The Seven Fruits of the Land of Israel

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.

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

Wheat

חיטה

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.

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.