah” (Bnei Berak, 1990); Benish, Chaim, “Shiur Ke-zayit
– Bi’ur Da’at Rishonim Ve-Acharonim,” in Kovetz Beit Aharon Ve-Yisrael 2; Greenfield, Avraham, “Ha-Kesher Bein Shiurei Ke-
zayit Ve-Ke-Beitza,” Techumin 14 (1994); Kislev, Mordechai, “Ke-zayit – Peri Ha-Zayit Ke-Midat Nefach,” Techumin 10 (1989);
Margolin, Hadar Yehuda, “Beirur Shitat Ha-Chazon Ish Be-Shiur Ke-zayit,” Moriya 107 (1993); Margolin, Hadar Yehuda, Kuntras
Shiur Ha-Kezyit (taken from Hidurei Ha-Midot); Navon, Hayim, “Kama Zeitim Yesh Be-Ke-zayit,” Alon Shevut Bogrim 18 (2003);
Slifkin, Natan, “The Evolution of the Olive” (2010). See also Mandelbaum, Alexander, Ve-Zot Ha-Berakha (1992); Melamed,
Eliezer, Peninei Halakha – Berakhot (2009).

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 Ancient Bible References to Date Palm Trees Phoenix dactylifera9

Palm trees in ancient desert sands grew and satisfied almost every need the ancient Jews needed.
The Jews ate the palm tree dates; the tree juices were fermented into wine; the trunk of the palm
tree was used as construction timber; and the palm leaves were woven into baskets, mats, brooms,
beds, ropes and made into furniture.

Promises were made in the Hebrew Bible by God for a new home for the nation of Israel , and the
moving finger on the wall pointed to the palm tree as the perfect supplier of food, shelter and
medicine. This was the promised land of "milk and honey, (palm dates.)" the land of Canaan
located on the banks of the Jordan River.

Ezekiel 47-12: "All kinds of fruit trees will grow along the river banks, the leaves will never turn
brown and fall, and there will always be fruit. There will be a new crop every month- without fail!
For they are watered by the river flowing from the Temple. The fruit will be for food and the leaves
for medicine."

9
https://www.tytyga.com/aboutus.asp

31
Date palm trees grow tall point toward the infinite heavens where there is a promise of Life Eternal.
The symbolism of the straight trunk of the palm tree is clear; that humans should journey down
the straight path that leads Christians toward righteousness. The straight soft trunk was capped
with a canopy of 20 foot leaves of green that unfolded like a botanical star burst. The delicious
honey-sweet dates fed the ancient Jewish nomads and the eventual settlers of Israel. The palm
leaves shaded the hot, bright desert sands and the fibers provided a plethora of uses in the primitive
lands.

The ancient date palm tree, it has been suggested, is the oldest fruit bearing tree on earth. Palm
trees grow worldwide from sandy deserts to tropical rain forests. The palm trees has been grown
in grove plantings, since the ancients understood the food value of the dates and the exotic
appearance and shading on the landscape of the desert sands. Palm trees were often planted near
an oasis as a source of water, shade and food.

Historically the tropical appearance of palm trees was noted in ancient documents, and on stone
inscriptions uncovered by archaeological excavations and from multiple references in the Bible
Scriptures. Ancient civilizations revered palm trees as symbols of fertility, peace, and victory.
Palm tree images were struck and minted on ageless coins of the Greeks and Romans. The trees
were an economic resource for the exporting of high quality, edible dates into areas outside the
Middle East and Africa.

In the Scriptures of the Hebrew Bible, Joshua 6-20, the brother of Moses, Joshua, stood at the
miraculous crumbled walls at the city of Jericho, "the City of Palms", that was situated in the land
of the Canaanites, located along the Mediterranean Coast. All these coastal lands of Phoenecia
were the land of the palms where the Philistines lived, the legendary enemies of Israel, which is
today named, Beirut, Lebanon, and Phoenicia was abundantly covered with palm trees. So the land
of the palm trees was also the land, where in addition the to the productive crops of dates, grape
vineyards grew there, and groves of fig trees, olive trees and pomegranate trees thrived. The Greeks
were reported to have carved their magnificent fluted columns of marble to memorialize the shape
of the trunk of a palm tree.

Deuteronomy 34.3: "There is the Negeb (desert) and the Jordan Valley; and Jericho, the city of
palm trees; and Zoar, the Lord told him."

Exodus 15.27 "And they come to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees,
and they camped there beside the spring."

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Tamar was the Hebrew name given to palm trees in Genesis and was often used to describe a
beautiful woman. Gen 38.6 "Judah arranged for him to marry a girl named Tamar." (Palm Tree.)

2 Samuel 13.1 "King Davids son, Absalom, had a beautiful sister named Tamar."

2 Samuel 14.27 "He, (Absalom), had three sons and one daughter, Tamar, who was a very beautiful
girl."

Palm trees produced long stout leaves that were used to build temporary tents and shelters at Jewish
festivals. Leviticus 23.40, " Take boughs of fruit trees laden with fruit, and palm fronds, and the
boughs of leafy trees------such as willows that grow by the brooks....and (build shelters with
them.)."

Ezekiel 41.18 "the walls were decorated with carvings of cherubim, each with two faces and of
palm trees alternating with cherubim."

Ezekiel 41.20 " One face,....that of a man....looked toward the palm tree on one side, and the other
face...that of a young lion....looked toward the palm tree on the other side: and so it was, all around
the inner wall of the Temple."

Ezekiel 41 25-26 "The doors leading into the nave were decorated with cherubim and palm trees,
just as on the walls...There were recessed windows and carved palm trees on both sides of the entry
hall, the hallways beside the Temple, and on the canopy at the entrance."

1 Kings 6.29 "Figures of angels, palm trees, and open flowers were carved on all the walls of both
rooms of the Temple and the floor of both rooms was overlaid with gold."

The New Testament Scriptures note the spreading of Christianity throughout the lands bordering
Israel. These lands were known for their palm trees.

Acts 11.19 "believers who fled from Jerusalem during the persecution after Stephen's death
traveled as far as Phoenicia, land of palms."

33
Acts 15.3 "the delegates went on to Jerusalem, stopping along the way in the cities of Phoenicia,
the land of the palms."

John 12. 12-13 " The next day, the news that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem swept through the
city, and a huge crown of Passover visitors took palm branches and went down the road to meet
him shouting, 'The Savior! God Bless the King of Israel! Hail to God's Ambassador!'"

Revelation 7.9 "After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from all nations and provinces
and languages, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white, with palm
branches in their hands."

The San Fransisco Chronicle reported, Sunday 12, 2005, that Archaeologist , Ehud Netzer,
discovered seed from the date palm, Phoenix dactylifera, from the spectacular palace built by King
Herod on top of Mount Masada in Israel. The Romans destroyed the palace after the Jews
committed mass suicide on Mount Masada, rather than surrender to the Roman soldiers.
Archaeologist Ehud Netzer, found the date palm seed in a cache at the excavation site that
presumably had been tossed into a corner after the Mount Masada Jews were cornered.

A few seed were treated by Eaine Solowey with the growth hormone Gibberellic acid- widely
researched and tested at Yale University in the 1960's, and within five weeks a 2000 year old seed
sprouted to form a small tree named the "Methuselah Palm." Years before this experiment was
done, some Egyptian Pharaoh seed of grain were sprouted but did not survive. Seeds of excavated
lotus water lilies, dating back 1200 years ago, have been sprouted from their ancient dormancy to
grow into lotus lilies.

Date palms grew up to 80ft tall in a river valley 7 miles wide, where ancient Israel had generated
a giant economy. The fruit of the date palm was known for its high quality and was exported
throughout the Roman empire.

The seed were planted on Jan 25, 2005, by a botanist, Eaine Solowey, who was educated at
UCLA....Other seed were sent off for radioactive carbon dating to the University of Zürich,
Switzerland, and determined to be approximately 2000 years old.

This remarkable discovery of Date Palm Seeds, Phoenix dactylifera, that have been confirmed by
scientific experts to date approximately 2000 years old led to an unbelievable miracle that
resurrected a dormant 2000 year old seed into a living tree...the Date Palm...that symbolized the
tree that nurtured the Jews in the promised land of "milk and honey", the land of Canaan, that

34
became ancient Israel. Now those ancient seeds of the Date Palm have been resurrected to sprout
and grow as Israel did, a land that also lay dormant for 2000 years. Israel has also been Resurrected.

Is this mysterious phenomenon and miracle of restoration a metaphor to all people of the world,
that Jesus' promise to raise Christians from the dead to be resurrected to eternal life, a revelation
that might be understood in this modern day parable of reality?

Psalms 92 12-14 "But the Godly shall flourish like palm trees, and grow as tall as the cedars of
Lebanon. For they are transplanted into the Lord's own garden and are under his personal care.
Even in old age they will still produce fruit and be vital and green.

Seed from Masada is the oldest to germinate

WENDY HANSEN WRITES:10

Scientists using radiocarbon dating have confirmed that an ancient Judean date palm seed among
those found in the ruins of Masada in present-day Israel and planted three years ago is 2,000 years
old -- the oldest seed ever to germinate.

The seed has grown into a healthy, 4-foot-tall seedling, surpassing the previous record for oldest
germinated seed -- a 1,300-year-old Chinese lotus, researchers reported Thursday in the journal
Science.

The tree has been named Methuselah after the oldest person in the Bible. It is the only living Judean
date palm, the last link to the vast date palm forests that once shaded and nourished the region.

Sarah Sallon, who directs the Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center in Jerusalem,
became interested in the ancient date palm as a possible source of medicines. She enlisted Dr.
Elaine Solowey of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies at Kibbutz Ketura to coax the
seeds out of dormancy.

One sprouted. Scientists estimated that it was about 2,000 years old based on carbon dating of
other seeds found at the site, but they had no way of directly testing the planted seed without
risking its chance of germinating.

10
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-jun-13-sci-methuselah13-story.html

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After the Methuselah seed germinated, Solowey found fragments of the seed shell clinging to the
roots -- enough for dating.

The shell fragments initially dated to AD 295, give or take 50 years, but a small percentage of
“modern” carbon incorporated as the seed germinated made it appear 250 to 300 years younger.
Correcting for this factor, the researchers reported that the seed dates from 60 BC to AD 95, similar
to the other seeds from the site.

That placed the seed at Masada a few years after the Roman siege there in 73, when, according to
the ancient historian Josephus, nearly 1,000 Jewish Zealots in the Masada fortress committed mass
suicide rather than capitulate to the Romans. They burned most of their food stores, leaving a
single cache to show that they did not starve to death.

“These people were eating these dates up on the mountain and looking down at the Roman
camp, knowing that they were going to die soon, and spitting out the pits,” Sallon said. “Maybe
here is one of those pits.”

Archaeologists excavating the ancient fortress of Masada unearthed the seeds in 1965, and they
sat in storage for four decades before being planted.

The seeds probably survived for so long because of the extremely arid conditions of the Masada
mesa, said Cary Fowler, seed preservation expert and executive director of the Global Crop
Diversity Trust, which maintains the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway.

Preliminary comparison of Methuselah’s DNA with modern date palms shows a 20% to 50%
difference from current varieties, differences which may include lost traits for resistance to pests
and diseases.

Sallon and her colleagues hope to cultivate more ancient date seeds and eventually reintroduce the
Judean date palm to the area. “It should be there because that’s where it belongs,” she said.

They also plan to test the tree for the medicinal properties hinted at in historical writings.

“Is it really the tree of life?” Sallon asked.

Save the Date

36
 Dr. Sallon and her 2,000-year-old-date. (Guy Eisner)

Wendy Elliman writes:11

The resurrection of an ancient palm tree made headlines across the United States; for
Hadassah researchers, it was one part of a project to revive Israel’s medicinal plants.

A burning sun slides toward a distant desert horizon. The relentless heat of yet another grim
day is ending. Hungry, thirsty but still defiant, a defender of the besieged mountain fortress of
Masada pulls a precious date from his pouch. He looks down on the Roman garrison camped
implacably below, while he slowly chews the date’s sweet flesh, sucks its pit, then regretfully
tosses it aside.

Or perhaps it was a woman who savored that ancient date as part of her diminishing daily ration,
or a child she was trying to nourish. While we are unlikely ever to discover which of the 960
Zealots enjoyed the fruit, we’re about to learn a lot about the 2,000-year-old date itself.

That ancient date pit, excavated at Masada in 1973 and planted last January 25, Tu B’Shvat (the
New Year for Trees), at Kibbutz Ketura, has been coaxed back to life.

Nine months after it was planted in the Negev, it stands 36 inches high and boasts nine healthy
green leaves. The remarkable science that awakened the seed is that of renowned horticulturalist
Elaine Solowey of Ketura, the kibbutz founded by Young Judaea the same year the pit was

11
https://www.hadassahmagazine.org/2006/01/10/medicine-save-date/

37
found. But the project itself, surprisingly, is that of the Hadassah–Hebrew University Medical
Center at Ein Kerem.

“The Judean date was known throughout the ancient world, both for its succulence and for its
important medicinal properties,” says British-born Dr. Sarah Sallon, director of Hadassah’s
Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center, which she set up 10 years ago to study
natural products and therapies. “Ancient Middle Eastern healing traditions used [the date] to
treat many conditions, among them infections, tuberculosis, cancer, kidney disease and
infertility.”

That date, however, had disappeared from history. The ones growing in Israel today are not the
same as those that once covered the country.

“The Crusaders laid waste to the land, the Ottomans neglected it and the Judean date vanished,”
explains Dr. Sallon. “When the Zionist pioneers returned in the late 19th century, they
reintroduced date cultivation with dates from Iraq, Morocco and Egypt, many of them by way
of California. Medicinal qualities possessed by the Judean date may have been specific to its
particular genotype, and have thus been lost.”

Israel once had a reputation for greening the deserts and reclaiming the land, but those days are
now only a memory, she says. Urbanization and development, conflict and climate change have
consigned some 34 plant species to extinction in the past 40 years alone. A fifth of those that
remain are on Israel’s list of rare and endangered species. As these plants vanish, treasure chests
of natural products are lost to future generations.

It was Dr. Sallon’s interest in plant conservation and reintroduction that brought her and
American-born Solowey together in a Hadassah partnership made in heaven. In 1998, they
began a collaboration to domesticate indigenous plants that have potential medicinal uses.
Solowey, who teaches agriculture and sustainable farming at the Arava Institute for
Environmental Studies at Ketura, is a renowned plant scientist. She moved to Ketura four
months after it was founded, when it had only 13 trees, all of them sick.

“I realized then that this was the place that needed me most,” she recalls.

The kibbutz has 9,000 healthy trees, 1,000 of them date palms planted by Solowey; she has “a
personal relationship” with each, she says. After planting the trees, she “decided to see what
else would grow,” she says. “I started out with biblical stuff—wheat, barley, pomegranates and
figs. They’d grown here in the time of Abraham, and I reckoned there was a chance they’d grow
now. They did. From there, I branched out into things that like the desert, and then on to
subtropicals and root stocks. Some worked. Others, like the mango, couldn’t take the salt.”

Today, she has 25 acres of experimental plants at Ketura, growing over 100 different varieties,
many of them domesticated for the first time in Israel, and several of them, such as the Moroccan
Argania, for the first time anywhere.

She is also developing a seed bank with many important Israeli medicinal plants. Missing,
however, was the Judean date.

38
“As far as we knew, it was extinct,” says Dr. Sallon. “Then we heard that Bar Ilan University
was storing date pits found at Masada.”

Unearthed from level 34 of the Masada dig and identified by archaeologist Ehud Netzer, the
pits were “sitting in a drawer in Bar Ilan’s botanical archaeology department,” says Dr. Sallon.
“When I asked its director, Mordechai Kislev, if I could try and grow one, he said, ‘You’re
mad!’ After some persuasion, he gave me three. I passed them on to Elaine.”

Solowey took them, though she “did not have much hope that any would come up.” To wake
them, she first soaked the seeds in hot water to soften their coat, then in a hormone-rich acid
and finally in an enzymatic fertilizer made from nutrients that included seaweed.

“I put the three seeds in new pots with new soil in a quarantined area, plugged them into drip
irrigation and let them get on with it,” she says. “A month or so later, cracks appeared in the
earth above one of the three. I phoned Sarah at once. ‘Something’s happening!’ I told her.”

With growing confidence, a date shoot pushed its way to the surface and unrolled two flat, pale,
odd-looking leaves. The third and those that have followed, however, look like modern date
leaves, although their pattern around the stem differs from the modern date palm. In the summer,
at Dr. Sallon’s instigation, the University of Zurich radiocarbon-dated a sliver of the seed and
gave its age as 1,990 years, plus or minus 50, placing it squarely at the time of the Roman siege
of Masada.

“We were utterly elated!” says Dr. Sallon. “We’d heard of 1,200-year-old lotus seeds that
sprouted in China, and 400-year-old seeds from London’s Natural History Museum that grew
after the building was bombed in World War II and doused with water to put out the flames,
but these Masada seeds were older by far.”

Cellular analysis of the seedling, performed at Israel’s Volcani Institute of Agricultural

Research, shows differences in its DNA from that of the modern date, but with only one plant
to test, no firm conclusions can be drawn. Kislev has parted with some more ancient date pits,
and Solowey has begun awakening them as well.

Dr. Sallon’s interest in the therapeutic value of the Judean date was sparked by a unique project
run by the center she directs (upgraded from a unit in June 2005, with the support of
philanthropist Louis L. Borick).

Believing ancient remedies could be used to create modern medicines, in 1966 the center
launched the Middle-Eastern Medicinal Plant Project (MEMP) to conserve, research and
develop medicinal plants in Israel.

“The Judean date is one of hundreds of plants, shrubs and trees of this region—flora Palestina—
with a history that goes back to the Bible,” says Dr. Sallon. “We hear about them through the
psalms and the prophets, where almost every plant mentioned has extensive use in folk
medicine, as well as in nutritional and ceremonial rituals—preparation of the Temple incense,
the oil used in anointing…. We hear about such plants again in the Talmud and in the writings
of Jewish and Arab physicians, such as Maimonides and Avicenna.”

39
MEMP’s unique database is drawn from the archive of the late David Zaichek of the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, who spent 30 years documenting medicinal plant use by Jewish and
Arab healers. The database details the botany, ecology and use of some 500 medicinal species
in different healing traditions along with a sophisticated cross-referencing system and search
engine, which correlate traditional plant use with modern Western medicine.

“Plants have no borders,” says Dr. Sallon. “We hope to raise funds to put this treasure trove of
ethno-botanical knowledge onto a Web site, a ‘plants-for-peace project’ for researchers
throughout the Middle East.”

Despite the enormous variety and long historical tradition of flora Palestina, only a very small
percentage of Israel’s 3,000 varieties have been scientifically studied.

“We favor a…focused approach in which we investigate different species guided by traditional
knowledge of their use,” says Dr. Sallon. If, for example, a plant is traditionally used to treat
infectious conditions, center researchers speculate it has antibacterial properties, and it is
screened accordingly. Of 50 varieties so far tested for antibacterial effect in Hadassah’s
Department of Clinical Microbiology, mainly by doctoral students, half have been found
effective in treating infections—and a quarter very effective indeed.

For Borick researchers, plants described in Zaichek’s archive as tonics or cleansing agents are
candidates for testing as immune system stimulants. The more costly testing of a plant’s impact
on the immune system has been performed on two varieties from the artemesia and solenum
genus.

“Indications are that in both there is a dual effect,” says Dr. Vivi Barak, director of Hadassah’s
Immunology Laboratory for Tumor Diagnosis, who uses immune-system markers known as
cytokines to evaluate activity. “They seem both to stimulate the immune system and have a
significant effect on the inflammatory response. This could have important therapeutic
indications for diseases that include arthritis, Crohn’s and multiple sclerosis.”

Artemesia may have another important application. Malaria was once endemic in Israel, and
artemesia is among many local flora credited with antimalarial properties. A plant from the
artemesia family, artemesia annua, has been used as a medicine in China and is the World
Health Organization’s recommended drug against this worldwide killer.

Building the database and testing flora have led the Borick Center into domesticating and
cultivating plants. “Almost all the medicinal plants listed are wild and many of them are now
very rare,” says Dr. Sallon. “To provide a sustainable source of raw plant material for scientific
testing, we have domesticated and conserved many of them, so that we don’t deplete Israel’s
precious plant heritage.”

As well as trying to conserve these plants and integrate them into conventional medicine, the
center is also aiming to reintroduce species that have become extinct in Israel. Dr. Sallon cites
commiphora and boswellia, from whose sap fabled frankincense and myrrh were made.

According to legend, they have grown here since the Queen of Sheba gave seeds to King
Solomon. Another example is opobalsumum, thought to be the source of Balm of Gilead.

40
Brought from the Horn of Africa and the Persian Gulf states where these plants still grow, they
are again being cultivated in Israel.

Germinating the 2,000-year-old date pit was a major achievement, but only the beginning,
acknowledges Dr. Sallon. “We still have a long road ahead,” she says, “and one that we must
fund entirely by ourselves. We don’t yet know if our first seedling is male or female. We hope
it’s female, that we’ll have a male to pollinate it, and that it’ll live the four or five years it needs
to produce fruit.

“Then, in this age of [genetically modified] foods, we’ll have a [historically unmodified] date,”
she adds, “one with perhaps an interesting gene or two that has disappeared from the intensely
cultivated modern date. If the long-lost genes that gave the ancient Judean date its reputation
for healing can be propagated on a larger scale, we may have something really important—an
old-new food with remarkable healing potential.”

Amazing Date palms grown from 2,000 year old seeds!

Dr. Michael Lim writes:12

The indomitable and irrepressible Travelling Gourmet is astonished by…

MAGICAL Date palms grown from very old seeds…in Israel.

Seven date palm trees have been grown from 2000-year-old seeds that were found in the Judean
desert near Jerusalem.

The seeds – the oldest ever germinated – were among hundreds discovered in caves and in an
ancient palace built by King Herod the Great in the 1st century BC! They were found at the same
site as the Dead Sea Scrolls.

12
https://thatravellinggourmet.com/2020/09/15/amazing-date-palms-grown-from-2000-year-old-seeds/

41
Sarah Sallon at the Louis L Borick Natural Medicine Research Center in Jerusalem and her
colleagues previously grew a single date palm tree (Phoenix dactylifera) from one of the seeds.
The team has now managed to grow a further six.
The ancient seeds were prepared by soaking them in water, adding hormones that encourage
germination and rooting, then planting them in soil in a quarantined area.

The team used radiocarbon dating to reveal the seven seeds were all around 2000 years old. Genetic
analysis showed that several of them came from female date palms that were pollinated by male
palms from different areas. This hints that the ancient Judean people who lived in the area at the
time and cultivated the trees used sophisticated plant breeding techniques.

Sweet and juicy

Historical accounts of the dates that grew from the palms in this region describe their large size,
sweetness and medicinal properties. The Roman scribe Pliny the Elder, for example, wrote that
their “outstanding property is the unctuous juice which they exude and an extremely sweet sort of
wine-flavour like that of honey”. Unlike Egyptian dates, they could be stored for a long time,
meaning they could be exported throughout the Roman Empire.

Sallon and her colleagues found that the seeds of ancient Judean dates are larger than modern
varieties, which is often indicative of bigger fruit. They now hope to recreate the ancient fruit by
pollinating females with males.

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“It won’t be the typical Judean date, because dates that were grown at that time – just like dates
that are grown today – are not grown from seeds that somebody puts in the earth,” said Dr Sarah
Sallon, director of the Louis Borick Natural Medicine Research Centre at the Hadassah Medical
Organization in Jerusalem. “They are grown from clones from very high-producing females.”

Date palms are thought to have first been cultivated in Arabia and Mesopotamia (now Iraq) more
than 6,000 years ago and were once widespread in ancient Judea, a region of the Levant. As well
as being an important item of food, said Sallon, they were used to treat various medical conditions,
including depression and poor memory. “Dates were an enormous export from Judea and they
were famous,” she said.

Judea’s date palm crops started to die out after the region’s wars with Rome in the 1st and 2nd
centuries AD. Sallon believes the hot, dry conditions of the Judean desert probably helped to
preserve the leftover seeds for so long.

Previously, the world’s oldest germinated seed was a 1300-year-old Chinese lotus seed recovered
from a dried lake bed in China. In 2012, researchers in Russia grew a flower from 30,000-year-old
fruit tissue recovered from frozen sediment in Siberia.
Out of 32 other excavated seeds, six sprouted, and two are female. One, named Hannah, bore
111 dates. The team at the Arava Institute tasted some, and sent the rest away for research.

And how do Hannah’s dates taste?

“Lovely,” says Sarah Sallon of the Louis L Borick Natural Medicine Research Center in Jerusalem,
“I find Medjoul dates too sticky sweet. Hannah’s are blander and drier, with a honey aftertaste
that makes me think of the land of milk and honey.”
The date experts at Kibbutz Keturah say they taste like the Zahidi species of Iraqi dates. That
makes sense, as Hannah is genetically related to a species that grew in Babylon — present-day
Iraq.

“Domesticating the date palm for cultivation started around 6,000 years ago in Babylon and in the
Arabian Peninsula,” Sallon explains.

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44