This article is about the five grain crops of special significance in Judaism. For the five grain crops important to China, see
Five Grains.
In
Judaism, the five species of grain (
Hebrew: חמשת מיני דגן,
romanized: hameshet minei dagan) refer to five varieties of
grain which have special status for a number of
rituals. These species are commonly considered to be
wheat,
barley,
oats,
rye and
spelt. However, some of these identifications are disputed.[1]
Shibolet shual (שִׁיבּוֹלֶת שׁוּעָלšībōleṯ šūʿāl) –
oats or
two-rowed barley.[3] The name literally means "fox
ear".
Rashi holds this to be oats, and
Maimonides holds it to be a type of "wild barley," while Rabbi
Nathan ben Abraham called it by its Arabic name sunbulat al-tha'alib (Fox's spike).[4][5]
Shifon (שִׁיפוֹןšīfōn) –
rye,
oats, or
spelt. Its Arabic cognate, šūfān (شُوفَان) refers to oats. Rabbi
Nathan ben Abraham I translated shifon into
Judeo-Arabic as sāʾfeh (סאפה),[6] which
Zohar Amar claimed is synonymous with an archaic Arabic word for oat, dowsir (دوسر). Rashi translated shifon as seigle (שיגלא),[7] indicating rye (Secale cereale), which is not endemic to Israel, but was grown nearby.[4] According to Dr Yehudah Felix, shifon is
spelt.[8]
The
Talmud groups them into two varieties of
wheat (hitah, kusmin) and three varieties of barley (seorah, shibolet shual, shifon).[9]
Since European medieval times, Ashkenazi
Orthodox Jewry accepts the five grains as wheat, barley, oats, rye and spelt.[10]
Other than the traditional translation, some researchers today propose that only the grain species native to the Land of Israel can become
chametz. This would rule out not only oats, but also
rye (Secale) which grows in colder, wetter climates. They offer other translations to the 5 grains.[5][11][12]
Laws
A number of laws apply only to these five grains:
Only bread made with these grains requires the blessing of hamotzi before eating, and
birkat hamazon after eating.[13]
Only bread made from these grains is obligated in
challah.[14][15]
Matzah can only be made from these grains, and conversely only these grains can become
chametz and
seor (
sourdough).[16]
The prohibitions of eating and harvesting
chadash only apply to these grains.[15]
Oat matza
Oats are generally accepted in Ashkenazi Jewish tradition as one of the five species, but modern research suggests that what has been traditionally translated as "oats" is in fact a wild species of
barley or other grains. This debate is practically significant because of the candidates for the five species, oats are the only one which is
gluten-free. Although there have been no changes to normative Jewish law to reflect the debate,[8] some rabbis take a stringent view and discourage the use of oat matzo to fulfill the biblical obligation of eating matzo at the
Passover Seder.[3]
Additional species
According to Rabbi
Johanan ben Nuri,
rice and
millet are also included among the "species of grain", and thus can become chametz and matza and are obligated in challah.[9] This opinion was not accepted as halacha.[17]
^
abZohar Amar and El'ad Kapah, The Yemenite Commentary of Rabbi Nathan, President of the Academy, on the Identification of Flora in the Mishnah, pub. in: Mittuv Yosef – Yosef Tobi Jubilee Volume, The Jews of Yemen: History and Culture (vol. 2), Haifa 2011, p. 13 (note 24)