The Seven Fruits of the Land of Israel

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.

About the Authors

Sabina Faynberg is a free-lance photographer and graphic designer. She moved to Jerusalem from New York in 2007. Since that year she has been studying painting with well-known Israeli artists. Her paintings have been on display at several art exhibitions in Jerusalem. Spanning space and time in 'islands of peace', her photographs can be seen on the blog:

http://islandsofpeace.blogspot.co.il

and her paintings on

https://www.artmajeur.com/sabina-faynberg/

Dobra Levitt made aliyah from Florida in 2005. She has used her background and experience as a high school English teacher to teach courses in literature and creative writing to small groups in Jerusalem. Chabad.org has published some of her work. She has recently published a book called "The Fish in the Yellow Paper", a memoir consisting in 17 essays.

The seed is planted

On a visit to a book store in Jerusalem, Sabina asked the owner what books on photography people most frequently asked for. Without hesitation he said, "the seven kinds of Israel". Thus was planted the seed for this little book.

We asked Chabad.org for any written material by The Lubavitcher Rebbe on the Seven Fruits of Israel. They sent us the article " Seven Fruits of the Soul" by Rabbi Yanki Tauber based on the teaching of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. (Copyright and reprinted with permission of Chabad.org)

The article became the direct inspiration for all the poems and to some extent influenced the photography as well.

The full article by Rabbi Yanki Tauber can be found online:

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/408049/jewish/Seven-Fruits-of-the-Soul.htm

We happily and gratefully offer "The Seven Precious Fruits"

to our readers in the spirit of the prophecy that describes the great joy of the time of Mashiach - may that era begin soon:

"But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree and none shall make them afraid - for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken it." Micah 4:4