On any food that does not grow from the ground, one says “Blessed is the One by Whose word everything was created.” This includes even wine that turned into vinegar, dates scorched by the sun, and locusts (for those who eat them). Rabbi Yehudah says that for anything like that, which is a sort of curse, there is not blessing at all. And the Sages? – They say that after all he who ate them derived some benefit.
If one had in front of him many species of foods, and some of them were of the seven species for which the Land of Israel is especially praised, then Rabbi Yehudah say that he he should bless and eat these first. However, the Sages say that he blesses that one which he personally likes most.
The seven species are mentioned in this Torah phrase, “It is a land of wheat, barley, grapes, figs and pomegranates - a land of oil-olives and honey-[dates].” Moreover, this phrase dictates the order of preference between the seven species themselves. However, Rav Chanan uses this phrase for a different conclusion, namely, that each of the fruit is used in some law in the Torah as a measurement. For example, wheat: if one goes into a house afflicted with tzaraat (spiritual leprosy), his garments become ritually impure only if he spends there “enough time to eat half a loaf of wheat bread.” Barley: a human bone the size of a barley kernel imparts spiritual impurity of the dead, but not if it is less than that. Vine – a measure of it is prohibited to a nazirite. Figs – by carrying as much as a volume of a dried fig one transgresses Shabbat, and so on.
Art: Bartolommeo Bimbi - A Bunch of Dates
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