Rabbi Peretz Chen | 7 educational tips from the Seven Species

00:00 Hello. So Tu B’Shvat is a holiday of dried fruit, sweet fruit, and the fruits for which the Land of Israel is praised. Fruits that a few other lands are praised for too—the fruits of the seven species. But when we sit down for a Tu B’Shvat meal around the fruit on the table, the conversation can go one of two ways. We can talk about how this year’s fruit compares with last year’s: this year the papaya tastes better, but last year the dried banana was better. Or we can take this meal to a much higher level. Each of the seven species has a very powerful message for our lives—a message for our service of Hashem and for raising our children at home. If we sit together, learn these ideas, and talk about them, we’ll elevate the meal and, more importantly, take powerful lessons from it for our lives. So let’s get started. Let’s go through the seven species one by one and see what each tells us. In the order of the Torah’s verse: “A land of wheat and barley, and vines and figs and pomegranates; a land of oil-producing olives and honey.” The verse begins with wheat and barley. All the bourekas you’ve eaten lately, the baguette, the sandwich—they’re made from wheat, not barley. Wheat is considered human food, while barley is considered animal feed, which is why the baked goods we eat are generally made from wheat. We even see in the Gemara that barley is animal feed. For example, the Gemara in Sotah discusses a sotah, a woman suspected of improper conduct. She would be taken to the Beis Hamikdash and given the sotah water to drink. As part of the process, she would bring a meal offering made not from wheat but from barley. The Gemara asks:

02:42 Why barley? Why not wheat, as usual? The Gemara says: She acted like an animal, so her offering, too, is animal feed. Barley is more closely associated with animals; wheat with human beings. What does this mean for us in our service of Hashem? There is both a human being and an animal within us. The human being is the G-dly soul, which wants us to grow and improve, to have more yiras Shamayim, to love Hashem more, to love Jews more, to have more Ahavas Yisroel. Our animal soul tries to pull us in the opposite direction—toward foolishness, desires, and transgressions. So within us there is a human being and an animal, wheat and barley. The wheat we focus on at Tu B’Shvat tells us to nurture the G-dly soul, to give it more of what it wants: more Torah, more Jewish life, more yiras Shamayim, more conduct in keeping with the Shulchan Aruch. That is what the G-dly soul wants. The message of wheat is to add to the good. Barley, which is connected with the animal soul, tells us to overcome our animal side more and listen to it less. What does this mean for raising our children, for our homes? Wheat means adding to the good. Every one of us knows which things, when we do them at home, are good for the family and make family life better. That family game at the Shabbos table always goes well; that activity, or that kind of dinner, always works out well. So if something is good, let’s do it more consistently, make it even better, and add to it. Let’s think of more things like that—things that bring the family together and bring joy into our home. That’s what wheat means: adding to the good, strengthening the human side of ourselves. As for barley, when it comes to raising

05:09 children at home, we know what causes unpleasant feelings, brings down the atmosphere, or creates difficult situations between the children. We parents know that if this or that happens, it will lead to certain results. Every household knows its own exact recipe. Barley is animal feed: it tells us to do our best to overcome the animal soul and the negative things. We should try to make sure that the things that are bad for our home happen as little as possible. For example, if mornings at home are very pressured and getting ready is stressful, and we find that preparing some things the night before makes the morning calmer—but it isn’t always easy to do that in the evening, when we’re very tired and drained—barley tells us: let’s try harder. Let’s make the effort, because it reduces the stress at home in the morning. Barley means overcoming our animal side and the negative things as much as possible. So let’s work harder at reducing unpleasant, stressful situations at home. That’s wheat and barley. Let’s move on. The verse says, “A land of wheat and barley, and vines.” Grapevines give us wine, one of the things that brings great joy: “Wine gladdens the heart of man.” People drink wine at celebrations; there are bottles of wine on the tables at events. Wine brings joy. But how do you produce wine? You take grapes and press them. Pressing takes effort and investment, but as a result, we get wine that makes us happy. So too in our service of Hashem, in our spiritual work, sometimes people want everything to be easy. “I don’t enjoy davening; I don’t enjoy learning; I don’t enjoy doing this or that.” But we need to make an effort. If we put in more than we’re used to, if we squeeze a little more out of ourselves, then suddenly what

07:33 happens? We reach a good place, a much happier place. We get wine that brings joy. And it’s the same in our homes. Sometimes, as parents, we have to draw a little extra strength from ourselves. There are things that are very important to do at home, but again, we don’t always have the energy. That’s understandable; it’s okay. We’re human beings, not robots or machines. But when children see that we’re making a little extra effort for them, they appreciate it. It brings joy into the home and into our relationships at home. The same is true of marriage, between spouses. When one makes an effort for the other, going a little beyond what’s expected, it brings much more joy and closeness. So the message of wine is: Do we want to reach joy? Then we have to work for it. Effort brings joy and relationships that are much better and much happier. That, then, is the lesson of the grapevine for raising children at home. Sometimes we need to make a little extra effort, and the children will sense it. They’ll feel that we did something for them even when we didn’t feel like it. They’ll appreciate it, and it will bring a great deal of joy into the home, joy into its atmosphere. Let’s move on. So we’ve spoken about wheat, barley, and grapevines. After the grapevine comes the fig. There is an opinion that the Tree of Knowledge—the tree from which Adam ate in the sin of the Tree of Knowledge—was a fig tree. That opinion is based on what Adam and Chava did after the sin: they sewed themselves clothing from fig leaves. From this we learn that the fruit involved in the sin itself was also a fig. The very thing through which the damage was done also brought about its repair. What is the fig’s message? What

09:50 The message of the fig? The fig is connected to the Tree of Knowledge. Chassidus explains this. The Alter Rebbe explains in chapter 3 of Tanya that daas means connection. What does that mean? Sometimes I learn something, hear a good class or a fascinating lecture, and enjoy it very much—but it stays at the level of enjoying the class. It doesn’t translate into practice. Daas means connecting to it in practice. It means asking myself: I heard that class, that lecture; I learned that idea. So what does it mean for me? What should I do because of it? How should I improve and change? That is what daas means: connecting to something. What does this mean in our spiritual service of Hashem? Sometimes a person listens to Torah classes and studies, but leaves it all in the realm of intellect and logic. He enjoys an interesting idea, but it doesn’t lead to change or progress in his life. Daas means that whenever something I learn catches my attention, whenever I hear a class that speaks to me, I need to ask myself: Wait, what does this mean for me? What does it mean in my day-to-day life? There was once a rabbi in America who gave very fascinating lectures. People enjoyed his talks, but it bothered him that he didn’t see those same people progressing in their service of Hashem as a result. So he wrote to the Rebbe about it. The Rebbe answered that every time you give a talk or lecture, afterward you need to tell your audience: “So we need to improve in this area, to make progress in putting on tefillin and lighting Shabbos candles.” Bring it down to practice. Create daas in them—a connection to what you spoke about. Daas means connection,

11:52 bonding—connecting to what I learn. That is the meaning of daas in serving Hashem: not leaving things in the realm of theory, but bringing them down to practice. And the same applies to raising our children at home. We parents need to create daas, a bond, a connection with our children, so they feel comfortable talking to us and know that when they tell us something, we’ll listen to what they’re saying. Sometimes what happens, unfortunately—and we all fall into this, every one of us—is that a child comes to us with something that matters to them. We happen to be busy reading something on our phone, a WhatsApp message from someone important, from a manager or a close friend, while the child is talking to us. We say, “Yes, yes,” but we’re not really with the child. The child feels that, and it isn’t good. Next time, they’ll be less likely to come to us. Daas means connecting, bonding, so the child feels that we’re with them. That, then, is the message of the fig. So, “a land of wheat”—as we said, “a land of wheat and barley, vines and figs and pomegranates.” A pomegranate has many, many seeds. We need to fill ourselves with mitzvos like a pomegranate. That is why the Gemara says, on the verse “Your temple is like a slice of pomegranate,” that even the empty ones among the Jewish people are full of mitzvos like a pomegranate. A pomegranate means filling up. So in serving Hashem, the message is very simple: another mitzvah, another good deed, another positive thing. And the same applies to raising our children at home. The message of the pomegranate is to add as much goodness and joy as possible to our home. As we said earlier, we know what will do good at home. We know what will bring joy. We know that if we do this or that, it will make our home happier—so let’s do it, and think of other things that will make the atmosphere at home even better and more pleasant. Let’s make our home pleasant, fun, warm, and family-centered. That is the task the pomegranate

14:03 asks of us. Moving on. We said wheat and barley, vines and figs and pomegranates. After the pomegranate comes the olive—olive oil. Oil comes from olives, and it is something very special. Oil was used extensively in the Beis Hamikdash. Olive oil is also considered healthy, but to produce that healthy olive oil, you have to press the olives. In other words, just as we said earlier about grapes, reaching something good, fine, and high-quality takes effort. The same is true in our home. We need to put effort into the atmosphere, to realize it doesn’t just happen on its own. It isn’t for nothing that Hayom Yom says parents should sit down and make an effort to do so every day. Yes, we don’t always manage it every day, but we should try, as often as we can, to sit and think about raising our children and about our home. What’s the situation? What’s going on with this son, with this daughter? How can we improve things and make them much, much better? It takes effort. We have to think about it. It doesn’t come easily, and then we’ll produce healthy, fine oil. Of course, this applies to serving Hashem too. When we make an effort, toil, and go beyond our usual habits and ordinary abilities, something excellent will come of it. There was once a young man who wrote to the Rebbe that he was making progress in returning to Torah observance, but it was hard for him. He saw his friends doing whatever they wanted, while he was struggling. He also told the Rebbe that he was studying at university, and his studies were hard too. So the Rebbe said to him: “Wait a moment. Why are you studying at university? You could choose not to study, like your friends. You know that in the end, those studies will pay off. You’ll put in the effort and benefit from it. That’s why you study, right?” The same is true

16:00 in serving Hashem. True, it may be hard for you now. Your friends are doing whatever they want, but in the end, it will pay off. Effort pays off. And the last fruit is the date, as the verse says: “olive oil and honey.” The honey means date honey. What is special about the date? What is its message? The date is a fruit that takes time to grow. A date palm generally takes four years before it even begins to bear fruit. Only after ten years does it reach peak production, and there are varieties of dates that take even longer to produce fruit. So planting a date palm and waiting for fruit takes a great deal of patience. Patience—but eventually it happens. The same is true in serving Hashem. Everyone wants to feel, as quickly as possible, that they’re close, progressing, succeeding, becoming a great person. Patience. Each drop, each small step forward, will eventually grow into great progress. We need a great deal of patience. How much patience do we need in raising our children? Patience. Things will happen in the end, but it takes time. So we shouldn’t be discouraged if our son isn’t doing so well in class this year. We shouldn’t be discouraged when we don’t see things happening the way we want. We need to do what we should, take the necessary steps according to the proper guidelines and order—but wait. Little by little, things will happen in the end. Things take time, and that is the date’s powerful message: patience. Keep at it, but with patience. In the end, with Hashem’s help, we’ll see blessing and a great deal of success. So we could hold an entire farbrengen about each of the seven species. The message of wheat is to strengthen the G-dly soul, to give it what it wants. The message for the home is that

18:11 The message of wheat is that at home, we should add as many things as we can that will do good. The message of barley is to gain control over the animal soul. At home, that means trying to have as little as possible of the things we know aren’t good for the household. The message of the grapevine is: Want joy? You have to make an effort. That’s true in serving Hashem, and it’s true in our homes. Next comes the fig. As we said, the fig is connected to the Tree of Knowledge. Knowledge is about forming a bond, about connecting. First, we need to connect to spirituality as much as possible. Whenever I learn something, I should ask myself, “So what does this mean for me?” It shouldn’t remain theoretical. And at home, the children should feel that we’re with them. When they’re talking to us, even if we’re on a phone call, they should feel that we’re with them. We need to connect with them, to create that connection. Then comes the pomegranate, which tells us to fill ourselves with mitzvos, like the pomegranate is filled with seeds. That’s on the spiritual side; at home, we should fill the house with as much joy and goodness as possible. After that comes olive oil: fine, healthy oil comes from olives through effort. When we make an effort, we eventually see results; we see blessing. That’s true in serving Hashem and at home. Again, if we make more effort, invest more, and think about how to bring more good into the home, we’ll see blessing from it. Finally comes the date, with its powerful message that we need a lot of patience. That’s true in serving Hashem, and it’s true in our homes. So let’s sit with our families and children around the dried fruit, take each of the seven species in order, and talk about its message. What is it telling us? With Hashem’s help, I hope that from this long list, this whole shopping list of things to work on, we’ll take even one thing—and that alone will bring us blessing. If we take two,

20:11 we’re world champions. So with Hashem’s help, may we have blessing, success, and nachas from our children, and may we bring all this goodness into our homes. May the Jewish people be strong, and may all the soldiers return home safe and sound. This class is dedicated in their merit: may no soldier, male or female, be harmed; may no Jew be harmed. May the captives return home, and may we merit the resurrection of the dead and be reunited with all the holy souls who were taken from us recently. And with Hashem’s help, may we see nachas from our children. If you think and feel that this message of the fruits of Tu B’Shvat speaks to you, share it. Share it with a friend. Above all, may we see blessing and, with Hashem’s help, a great deal of success. Happy Tu B’Shvat! Good news. Goodbye.