Eretz Yisrael is praised for its rich, indigenous harvests, namely wheat, barley, grape, fig, pomegranate, olive (oil), and honey (Devarim 8:8). The classic understanding of the honey is date honey, Israel being notably “the land that flows with milk and honey” (Shemos 13:5). Rashi interprets it to be the honey of figs and dates, while the outlier Rabbi Akiva (in Michilta D’rashbi) interprets it to be the “honey of the forest,” meaning, from bees.
When we think of bees, we think of its honey-manufacturing ability (good) as well as its stinging ability (bad). Which is why Rashi (Bamidbar 22:12) quotes the popular adage that one would “say” to a bee, “I want neither your honey nor your sting.”
Bees get a bad rap. The bee is a real blessing for its role as pollinator of the world’s produce and flowers. Believe it or not, you have a bee to thank for every one in three bites of food you eat. Honeybees perform about 80 percent of all pollination worldwide, with a single bee colony pollinating as much as 300 million flowers each day. While grains are primarily pollinated by the wind, fruits, nuts and vegetables are pollinated by bees. Seventy out of the top 100 human food crops – which supply about 90 percent of the world’s nutrition – are pollinated by bees.
So next time you’re near a bee, instead of getting nervous, give it a blessing: Say, “A Bee Gezunt!”
