Our Daily Bread

Have you ever seen a movie that had certain actors in it, and then went to a Broadway show and saw the same celebrities in person? 

Living in the Jezreel Valley in northern Israel, I feel the same way about the Torah. Some days, I feel like I am watching it on a screen. It makes those moments when I feel like I am watching God “live” even more powerful.  

Every year, come January, the wheat and barley begin to grow. The young seedlings all look the same — small green shoots protruding out of the ground.  

Come February, the stalks reach maturity. They stand a little taller than your knees, and they are still green.  

In late March and April, the stalks ripen, and their appearance turns golden brown.  

We are commanded to give the Omer offering on the second day of Passover. This offering is a barley offering. Barley is one of the seven species of the Land of Israel, and it ripens in the Spring. Even when we must add an additional month in the Spring, the barley is ready for the Omer offering on Passover. 

After we give the offering, we count 49 days until the next offering, which is the wheat offering. Barley and wheat are the two grains singled out among the seven species of the Land of Israel.  

It’s amazing to see how God grows His crops to coincide with the offerings He commands His children to make in His House, in His city, on His land.  

Every man, woman, child, animal, and the quintillion creatures that inhabit God’s earth rely on barley and wheat to survive.  

Barley and wheat grow the way they do to aid the Jewish People in serving their King in the Land as He commands them. From the beginning of time, the food that all creatures consume on a daily basis grows in accordance with our Temple service. These offerings have been offered through physical sacrifice and heartfelt prayer for over 3,335 years.  

It answers the question: “Do we need to live in Israel?”  

It answers the question: “Why can’t we be like every other nation?” 

God created the seasons of the earth to revolve around our nation serving Him in the Holy Temple in the Holy Land.   

Why Barley and Wheat? 

Why are barley and wheat such an integral part of the Divine service? 

Barley is mostly given to animals, while wheat is consumed by humans. We start the Omer count with barley, as animals. We enter a process of growth from animal to human by counting the Omer to Shavuot. On Shavuot, the holiday of the wheat offering, we are humans.  

We left Egypt as slaves, living like animals that are guided by leashes. Counting the Omer to Shavuot, we became a free nation.  

We have the greatest gift: To choose Hashem and His Torah morning, day, and night.  

We are entering the Yamim Nora’im, The Days of Awe. This is the time when we are all wheat. We must remove the chaff and, through the grinding process of teshuva, become fine flour. 

May we all work on ourselves and merit a safe, healthy, prosperous, and holy 5784. 

Shana Tova! 

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David Ben Horin lives in Afula with his family, millions of sunflowers, and Matilda, our local camel. David‘s Israeli startup, Center Stage Marketing, is a lean marketing agency for startups and small businesses that creates and promotes SEO optimized ROI-driven to the right audience on LinkedIn to make your business the star of the show.