Class #037 VIDEO / Berachot 6.4 / 7 species of Israel and the 3 controversies of Rabbi Yehuda

1. Location and purpose of the chapter

Chapter 6 of Berachot is the blessings before eating (berachot rishonot): which formula corresponds to each food, and in which order they should be recited when there are various foods in front of the person.

Within this framework, our mishna is dealing with a very concrete: what food is a high priority for the beraja when there are several on the table?

VIDEO CLASS #037 IN SPANISH

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2. Text of the Mishnah-Hebrew, transliteracion and translation

2.1. Hebrew text basics

היו לפניו מיני מאכל הרבה, על איזה מהן מברך?
רבי יהודה אומר: אם יש ביניהן ממין שבעה – עליו הוא מברך תחלה.
וחכמים אומרים: מברך על איזה מהן שירצה.

2.2. Transliteracion

Hayu lefanav minei maajal harbe, to eize mehem mevarej?
Rabbi Yehudah omer: Im yesh beneihem mimmin sheva – alav hu mevarej tejila.
Vejajamim omrim: Mevarej the eize mehem sheyirtze.

2.3. Translation of work

"If he had before him for many types of food, on which he should recite the first the blessing?
Rabbi Yehuda says: If among them there is one of the seven species for which it was praised the Land of Israel, he recites the first blessing over him.
And the Sages say: he May recite the blessing on the one that you want".

In some editions in print and digital this mishna appears numbered as Berachot 6.1 or 6.4; the content, however, is the same.

VIDEO CLASS #037 IN ENGLISH

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3. The "seven species" of Eretz Israel

The Mishnah refers to the seven species mentioned in Devarim / Deuteronomy 8.8:

"A land of wheat and barley, vines, fig, and pomegranate; a land of olive oil and honey [of dates]".

Traditionally are listed:

1. Wheat
2. Barley
3. Grapes
4. Figs
5. Grenade
6. Olives (oil)
7. Date (honey dates)

These species not only define the fertility of the earth, but acquire status halajico special:

• Have priority to recite berachot compared to other fruits.
• Have a blessing later longest (Birkat Meen Shalosh, "a three").

The opinion of Rabbi Yehudah in our mishnah is based precisely on that privileged status.

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4. The question: what defines the priority?

The Mishnah presents a situation practiced very common:

• There are various foods different on the table.
• You want to eat more than one.
• The question arises: how about that I do the first beraja?

Behind this question technique, there is a question more broad:

What factor gives dignity and spiritual priority food:
– your relationship with Eretz Israel (the seven species),
– the subjective preference of the person (chaviv, "the more you like"),
– or the general structure of the categories of blessings?

Our Mishnah collected two approaches:

1. Rabbi Yehuda: the objective criterion is belonging to the seven species.
2. The Jajamim (Wise): the criteria may be subjective; the person chooses "the desired".

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5. Development talmudic: Berachot 41a–41b

The Talmud (Berachot 41a–b) analyzes and explains this discrepancy.

5.1. Case of same beraja vs. berachot different

The Talmud distinguishes:

1. When all the foods require the same beraja
   • Example: the various fruits of "Haetz", like apple, fig and dates.
   • Here we discuss whether the priority given to you by the fact of being one of the seven species (Rabbi Yehuda) or personal preference (Jajamim).
2. When foods have berachot different
   • Example: bread (Hamotzi), wine (Hagafen), fruits (Haetz), vegetables (Haadama), meat (Shehakol).
   • The Talmud brings other sources that establish a hierarchy of types of beraja (order known as Maga Esh: Motzi, Mezonot, Gefen, Etz, Adama, Shehakol).

In the reading classic, the dispute of our Mishnah applies especially to the first casewhen the beraja is the same for all foods.

5.2. Concepts of "'ikar" and "tafel"

In parallel, the Talmud discusses the principle of 'ikar–tafel (primary–secondary):

• If a food is clearly the main and the other is an accessory, is blessed only on the principal.
• This logic influences how we understand the idea that the seven species can be considered, in certain contexts, the "'ikar" of the whole.

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6. Readings of the Rishonim

6.1. Rashi and Tosafot

Sources talmudicas and commentators classics explained that:

• Rashí understand that when all foods have the same beraja, to Rabbi Yehuda always have priority to the seven species, even if the guests prefer another fruit.
• Tosafot discuss the details and presents situations where personal preference may influence further.

6.2. Rambam (Maimonides)

The Rambam in Hilchot Berachot, systematizes the jewelry:

• Gives priority to the seven species in certain contexts, but in others, gives weight to the criterion of chaviv (the preferred food).

Several modern studies show that in order to Rambam, the key is to define that food is considered to be central in the experience of eatingthe seven species tend to be plants because of their status, but is not mechanical in any situation.

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7. Psaq jewelry: Shulchan Aruch and the poskim later

7.1. Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 211

The Shulchan Aruch codifies the laws of the precedence in the blessing of fruits:

1. If you have multiple fruits with the same beraja and among them there is one of the seven species,
   • is anticipates the beraja on the species of the seven,
   • although it is not their fruit preferred.
2. If there is no fruit of the seven species, then it prioritizes:
   • the fruit full (shalem),
   • or most wanted (chaviv), according to the cases.
3. When the berachot are different, they are generally follows the order category:
   • Hamotzi
   • Mezonot
   • Hagafen
   • Haetz
   • Haadama
   • Shehakol

7.2. Poskim contemporary

Modern works of jewelry summary as well:

• Rule base: with beraja equal, if there is a fruit of the seven species, is blessed at first on him (as Rabbi Yehuda).
• If there is a preference, a very marked towards a fruit that no is of the seven species, some poskim give space to the opinion of the Jajamim; others maintain the priority of the seven species of the practice rules.

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8. Sense teologico and symbolic

8.1. Centrality of the Land of Israel

Several comments explain that the priority of the seven species it is not technical, but a masterful work theologiae:

• The Land of Israel is presented as privileged channel of blessing divine.
• Bless first about their fruits symbolizes that we recognize the spiritual origin of fertility and our livelihood.

8.2. Memory and gratitude historica

The seven species remembered:

• The experience of the people of Israel to enter the promised land.
• The transition from the dependence of the manna in the desert to a life based on the work of the land, but always under the blessing of the divine.

Bless first on these fruits works as a liturgy condensed history of Israel: every meal becomes a reminder of the covenant and of the earth.

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9. Practical applications

By way of summary, operating, taking the jewelry majority:

9.1. Various fruits with same beraja "Haetz"

Example: apple, orange (Haadama according to some cases), datil, fig.

1. Identify which fruits are the seven species: datil and fig.
2. Among them, the internal priority of the seven species is determined according to their order in the verse in Devarim 8.8 (olives, date, grapes, figs, pomegranates).
3. Blessed is first on the one that have a higher priority (for example, datil before that fig), and with that beraja is included, if applicable, other fruits with the same beraja you want to eat immediately.

9.2. Fruit of the seven species vs. fruit very dear

Example: you have a datil (seven species), and an apple that the person you especially like.

• According to the Shulchan Aruch, it prioritizes the datilfollowing the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda.
• Some poskim recognize that, in practice, if the person only wants to eat the apple and not the dates, then the dates don't go in the case of the Mishnah and can bless directly on the apple.

9.3. Several types of berachot in the same table

Example: bread, wine, fruits, vegetables, meat.

• Apply the order of categories (Maga Esh):
  1. Hamotzi (pan)
  2. Mezonot
  3. Hagafen (wine)
  4. Haetz
  5. Haadama
  6. Shehakol
• Within the same category (for example, the various fruits of Haetz), return to play rules of seven species and personal preference, according to what has been seen.

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10. Conceptual reading of the discrepancy Rabbi Yehuda – Jajamim

10.1. Rabbi Yehuda: priority to the objective and national

Rabbi Yehuda understand that:

• What defines the importance of a food is not the taste is subjective, but your objective meaning in the Torahthe seven species as a symbol of the blessing of the earth.
• The jewelry becomes so as a tool in pedagogical: using the priority ritual, it educates the person to maintain in the foreground the memory of Eretz Israel.

10.2. Jajamim: space for personal experience

The Wise, by allowing you to bless on the "want to", enter:

• The recognition of the subjective experience: what the person values and enjoy can be vehicle and legitimate of the blessing.
• A balance between the dimension national–objective (seven species) and the personal relationship of the individual with what they eat.

In the jewelry encoded observed a commitment to:

• It maintains the priority objective of the seven species in many cases (as taught by Rabbi Yehuda).
• But it also recovers the criterion of chaviv (preferred) and other factors (to be full fruit, etc), according to the sensitivity of the Jajamim.

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1. A study larger of the three controversies of Rabbi Yehuda

From this Mishnah, you can open several lines of research:

1. Comparison between the Bavli and Yerushalmi on the issue of priority in berachot, and its impact on the encoding halajica.
2. Symbolism of the seven species in the Midrash, the Zohar and literature jasidica: each species as an archetype of the spiritual.
3. Case study limited modern:
   • processed fruits, mixed salads, cereals, etc;
   • application'ikar–tafel when one of the components is of the seven species.

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Conclusion of the first issue

The Mishnah Berachot 6.4 is not just a technical note on "that fruit is going to first." It is a piece of architecture halajica complex where they intersect:

• the hierarchy of blessings,
• the unique status of the seven species as a sign of the Land of Israel,
• the subjective experience the diner,
• and the idea that each act of eating can be transformed into a gesture conscious memory of historical and gratitude.

In practice, the jewelry is still in great measure to Rabbi Yehuda: when there are fruits of the seven species with the same beraja, blessed is first about them. But, at the same time, it preserves the voice of the Jajamim to assess the personal preference and other factors, achieving a balance between the national–objective and single–experiential within an act as mundane as eating.

1. General context

1.1. Who is Rabbi Yehuda of our Mishnah

The “Rabbi Yehuda” quoted in Berachot is, unless informed against, Rabbi Yehuda bar Ilai, tana of the fourth generation (century II d. C.), a disciple chief Rabbi Akiva and one of the voices most cited of all of the Mishnah.

Some characteristics are relevant for our topic:

• It is a halajista systematicvery close to the method of exegesis of Rabbi Akiva.
• Tends to clarify and refine categories: interested in that each halachah builds on a conceptual structure clear.
• It is known for its piety and austerity personal, which fits with a certain tendency to separate the “blessed” of the “damn” in reality.

1.2. Structure of Berachot chapter 6

Chapter 6 of Berachot is, in the words of the research contemporanea, a “celebration of creation” through the blessings over food.

• The mishnayot described categories of food (minim: species / types), and the berajá appropriate for each one.
• The logic is that each “species” created by God deserves a formulation that specifies thank you.

Within this chapter there are three discussions where Rabbi Yehuda disagrees with the Wise exactly on the theme of the minim:

1. The berajá for vegetables and herbs.
2. The berajá for foods that are “species of curse”.
3. The order of priority when there are several foods, especially the seven species of Israel.

These three arguments are the ones that you usually see grouped together as “the three differences min in R. Yehuda”.

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2. The three mishnayot and their texts

2.1. First difference: herbs and vegetables (Berachot 6.1)

The Mishnah 6.1 opens the chapter by describing how blessed are different types of plant products. The version clasica (supported by the Tosefta appropriate) has the following structure:

• About seeds: “Boré minei zeraim” (“Who creates different species of seeds”).
• About herbs: “Boré minei deshaim” (“Who creates different species of herbs/grass”).
• About vegetables: “Boré peri ha-adamá” (“Who creates the fruit of the land”).

The Tosefta appointment after the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda, that modifies the text of the berajá over the vegetables to:

“Baruch matzmiaj has-adamá bidvaró”
“Blessed [art Thou...] that gives rise to the earth by His word”.

In some accounts of the Mishnah (and in reading the avalanches: “who creates various types of grass”) it is understood that Rabbi Yehuda wanted to concentrate the berajá in the category of “herbs/sprouts”, reducing the use of the formula generica ha-adamá. The basic idea is the same: to insist on a text underline the source specific the food in the min created by God, not only its usefulness as a “vegetable”.

2.2. Second difference: foods that come from “the curse” (Berachot 6.3)

In another mishnah in the same chapter (according to numbers modern, Berachot 6.3) lists a number of foods troublesome:

• Wine vinegar.
• Fruits underdeveloped or poor quality.
• Locust (of species-kosher).

The opinion majority says that about all of them is recited “Shehakol nihyá bidvaró” (“By whose word everything was created”), the berajá generic products without category specifies.

But Rabbi Yehuda disagrees:

“Rabbi Yehuda says: any [food] that is min kelalá (‘kind of curse’), is not recited berajá any.”

The commentators explain:

• The vinegar comes from the deterioration wine;
• fruits very green or ruined, are the product of abnormal conditions (drought, pests);
• the locusts are “cursed”, because devour the crops.

To Rabbi Yehuda, these products form a min that is born from a state of curse on the landtherefore, it is contradictory to bless God for them.

2.3. Third difference: the priority of the seven species (Berachot 6.4)

Finally, our mishnah on which you already worked (numbered often as 6.4):

“If he had before him for many types of food, on which he should recite the first the blessing?
Rabbi Yehuda says: If among them there is one of the seven species for which it was praised the Land of Israel, he recites the first blessing on it.
But the Sages say: Recite the blessing on the one that you want”.

The seven species are those of Deuteronomy 8.8: wheat, barley, grape, fig, pomegranates, olive (oil), and dates (honey dates).

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3. Analysis compared: the arguments in each difference

3.1. First difference: how berajá generic or specific for “weeds”?

Tana kama (the Wise men)

• Accepted multiply the berachot up to a certain point (the fruit of the tree, the fruit of the earth, etc), but unify many edible plants under the formula “Boré peri ha-adamá”.
• The category of “herbs” exists, but the berajá of actual use remains within the structure standard: ha-adamá as a category wide.

Rabbi Yehuda

• Want a text that makes visible the divine act of making “sprout”: “matzmiaj has-adamá bidvaró” or, in another tradition, “boré minei deshaim” applied more strictly.
• The difference is not only in linguistics: the accent goes from “finished product” (fruit) to “the process of sprout”.

Key background

1. To Rabbi Yehuda, the berajá about food is not only a thank you for the food, but a mini-liturgy of the creation itself: named to the Creator as “one who causes to sprout” or “who creates species of herbs”.
2. The Wise prefer a system of berachot more stable and functionalwith less special formulas, even if it loses some of the detail symbolic.

In the halachah is encoded, the normative text is “Boré peri ha-adamá”not alternative versions of Rabbi Yehuda; that is to say, at this point do not follow your opinion.

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3.2. Second difference: what is blessed about a “min " of curse”?

Wise (opinion majority)

• They argue that, although these products are associated with a curse (pest, damage), the fact that the person to obtain a benefit legitimate and allowed it is enough to recite Shehakol.
• His approach is pragmatic and antropocentrico: the berajá express gratitude for the good that one receives far, even if the source historical or agricultural product is negative.

Rabbi Yehuda

• He sees a tension insoluble: how to be blessed by something that the sources describe it as the expression of a curse from god about the land or the crops?
• Defines these products as a “min kelalá”, a type of reality whose origin is marked by the curse, and concludes: is not recited berajá on them.

Argument teologico

• To Rabbi Yehuda, the berajá should be consistent with the evaluation divine of that sector of the reality. If God himself, in the Torah or in the hadith, qualify a phenomenon to curse (droughts, crops ruined, pests), bless him explicitly) is almost a contradiction performative.
• For the Wise, the same may actually contain curse on your overall appearance (for example, the plague that destroys fields), but blessing in the particular use that an individual makes a product kosher derived from alli. The berajá is fixed in that time specific.

The halachic practice continues to the Wise: recite Shehakol about vinegar, fruit defective edible lobster and kosher.

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3.3. Third difference: the priority of the seven species

Wise

• Say: “bless on the food that you want”.
• The decisive criterion becomes subjective: what most wanted (chaviv) for the person, or what you want to eat first, you may receive the first berajá.

Rabbi Yehuda

• Introduced a criterion objective and national: if there are foods that belong to the seven species for which it was praised the Land of Israel, have priority ritualeven if they are not the favorites of the diner.
• The Talmud elaborates: when foods have the same berajáthe dispute is on the front. When the berachot are different, there are discussions amoraicas on as far as the priority of the seven species.

Conceptual reading

1. To Rabbi Yehuda, the seven species represent the “min " blessed” by excellencebecause the Torah uses to praise the land of Israel. Therefore:
   • Not only deserve their own berajá (as a food),
   • but, when competing with other foods, they embody the privileged channel of blessing and must be mentioned first.
2. For the Wise, that dimension symbolic exists, but the berajá it is also a personal spiritual experience: give priority to what the person is really appreciated and is going to enjoy you can intensify the awareness and gratitude.

In the fall encoded (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 211), it adopts the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda: when there are several food with the same berajá and among them one of the seven species, is blessed first on that species, except in particular cases.

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4. Internal consistency: the three differences min in Rabbi Yehuda

Now we can see the three arguments as a single package tematico. In all three, the y-axis is the origin and definition of the “min”:

1. Herbs and vegetables (6.1)
   • Rabbi Yehuda want the berajá name the specific type of growth (“herb”, “the gushing forth”) and the divine act that does arise.
   • The Wise can tolerate a greater homogeneizacion in the formula, with a system of berachot more operating.
2. Species of curse (6.3)
   • Rabbi Yehuda trace a border theological: certain processes (decay, devastating pest) define a min whose existence is linked to the curse; on that “min” is not blessing you.
   • The Scholars distinguish the source historico (curse) of the use timely and legitimized (permitted food that nourishes a person): there do see a place for berajá.
3. Seven species (6.4)
   • Rabbi Yehuda establishes a hierarchy between the minim: the min of the seven species, praised by the Torah, dominates over the others when deciding the order of berachot.
   • The Sages maintain a structure that is more flexible, where the experience of the individual (that food is more beloved) can take precedence over the hierarchy of text.

4.1. Vision of the world of Rabbi Yehuda

If together the three discrepancies, emerges a line:

• The berajá, to Rabbi Yehuda, is a statement on the status ontologico of the world.
• Each min (in-kind) has a spiritual mark:
  • some minim are expression direct blessing (seven species);
  • others are expression of the curse (vinegar, fruits ruined, pests);
  • other highlight is the creative act itself (herbs that sprout).
• The liturgy must follow that cartography: does not bless same on allnor can one speak of blessing where reality is defined by the curse.

In terms of modern, Rabbi Yehuda has a theology deposit of creation: the words of the berajá must be aligned strictly with the way in which the Torah and the reality of historical qualify each type of product.

4.2. Vision of the Wise

The Scholars share the idea of the background (bless by the different minim), but introduce three corrections:

1. Functionality liturgical: less special formulas (if herbs).
2. Emphasis on the actual benefit: you can bless even on something whose story alludes to the curse, if now generates well-legitimate (as in the case of vinegar, lobsters).
3. Centrality of personal experience: in the absence of hierarchies clear, the preference of the diner can guide the priority (as in the case of seven species vs. other fruits).

In other words, while Rabbi Yehuda design a map minim from your status teologico, the Wise balance that map with considerations pedagogical, psychological and practices.

4.3. Result halajico

• In herbs/vegetables and in species of cursethe halachah does not follow Rabbi Yehuda; adopting the posture more pragmatica of the Wise.
• In the priority of the seven specieson the other hand , is still your opinion, even if qualified by the Talmud and poskim (cases of berachot different, so foods that don't want to eat really, etc).

This reflects something important: the tradition halajica recognises the power symbolic the reading of Rabbi Yehuda (hence the preserved and applied in the case of the most representative, the seven species), but at the same time adopts the flexibility of the Wise in situations where the rigidity of categories could zoom out to the practitioner of consciousness grateful that the berachot seek to cultivate.

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5. Synthesis end

The so-called “three differences min” of Rabbi Yehuda in Berachot 6 can be summarized so:

1. Definition of the berajá for herbs and vegetables: discussion to where it needs to outline the text to reflect the category concrete created by God.
2. Food from curse: debate over whether it is coherent to be blessed by a product which the tradition considers expression of a punishment or deterioration.
3. Priority of the seven species: tension between an objective criterion-teologico (fruits symbolizing the Land of Israel) and a subjective criterion-experiential (what the client prefers).

All in all, Rabbi Yehuda appears as the tana that taken to the extreme, the logic of the minim: for, the berajá must say the whole truth about the origin of the food in the drama of blessing–curse of the creation. The Sages, without denying that dimension, the size with a gaze more focused on the concrete experience of the human being who eats and appreciated.