Q:
The Rav said that Hakodosh Boruch Hu made fruit beautiful so that we should recognize His kindliness. Wouldn’t we be able to recognize Him even more if He also made potatoes beautiful?
A:
This person wants to know why Hashem didn’t make potatoes more colorful.
So here is a beautiful red potato with a touch of yellow too, and it’s so beautiful that immediately you take it and start chewing on it. You won’t recognize Hakodosh Boruch Hu for that. You’ll be holding your belly and saying, “Why did Hakodosh Boruch Hu tempt me for nothing?!”
So all those fruit and vegetables that are not fit to eat right away, Hakodosh Boruch Hu makes them not colorful in order to engender patience. The bland color means, “Be patient.” It means don’t be in a hurry because it’s not good to eat them right away. But all those things that are pre-cooked on the tree and are ready to eat, they are beautiful.
Now, sometime something is fit to eat, but it’s also not beautiful, like a watermelon. And the reason is because it’s a pity; if a beautiful watermelon was red on the outside or yellow, so you’ll cut into it right away and start eating it and the rest would rot away. So therefore Hakodosh Boruch Hu gives it a ‘patient’ color that doesn’t attract you right away. Only when the whole tribe gathers and you’re all squatting around your watermelon and then you decide to open it up, then everybody will eat his share and it won’t be wasted.
So we have two reasons, two cases why the color is not attractive. Either the thing is not fit to eat now; it’s injurious to eat it now and the color warns you that you would only cause harm to yourself by eating it now. And the second is, if it’s too big for one person so the color causes you to be patient until the family gathers and then you can make the best use of it.
TAPE # 293 (December 1979)
