תְּאֵנָה אוֹמֶרֶת - Fig Tree Says:
Mishlei 27:18
נֹצֵר תְּאֵנָה יֹאכַל פִּרְיָהּ
notzer te'enah yochal piryah
He who preserves the fig tree will eat its fruit
Keep a careful watch over the fig tree and in the end you will eat of its fruit.
This also alludes to faithful attentiveness - diligence - in the tents of Torah study. Chazal expound: Why is Torah learning likened to a fig tree? For even as a fig tree, when cultivated, yields fruit, so too the Torah student. When meditating in the words of the Torah, he always savors new insights.
The fig tree does not produce ripe fruit all at once. Similarly, no man fathoms the essence and substance of the Torah the very first time he studies. Only through constant meditation (Yehoshua 1:8) do the words of the Torah yield sweet insights and inferences that are "sweeter than honey and the honeycomb" (Tehillim 19:11).
Just as the fig tree is picked every day, and so much be worked daily, the same obtains for the Torah. Thus the verse says in conclusion, "and one who attends upon his master will be honored," which alludes to Yehoshua. The Torah says that "Yehoshua son of Nun..did not depart out of the tent" of Torah study (Shemot 33:11)
Scripture also prescribes the proper sequencing of Torah study. A father should begin by teaching his son the Scriptures, then Mishnah and finally Gemara. Similarly, figs are plucked from the tree in sequence, one after another. (Me'am Lo'ez)
