Is the siman of the rimon indeed only a repetition or reaffirmation? Or is there perhaps a deeper meaning to this siman?

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lal Yisrael has unanimously adopted the minhag of performing the simanim on Rosh Hashanah. Based on Abaye’s recommendation in Horayos 12a, we eat various foods whose names or characteristics have a positive connotation, accompanied with a short Yehi ratzon asking Hashem to realize this positive association in the coming year.

While the Gemara mentions only qara, rubya, kartai, silka, and tamari (and esrog, according to the Tur), more simanim were added over the years. One of the “newer” simanim is rimon, pomegranate, mentioned in the Abudraham in the name of the Teshuvos Hageonim, with the accompanying Yehi ratzon ending with “shenirbeh zechuyos k’rimon.” This Abudraham is quoted in the Beis Yosef (Orach Chayim 583, s.v. v’chasav od) and brought in the Rema (Orach Chayim 583:1).

The question arises on the siman of the pomegranate that its symbolic meaning is seemingly redundant. The desired abundance in zechuyos is already demonstrated by rubya, mentioned in the aforementioned Gemara, and its Yehi ratzon ... sheyirbu zechuyoseinu sounds almost identical. Is the siman of the rimon indeed only a repetition or reaffirmation? Or is there perhaps a deeper meaning to this siman?

We find in the Acharonim that the pomegranate doesn’t merely signify the abundance of mitzvos; rather, it signifies the entirety of all mitzvos. In fact, both the Chasam Sofer in his Derashos and the Malbim in his commentary on the bigdei kehunah write that the pomegranate contains exactly 613 seeds — the number of mitzvos aseh and mitzvos lo saaseh. Interestingly, a Columbia University student, Alexander Haubold, conducted an experiment to determine the average number of seeds in a pomegranate, and counted all the seeds in over 200 pomegranates. His sample gave a range of between 165 and 1,370 seeds, but the average was exactly 613.

According to this, we can suggest that the addition of the pomegranate as a siman is for the purpose of asking Hashem to help us not just to perform numerous mitzvos, as already suggested by the siman of the rubya, but rather to merit to perform all of the 613 mitzvos, as signified by the seeds of the pomegranate.

However, is this even possible — to keep all 613 mitzvos? Some mitzvos apply only to Kohanim, some only to kings, and others apply only when there’s a Beis Hamikdash. The Chofetz Chaim, in the introduction to his Sefer Hamitzvos, writes that practically, nowadays there are only 271 mitzvos we can perform (77 mitzvos aseh, 194 mitzvos lo saaseh). Can this really be true, that we are lacking 342 mitzvos?

There is another puzzling question on the usage of the pomegranate as a siman from an explicit gemara: in Eiruvin 19a, Reish Lakish’s interpretation of the verse in Shir Hashirim (4:3), “Thy cheek is like a slice of a pomegranate within thy locks,” states that even the “empty ones” (i.e., those of a low spiritual level) among the Jewish people are full of mitzvos, like a pomegranate.

If the pomegranate indeed symbolizes the abundance of mitzvos among the “empty ones,” why would we need to ask Hashem on Rosh Hashanah for our zechuyos to be as numerous as the seeds of a pomegranate? (One answer given by the Pri Chadash is that “empty” people accumulate mitzvos like a pomegranate during their lifetime, while we ask Hashem to be able to accomplish this amount of mitzvos in one year.) Additionally, how can anyone full of mitzvos like a pomegranate be called “empty” (a question raised by many mefarshim)?

Perhaps we can answer all the questions with a yesod brought by the Meshech Chochmah (Shemos 19:8), commenting on the pasuk, “Vaya’anu kol ha’am yachdav vayomru kol asher diber Hashem naaseh”: He writes that an individual cannot keep and perform all the 613 mitzvos for the very reason mentioned before; that some apply only to Kohanim, some only to Leviim, some only to kings, and so on.

However, Klal Yisrael as a whole is supposed to keep all the 613 mitzvos, with everyone doing his part. This is the true meaning of the rule Kol Yisrael areivim zeh lazeh. (We also find that Klal Yisrael is compared to a single individual, with every segment representing a different vital organ.) Thus yachdav — achdus — is a crucial point here. The same idea is also found in the Chofetz Chaim (Torah Or, ch. 4). (Regarding the mitzvos connected to the Beis Hamikdash and korbanos, both write that learning the corresponding parshiyos is considered fulfillment of these mitzvos.)

Now we can understand the Gemara in Eiruvin stating that even the “empty ones” are filled with mitzvos like a pomegranate. Although as individuals they might be empty, they are nonetheless part of the unity of Klal Yisrael, and therefore they cannot be called truly empty. This is resembled by the pomegranate — containing 613 seeds — because even the greatest tzaddik cannot reach perfection and needs the connection to all the other segments of Klal Yisrael to complete the 613 mitzvos.

And perhaps this is what we ask for with the siman of the pomegranate: that we not only accumulate mitzvos, but that we do so in unity with Klal Yisrael. Together, as one whole — one body with one soul — we should merit to perform all the 613 mitzvos in the coming year.

If we look closely at the wording of the Yehi ratzon, we’ll notice that for rubya, we say sheyirbu (“they shall be numerous”), while for rimon, we say shenirbeh (“we should be numerous”), possibly indicating this idea.

May the new year see all the simanim we recite on Rosh Hashanah night come to full fruition.

Rabbi Dovid Gernetz is a musmach of Rabbi Yitzchak Berkovits and is currently a maggid shiur at the Rabbinerseminar and the assistant rabbi of Kahal Adass Yisroel, both in Berlin.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1079)