The Seven Fruits of the Land of Israel

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!

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