The Seven Fruits of the Land of Israel

Samples for The Cover

From "Seven Fruits of the Soul" by Rabbi Yanki Tauber:

"G-d is bringing you to a good land ... A land of wheat, barley, grapes, figs and pomegranates; a land of oil-yielding olives and [date] honey" (Deuteronomy 8:8)

The Torah is a code. Or rather, the Torah is also a code: it very much means what it says, but also enfolds many levels of metaphor and allusion beneath its surface meaning.

So when the Torah talks about a promised land that is distinguished by seven special fruits, it is also speaking about the human soul and its seven special qualities that drive it and enrich it. According to the symbolism in the teachings of Kabbalah and Chassidism, the "seven kinds" with which the Land of Israel is blessed--wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates--represent the qualities of transcendence, vitality, joy, awareness, action, straggle and tranquility.

...He waters the mountains from His upper chambers,

from the fruit of Your works the earth is sated.

He causes vegetation to sprout for the cattle,

and plants through man's labor,

to bring forth bread from the earth;

and wine that gladdens man's heart,

to make the face glow from oil,

and bread that sustains the heart of man....

Psalm 104:14-15

Wheat

חיטה

Transcendence : This is one of the great mysteries of the human condition: Why are we never content to simply be? We're always seeking the "more": to discover a new world, to rise above ourselves, to take it ("it" being whatever we happen to be involved in right now) to "the next level." Not satisfied to know where we are, we want to know where we came from and where we are going. Not satisfied with the self-defined, self-oriented reality of our "natural" existence, we strive for a self-obliterating union with G-d...

Rabbi Yanki Tauber, "Seven Fruits of the Soul"

I never saw a field of wheat -
"Yet know I how it looks" -
Nor had I known a single sheaf -
Except I found it in a book.

Wheat - it said - before it's made the staff of life
Must first be broken, crushed and ground -
Like the soul - I thought -
Processed in the mill of life -
Becomes whole and choice and sound.

...He Who makes your borders peaceful,
and with the cream of the wheat He sates you;
He Who dispatches His utterance earthward;
how swiftly His commandment runs!...

Psalm 147:14-15

Transcendent Wheat

Wheat - I can eat to satiety -

'The staff of life' and 'stay of the heart' -

But my hunger for Infinity -

Not even when soul and body do part.

Barley

שעורה

Vitality : Our transcendent self has a twin--our vital, animal self. And while the animal self comes with no mean load of negative baggage (selfishness, greed, lust, vanity, cruelty...), selfhood has its positive points as well: a willpower, passion and energy that the more "spiritual" self could never muster. The trick, of course, is to channel it to the right places...

Rabbi Yanki Tauber, "Seven Fruits of the Soul"

The barley seed breaks apart

In the dark earth - emerging re-born -

Not unlike the wheat stalk -

Though drab of mien and forlorn.

How can so poor a grain

Count among the seven kinds?

One may well ask the reason why -

But aside from what our wisdom finds,

There may be more to barley than meets the eye.

Better Barley

Never call barley 'animal fodder'

Harnessing the vital soul

To serve the G-dly -

Is utterly a higher matter!

Grapes

גֶפֶן

Joy : A happy person is an open book. Everything gushes forth; his personality flows free, without restraint and inhibition. Joy is the battering ram that breaks down barriers and constraints, whether they are internal or external, imagined or real...

Rabbi Yanki Tauber, "Seven Fruits of the Soul"

Gather your clustered grapes
From the autumn vine -
If one falls - but no more than two -
Retrieve them not -
And in the seventh year,
Harvest not your store.

Thus says the Lawgiver in His law Divine -
Praise His compassion for rich and poor.

A song of ascents.

1.Praiseworthy is each person who fears Hashem, who walks in His path. 2. When you eat the labor of your hands, you are praiseworthy, and it is well with you. 3. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the inner chambers of your your home; your children shall be like olive shoots surrounding your table.
4.Behold! For so is blessed the man who fears Hashem. 5. May Hashem bless you from Zion, and may you gaze upon the goodness of Jerusalem, all the days of your life. 6. And may you see children born to your children, peace upon Israel.

Psalm 128

Gushing Grapes

Gather your ripened grapes

From the purple vine -

Let nothing ever inhibit

The flowing joy of your soul Divine.

Fig

תאנה

Awareness : Knowledge is more than power: it is the ability to involve oneself fully in one's life and actions. A deed done in ignorance is a stab in the dark; a deed born out of knowledge is focused and effective. A deed done in ignorance is disjointed, alien--the deed of a stranger even to the one who does it; a deed born out of knowledge is an integral deed--an extension of, and enhancement to, the totality of the doer...

Rabbi Yanki Tauber, "Seven Fruits of the Soul"

Rejoice in the spreading fig tree -
Its wide leaves fan the sky
And shade the earth below -
Its purple fruit ripens slow.

Wait for its first-ripe fig -
The one in days gone by
Bound with reed-grass and brought -
With song and flute and drum -
Up to the altar in Jerusalem.

Thinking Fig

Be like a fig-

It ripens slowly in the sun-

Your deeds will grow full and fair

When they are thoughtfully done.

Pomegranate

רימון

Action : And yet, there are times when the imperative is simply: Do! The ability to act because action is required, even if knowledge and understanding are lacking, even if it is "out of character" for us, is an all-important--and redeeming--feature of the human soul.

Rabbi Yanki Tauber, "Seven Fruits of the Soul"