Annual Reading Schedule - Torah Given Through Mosheh - Week 1 - Creation Until The Birth of Noach (Genesis 1:1-6:3)

Genesis 1:29 is one reason why I try to only eat plants that bear seed. For this reason, I avoid seaweed, ingredients from seaweed like carrageenan and those starting with algi- or something similar, and mushrooms. Some people have claimed that mushrooms have seeds since they have spores they drop that are like their seeds, however, after brief research I am still not sure if mushroom spores are the same as seeds or if I should be eating them. I don't really like them anyhow, so for me it's not a big deal to just not eat them since I'm not sure entirely.

It does not say that plants without seed are unclean to eat, but those appear to be given specifically for animals and the ones with seed to humans. I do not think we are outright prohibited from eating these things without seeds, as I even see King Nevukhadnetstsar (Nebuchadnezzar) was driven away from men to eat grass. However, another reason I question mushrooms in particular is because they are called by some a "fungi" and I wonder if this has any relationship to mold at all? I may need to do further research on this. I also would caution anyone still desiring to eat seaweed to ensure it is kosher certified since seaweed is known for having sea horses in it which are not clean to eat at all. Buying seaweed that is kosher certified would at least be more assurance that it does not have something blatantly unclean in it such as this.

What about bananas and other fruits that appear or are labeled as seedless? There are multiple questions to consider regarding this, such as:

• How does a seedless fruit come into existence?
• Are these fruits really seedless?
• Does a seed have to be fully developed?

How does a seedless fruit come into existence?

Contrary to some false information on the Internet, just because something is seedless does not mean it is genetically modified. The bananas we all know of today that don't look like they have any seeds were around long before modern day GMOs existed. So GMO does not necessarily have anything to do with the reason why a fruit has or doesn't have a seed. So how do they become seedless?

My understanding is that the "seedless" fruits are hybrids known as "triploids" because of something to do with the number of chromosomes. One website talks more intelligently about breeding for seedless varieties as follows:

Seedless cultivars are produced by crossing a tetraploid (4X=44) inbred line as the female parent with a diploid (2X=22) inbred line as the male parent of the hybrid. The reciprocal cross (diploid female parent) does not produce seeds. The hybrid is a triploid (3X=33), and is female and male sterile. Triploid plants have three sets of chromosomes, and three sets cannot be divided evenly when they go into two daughter cells during meiosis (the cell division process that produces the gametes). Since the triploid hybrid is female sterile, the fruit are seedless. Because the triploid is also male sterile, it is necessary to plant a diploid cultivar in the production field to provide the pollen that stimulates fruit to form. Usually, one third of the plants in the field are diploid and two thirds are triploid. Cultivars should be chosen that can be distinguished easily so the seeded diploid fruit can be separated from the seedless triploid fruit for marketing.

Within all this smart-talk about breeding and chromosomes, let's be clear that the breeding process we're talking about still only involves plants of the same kind – watermelon with watermelon, grapes with grapes, bananas with bananas. From what I can see in the Scriptures, there is no restriction on plant breeding techniques. There is no Scripture I can find which forbids breeding different types of grapes with each other, or apples with apples, or bananas with bananas, or watermelons with watermelons. So I can't say a hybrid, just because it's a hybrid, is forbidden.

We even see in Romans 11 that grafting of branches from one tree into another is mentioned as an example of how those who were not native Yisra'elites in the flesh are joined to Yisra'el through Yahushua. If grafting was forbidden by the Torah, I would expect it not be used as an example of this process – but because it is used to illustrate this process it must be permissible by the Torah.

So my view is the breeding technique used to create triploids is permissible – but what about eating the fruit if it doesn't look like it has seeds? Keep reading.

Are these fruits really seedless?

This is a highly debatable question. I've gotten a so-called "seedless" watermelon only to find it had a few small black seeds in it. Although most of it was seedless, it wasn't 100% seedless. For bananas and "seedless" grapes, I've heard of various sources on the Internet claiming that they do have seeds but that the seeds are merely "immature" or "under-developed" or "undeveloped". Here's an example:

Wild banana fruits, if they develop at all, are full of hard black seeds 5-6 mm in diameter, so stony as to be dangerous for teeth and making the fruits virtually inedible (Figure 2). The cultivated kinds, by contrast, are both parthenocarpic and, typically, sterile—in other words, their fruits develop without pollination and they are seedless or nearly so, even if pollinated, an autonomous stimulus to fruit development causing the cultivated bananas to fill with the sweet-starchy parenchyma that we eat. The undeveloped seeds are represented by the shrivelled ovules visible as minute brown flecks on the axis.

The stuff you find local to you is not the "wild" variety of banana, but the "cultivated" kind. Notice it says about cultivated kinds, "they are seedless or nearly so". In saying, "or nearly so", that implies that they are not always 100% seedless. Also, it says, "the undeveloped seeds" which brings into question if they are really "seedless" or just fruits with seeds in an immature state. This makes me wonder if they have potential to grow mature seeds but are just discouraged from doing so by the way they are cultivated.

Also, when we think of seeds we may think of a hard-shell seed – but that is not always the case. Take for example, blueberries or kiwis. They have seeds inside them but the seeds are not hard. So the presence of a hard-shelled seed or the lack of a hard seed doesn't mean there is no seed at all.

So are these fruits really seedless? My answer? I have no idea. I am definitely not a plant expert and now we're getting into defining what constitutes a seed.

This brings us to the next question:

Does a seed have to be fully developed?

My answer? Again I have no idea. Does the undeveloped seed shown by brown flecks mean it is considered to have a seed? What about that black hard dot thing at the bottom of the banana we find sometimes?

I really don't know what those black dots are, nor do I know for certain if the purpose of Genesis 1:29 was to outlaw triploids that would later come into existence through breeding techniques man decided to implement. I, myself, inside am guessing that fruits which don't have fully developed and mature seeds due to them being triploids are probably permissible as long as they're not genetically modified with a foreign gene. If I were starving, or in prison and limited on what foods I could eat, I would definitely eat them if my food supply was very limited. Although they might not be what was originally intended for us to eat, we also don't see a direct prohibition where Yahweh says you can't eat fruit without seeds. However, I am not so sure I'd eat a mushroom in prison, although maybe if I was starving I would; as long as I had no reason to believe it was definitely biblically unclean. We could never eat anything that was Biblically unclean. I don't view a mushroom as an animal, so in a case of starvation, maybe I would eat it (again, as long as it's not unclean like due to some dead flies on it or something – we can never eat dead flies).

Why would I maybe still not eat a mushroom unless I was starving? Because a mushroom never originated from a seed-bearing plant or tree, whereas at least the seedless looking banana, if you trace its' origins back far enough, did. Even if the seedless banana doesn't look like it has a seed, which is debatable anyhow, all banana trees somewhere back in time were a result of breeding banana trees. If you trace the breeding back far enough you would inevitably arrive at a tree source which had seeds at one point in time.

However, keep in mind that if we avoid bananas on the basis that they are "seedless", then we might also need to avoid grapes or watermelons that appear seedless or juice from any fruits that you can't verify had seeds in it (e.g. grape juice from seedless grapes). In practice, day to day, I use to avoid bananas and sometimes even seedless grapes in case I was wrong about all this, but at some point my view swayed back to accepting bananas as part of my regular diet (except when avoiding them due to them contributing to migraines). The main thing that convinced me to do this is recognizing that at some point these bananas did come from a seed-bearing plant so regardless if they themselves have seeds or not now, they did originate at some point from a plant that did have seeds. So now I sometimes may eat bananas and I'm not as concerned over this issue anymore. I do look for grapes with seeds, but if I really want grapes and can't find a seedless variety, I don't feel I'm sinning in eating seedless grapes because at some point in the past all grapes came from a grape plant that did have seeds, regardless if it has seeds now. However, I still hold the view that we should not eat any GMO plants that have genes from other plants in them, so I do still avoid GMOs.

Unlike unclean animals, we don't have an outright, clear-cut prohibition against seedless fruits. Perhaps it is true that the seeded fruits and plants are what is given for food, but without a clear-cut prohibition against seedless fruits, I can't say seedless varieties are absolutely forbidden 100% for certain. But if it bothers your conscience at all, then don't eat them. It use to bother my conscience a little but I think I'm OK with them now since at one point they originated from seeded varieties.

For more information about GMOs, see the reading notes for Week 27 and the reading notes for Week 46 of the Annual Reading Schedule for related information.

The command was originally given to the man (Genesis 2:16-17) before the woman was created. The woman was then created and afterward deceived, but the man was not deceived (Genesis 3, 2 Corinthians 11:3, 1 Timothy 2:14). It is true that our believing wives do have the Set-Apart Spirit also and are led by Yahweh. It is also true that we as men must look first, however, to Yahweh and see what He says. Sometimes our wife may say something that is correct and can help us to do what is right better.

Sometimes, however, we may choose to disagree if we believe Yahweh wants us to do something different. And sometimes, it may be that some of what they have said is correct, but we must also, in addition, do something else or do what is being suggested in a certain way to be sure it is done correctly. The ultimate question really is, "What does Yahweh say?". Adam was corrected for listening to his wife who had been deceived. For this reason, all men must realize they must be the ones to be circumspect and to protect the family. If our wife says something and we disagree, we must do what we think is right even if it does not appease what our wife desires us to do. Our responsibility is first to Yahweh. As Sha'ul (Paulus – Paul) points out, man was not created for woman, but woman for man (1 Corinthians 11:9). So then, what is man created for? It seems to me that we were created for Yahweh and His Son Yahushua. I think we can also learn from 2 Corinthians 11:3 that men, just as well as women, can be deceived.

It appears when translating the names from Adam to Noach that a Messianic prophesy is discovered. The names are translated by Jeff Benner in his book "His Name is One" as the following:

• Adam man
• Sheit (Seth) appoint (set in place)
• Enosh mortal (also means man, as man is mortal)
• Qeynan (Kenan) dwelling place (literally a nest)
• Mahalalel light of El (also means praise as it illuminates another.)
• Yared (Jared) comes down
• Chanokh (Enoch) dedicate
• Metushelach (Methuselah) his death brings
• Lamekh (Lamech) despair
• Noach (Noah) comfort

Written out, this appears to say, "Man appointed a mortal dwelling, the light of El will come down dedicated, his death brings the despairing comfort."