The 7 Species

(7) For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams and springs and fountains issuing from plain and hill; (8) a land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs, and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey; (9) a land where you may eat food without stint, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and from whose hills you can mine copper. (10) When you have eaten your fill, give thanks to the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.

(13) He will favor you and bless you and multiply you; He will bless the issue of your womb and the produce of your soil, your new grain and wine and oil, the calving of your herd and the lambing of your flock, in the land that He swore to your fathers to assign to you.

(10) For the land that you are about to enter and possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come. There the grain you sowed had to be watered by your own labors, like a vegetable garden; (11) but the land you are about to cross into and possess, a land of hills and valleys, soaks up its water from the rains of heaven. (12) It is a land which the LORD your God looks after, on which the LORD your God always keeps His eye, from year’s beginning to year’s end.

(4) The land of Egypt — If one does not work in it (i.e., in the soil) with mattock and axe and (does not allow) sleep to escape his eyes, he has nothing of it. Not so Eretz Yisrael, but they (its inhabitants) sleep and the L-rd brings down rain for them. An analogy: A king is walking on the road, and, seeing a man of high estate, gives him a servant to serve him. He then sees another man of high estate, (having obviously been) preened and pampered, engaging in (mundane) labor, (all the while), conscious (of the nobility) of his ancestors — at which he says: I decree that you not toil with your own hands, and I will feed you (gratuitously). So, with all the lands, He gives them servants to serve them. Egypt drinks from the Nile; Bavel drinks from the Yuval. Not so Eretz Yisrael, but they (its inhabitants) sleep on their beds, and the Holy One Blessed be He brings down rain for them. To teach that not as the ways of flesh and blood are the ways of the Holy One Blessed be He. (A man of) flesh and blood acquires servants to feed and sustain him. But He who spoke and brought the world into being — He acquires servants for Himself, whom He Himself feeds and sustains.

(1) When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you as a heritage, and you possess it and settle in it, (2) you shall take some of every first fruit of the soil, which you harvest from the land that the LORD your God is giving you, put it in a basket and go to the place where the LORD your God will choose to establish His name. (3) You shall go to the priest in charge at that time and say to him, “I acknowledge this day before the LORD your God that I have entered the land that the LORD swore to our fathers to assign us.”

§ The Gemara notes: Ulla and Rav Aḥa bar Abba disagree with regard to the issue that is the subject of the dispute of earlier amora’im: Rabbi Yoḥanan says: Even if one did bring mountain dates or valley produce as first fruits, he does not thereby consecrate them, i.e., they do not attain the sanctified status of first fruits. Reish Lakish says: If one did bring them, he has consecrated them; they are regarded just like a gaunt animal with regard to sacrificial animals. Although it is improper to consecrate such animals or such produce as an offering, if one does, the consecration certainly takes effect. The Gemara discusses the dispute: Granted, the opinion of Reish Lakish is well founded, as he stated the reason for his ruling. But as for Rabbi Yoḥanan, what is the reason for his ruling? Rabbi Elazar said: I have an explanation of Rabbi Yoḥanan’s ruling and since I was privileged to see Rabbi Yoḥanan in a dream, I know that I am saying a proper matter. The verse states with regard to first fruits: “And you shall take from the first of all the fruit” (Deuteronomy 26:2). The addition of the word “from” indicates that one should take from some of the first fruits, but not from all the first fruits. This teaches that one should use only the seven species for the mitzva. The verse continues: “That you shall bring from your land.” The addition of the word “from” indicates that one should take first fruits from some areas of the land, but not from all areas in your land. This teaches that one should not take dates from the mountains or produce from the valleys. The Gemara asks: And as for Reish Lakish, for what halakha does he use this term “your land”? He holds that the term is necessary for that which is taught in a baraita: Rabban Gamliel, son of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, says: “From your land” is stated here (Deuteronomy 26:2), with regard to the first fruits, and “land” is stated there with regard to the praise of Eretz Yisrael: “A land of wheat and barley, vines, figs, and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey” (Deuteronomy 8:8), which are the seven species. This serves as the basis for a verbal analogy and teaches that just as there, the verse is referring only to the produce that is the praise of Eretz Yisrael, so too, here, with regard to the mitzva to bring the first fruits, the verse is referring only to the produce that is the praise of Eretz Yisrael, i.e., the seven species.

(4) (Ibid. 2) "Then you shall take of the first of all the fruits of the earth": I might think that all the fruits are subject to the mitzvah of bikkurim; it is, therefore, written "of the first," and not all of the first. And I still would not know which are subject and which are not. I, therefore, reason: Communal bikkurim (the omer and the two breads) are mentioned elsewhere (viz. Vayikra 23:17), and individual bikkurim are mentioned here. Just as the communal meal-offerings, mentioned elsewhere (wheat and barley) are from the seven species, so, the individual offerings, mentioned here, are from the seven species. — But why not say: Just as there, (only) wheat and barley (are mentioned), here, too, wheat and barley! Whence are the others (of the seven species) to be derived? It is, therefore, written (Shemoth 34:26) "the bikkurim of your land," to include (all of the seven species mentioned in praise of your land). Since Scripture includes (i.e., all of the seven species) and excludes (five of them [in the instance of communal bikkurim]), you revert to the original (reasoning), viz.: Individual bikkurim are mentioned here, and communal bikkurim are mentioned elsewhere. Just as the communal bikkurim (wheat and barley) are of the seven species mentioned in praise of the land, so, the individual bikkurim are of the seven species mentioned in praise of the land. And they are (Ibid. 8:8) ("a land of) wheat, barley, grapevine, fig, and pomegranate, a land of olive-oil and honey."

(1) This is what you shall do to them in consecrating them to serve Me as priests: Take a young bull of the herd and two rams without blemish; (2) also unleavened bread, unleavened cakes with oil mixed in, and unleavened wafers spread with oil—make these of choice wheat flour.

(22) You shall observe the Feast of Weeks, of the first fruits of the wheat harvest; and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year.

(3) He subjected you to the hardship of hunger and then gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your fathers had ever known, in order to teach you that man does not live on bread alone, but that man may live on anything that the LORD decrees.

(25) and Solomon delivered to Hiram 20,000 kors of wheat as provisions for his household and 20 kors of beaten oil. Such was Solomon’s annual payment to Hiram.

(14) He endows your realm with well-being, and satisfies you with choice wheat.

Rabbi Yehuda says: It (the Tree of Knowledge) was the wheat plant. This is proven by the fact that, even today, an infant does not know how to call out to his father or mother until he tastes the taste of grain, and for this reason wheat is called “the Tree of Knowledge.”

(7) What was the tree, from which Adam and Eve ate? Rabbi Meir said, it was wheat. When a person lacks knowledge people say "That person has not eaten bread made from wheat even a day." Rabbi Shmuel bar Rabbi Yitzhak asked before Rabbi Zeira and said to him "Is it possible that it is wheat?" He said to him, "Yes!" He said to him, "But isn't it written, 'tree'" He said to him, "It rose like the ceders of Lebanon" Rabbi Yaakov Bar Aha said: Rabbi Nechemiah and the Rabbis disagree. Rabbi Nechemiah said, "[When we bless our bread we should say]...'the one who brings bread from the earth', since bread already came from the earth." But the Rabbis say, "'who is bringing bread from the earth' since in the future he will bring bread from the earth, as it is said, 'There will be a abundant grain in the land.' (Psalm 72:16).

(10) Speak to the Israelite people and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving to you and you reap its harvest, you shall bring the first sheaf of your harvest to the priest. (11) He shall elevate the sheaf before the LORD for acceptance in your behalf; the priest shall elevate it on the day after the sabbath.

(16) If anyone consecrates to the LORD any land that he holds, its assessment shall be in accordance with its seed requirement: fifty shekels of silver to a ḥomer of barley seed.

(11) The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: (12) Speak to the Israelite people and say to them: If any man’s wife has gone astray and broken faith with him (13) in that a man has had carnal relations with her unbeknown to her husband, and she keeps secret the fact that she has defiled herself without being forced, and there is no witness against her— (14) but a fit of jealousy comes over him and he is wrought up about the wife who has defiled herself; or if a fit of jealousy comes over one and he is wrought up about his wife although she has not defiled herself— (15) the man shall bring his wife to the priest. And he shall bring as an offering for her one-tenth of an ephah of barley flour. No oil shall be poured upon it and no frankincense shall be laid on it, for it is a meal offering of jealousy, a meal offering of remembrance which recalls wrongdoing.

(1) He would bring her meal-offering in a twisted basket and put it into her hand in order to tire her. All meal-offerings start and end in service-vessels, but this one starts in a twisted basket and ends in a service-vessel. All meal-offerings require oil and frankincense, but this one requires neither oil nor frankincense. All meal-offerings come from wheat, but this one comes from barley. The meal-offering of the omer, though it comes from barley, comes from that which was sifted, but this one comes from unsifted. Rabbi Gamliel said: Just as her deeds were like those of an animal, so too her sacrifice is from food for animals.

An analogy: A man is asked: Why are you eating barley bread? He answers: Because I have no wheat bread. Why are you eating carobs? Because I don't have figs. Similarly, if Israel had that handful (of manna) that they took on the day of Moses' death, from which they ate all forty days, they would not desire to eat of the grain of the land of Canaan. (Bamidbar, Ibid. 9)

(17) When Moses sent them to scout the land of Canaan, he said to them, “Go up there into the Negeb and on into the hill country, (18) and see what kind of country it is. Are the people who dwell in it strong or weak, few or many? (19) Is the country in which they dwell good or bad? Are the towns they live in open or fortified? (20) Is the soil rich or poor? Is it wooded or not? And take pains to bring back some of the fruit of the land.”—Now it happened to be the season of the first ripe grapes. (21) They went up and scouted the land, from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, at Lebo-hamath. (22) They went up into the Negeb and came to Hebron, where lived Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the Anakites.—Now Hebron was founded seven years before Zoan of Egypt.— (23) They reached the wadi Eshcol, and there they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes—it had to be borne on a carrying frame by two of them—and some pomegranates and figs.

(5) All the days of Solomon, Judah and Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba dwelt in safety, everyone under his own vine and under his own fig tree.

(1) Israel is a ravaged vine And its fruit is like it. When his fruit was plentiful, He made altars aplenty; When his land was bountiful, Cult pillars abounded.

(13) A time is coming —declares the LORD— When the plowman shall meet the reaper, And the treader of grapes Him who holds the [bag of] seed; When the mountains shall drip wine And all the hills shall wave [with grain].

(4) But every man shall sit Under his grapevine or fig tree With no one to disturb him. For it was the LORD of Hosts who spoke.

(14) You make the grass grow for the cattle, and herbage for man’s labor that he may get food out of the earth— (15) wine that cheers the hearts of men oil that makes the face shine, and bread that sustains man’s life.

(8) Rabbon Simeon hen Gamaliel says, "Never were more joyous festivals in Israel than the 15th of Ab and the day of atonement, for on them the maidens of Jerusalem used to go out dressed in white garments—borrowed ones, in order not to cause shame to those who had them not of their own;—these clothes were also to be previously immersed, and thus they went out and danced in the vineyards, saying, Young men, look and observe well whom you are about to choose [as a spouse]; regard not beauty [alone], but rather look to a virtuous family, for 'Gracefulness is deceitful, and beauty is a vain thing, but the woman that feareth the Lord, she is worthy of praise' (Prov. 31:3); and it is also said (Prov. 31:31), 'Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates.' And thus is it said [in allusion to this custom], 'Go out, maidens of Jerusalem, and look on King Solomon, and on the crown wherewith his mother has encircled [his head] on the day of his espousals, and on the day of the gladness of his heart' (Cant. iii. 11); 'the day of his espousals,' alludes to the day of the gift of the law, and 'the day of the gladness of his heart,' was that when the building of the Temple was completed." May it soon be rebuilt in our days. Amen!

Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “He who guards the fig tree shall eat its fruit” (Proverbs 27:18)? Why were matters of Torah compared to a fig tree? Just as this fig tree, whenever a person searches it for figs to eat, he finds figs in it, as the figs on a tree do not ripen all at once, so that one can always find a recently ripened fig, so too, with matters of Torah. Whenever a person meditates upon them, he finds in them new meaning.

We learned in the mishna: One who recited: Who creates fruit of the tree, over fruits of the earth, did not fulfill his obligation. The Gemara asks: That is obvious, as fruits of the earth do not fall under the rubric of trees. Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said: This ruling in the mishna is only necessary according to the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda, who said in another context that wheat is a type of tree, as we learned in a baraita: The tree from which Adam, the first man, ate, Rabbi Meir says: It was a vine, as nothing brings wailing and trouble upon man even today other than wine, as it is stated with regard to Noah: “And he drank from the wine and became drunk” (Genesis 9:21). Rabbi Neḥemya says: It was a fig tree, as with the object with which they were corrupted and sinned they were rehabilitated, as it is stated: “And they sewed together fig leaves and made for themselves loincloths” (Genesis 3:7). They must have taken the leaves from the tree closest at hand, the Tree of Knowledge.

And they sewed together leaf of fig (Gen. 3:7) They arranged to be covered by the shade of that tree from which they had eaten, called leaves of the tree. And they made themselves loinclothes, Rabbi Yossi said, "They immediately gained knowledge of this world and grasped it. They saw that this world works according to the control of these leaves of the tree. They made for themselves a stronghold, strengthening themselves in this world, in order to master every kind of sorcery in the world. They desired to gird themselves with weapons through leaves of the tree to protect and guard themselves.

(13) Let us go early to the vineyards; Let us see if the vine has flowered, If its blossoms have opened, If the pomegranates are in bloom, there I will give my love to you.

(2) I would lead you, I would bring you To the house of my mother, Of her who taught me— I would let you drink of the spiced wine, of my pomegranate juice.

THE EXODUS
"AND it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go" (Ex. xiii. 17). This is what the Scripture says, "Your limbs are a garden of pomegranates" (Song of Songs. iv. 13). Just as this garden is full of (various) kinds of trees, each one bearing according to its kind, so the Israelites, when they went forth from Egypt, were full of all good, (endowed with) the various kinds of blessings, as it is said, "Your shoots are (like) a garden of pomegranates" (ibid.).

(3) Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine within your house; your sons, like olive saplings around your table.

(5) I will heal their affliction, Generously will I take them back in love; For My anger has turned away from them. (6) I will be to Israel like dew; He shall blossom like the lily, He shall strike root like a Lebanon tree. (7) His boughs shall spread out far, His beauty shall be like the olive tree’s, His fragrance like that of Lebanon.

(1) ... Another explanation. Why did Jeremiah see fit to compare our ancestors to an olive-tree? All liquids mix with one another, but oil stays separate when mixed. So too Israel does not mix with the idolaters, as it says “You shall not marry them…” (Deuteronomy 7:3) Another explanation. When one mixes all other liquids one doesn’t know what is on top and what is below, but even if you mix oil with all the liquids in the world it rises above the others. So to our ancestors – when they would do the will of God (HaMakom) they stood above the idolaters, as it says “…the Lord, your God, will place you supreme…” (Deuteronomy 28:1) This is “A leafy olive-tree fair with goodly fruit…” (Jeremiah 11:16) Another explanation. “A leafy olive-tree,” this is what is written “The fairest of branches, the joy of the entire earth…” (Psalms 48:3) What does ‘the fairest of branches (nof)’ mean? In Greek they call a bride namfi. ‘The joy of the entire earth,’ because no member of Israel was distressed as long as the Holy Temple stood. And why not? Because one would enter there filled with sins, offer a sacrifice and it would atone for him. There is no greater joy than this, that he would leave there righteous, that is ‘The fairest of branches, the joy of the entire earth.’ It is written regarding Tyre: “Tyre, you said, 'I am the perfection of beauty.'” (Ezekiel 27:3) You say this, but others do not. But everyone speaks the praises of Jerusalem, as it says “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?” (Lamentations 2:15) And it is written “Mount Zion, by the north side, the city of a great king.” (Psalms 48:3) The place where they offer sacrifices, as it says “And he shall slaughter it on the northern side of the altar, before the Lord.” (Leviticus 1:11) It says “A leafy olive-tree fair with goodly fruit…” (Jeremiah 11:16) Just as oil illuminates, so too the Holy Temple illuminates the whole world, as it says “And nations shall go by your light…” (Isaiah 60:3) Therefore our ancestors were called ‘a leafy olive-tree’ because they illuminated everyone with their faith. Therefore the Holy One said to Moshe “…and they shall take to you pure olive oil…” (Exodus 27:20)

(8) I have come down to rescue them from the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the region of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

(12) The vine has dried up, The fig tree withers, Pomegranate, palm, and apple— All the trees of the field are parched for joy has dried up among men.

(17) He fed them the finest wheat; I sated you with honey from the rock.

(1) I have come to my garden, My own, my bride; I have plucked my myrrh and spice, Eaten my honey and honeycomb, Drunk my wine and my milk. Eat, lovers, and drink: Drink deep of love!

(3) One only brings Bikkurim from the seven species [special to the Land of Israel, listed in Deut. 8:8], [but] not from the dates of the mountains or from fruits of the valley, nor from oil-olives that are not of the highest quality. One does not bring Bikkurim before Atseret [Shavuot, the harvest festival]. People from Har Tsevo'im brought their Bikkurim before Atseret and they [the priests] did not accept [the fruits] because of the verse in the Torah, (Exodus 23:16) "And the harvest festival, the first fruits of your labor that you plant in the field."

With regard to the manna, it is written “bread” (Exodus 16:4), and it is written “oil” (Numbers 11:8), and it is written “honey” (Exodus 16:31). How can we reconcile these verses? Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, said: For the youth it was like bread, for the elderly it was like oil, and for the children it was like honey. Each received what was appropriate.

It is written (Psalms 92:13) "the righteous shall flourish like the date palm...," it states "flourish" for just as no part of the palm goes to waste, the dates are eaten, the new shoots used as lulavs for Hallel, the fronds used as covering [for the Sukkah), the fibers for rope, the leaves for brooms and the boards for roofing, so are there none in Israel who are worthless, some are experts of Scripture, others of Mishnah, others of Talmud, others of Haggadah.