Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

, the five species of grain () refer to five varieties of

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached husk, hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and ...

which have special status for a number of

ritual A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...

s. These species are commonly considered to be

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

oats The oat (''Avena sativa''), sometimes called the common oat, is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name (usually in the plural). Oats appear to have been domesticated as a secondary crop, as their seed ...

, rye and

spelt Spelt (''Triticum spelta''), also known as dinkel wheat is a species of wheat. It is a relict crop, eaten in Central Europe and northern Spain. It is high in protein and may be considered a health food. Spelt was cultivated from the Neolit ...

. However, some of these identifications are disputed.

Identity

The five species, with their

Mishnaic Hebrew Mishnaic Hebrew () is the Hebrew language used in Talmudic texts. Mishnaic Hebrew can be sub-divided into Mishnaic Hebrew proper (c. 1–200 CE, also called Tannaim, Tannaitic Hebrew, Early Rabbinic Hebrew, or Mishnah, Mishnaic Hebrew I), which w ...

names, are as follows: * ( ) –

* ( ) –

, but modernly taken to refer to emmer wheat * ( ) –

* ( ) –

or two-rowed barley.Oat Matzah
/ref> The name literally means "fox ear".

Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki (; ; ; 13 July 1105) was a French rabbi who authored comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud and Hebrew Bible. He is commonly known by the List of rabbis known by acronyms, Rabbinic acronym Rashi (). Born in Troyes, Rashi stud ...

holds this to be oats, and

Maimonides Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah schola ...

holds it to be a type of "wild barley," while Rabbi Nathan ben Abraham called it by its Arabic name (Fox's spike). Zohar 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) * ( ) – rye,

, or

. Its Arabic cognate, () refers to oats. Rabbi Nathan ben Abraham I translated into

Judeo-Arabic Judeo-Arabic (; ; ) sometimes referred as Sharh, are a group of different ethnolects within the branches of the Arabic language used by jewish communities. Although Jewish use of Arabic, which predates Islam, has been in some ways distinct ...

as (), which Zohar Amar claimed is synonymous with an archaic Arabic word for oat, (). Rashi translated as (), indicating rye ('' Secale cereale''), which is not endemic to Israel, but was grown nearby. According to Dr Yehudah Felix, is

. The

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

groups them into two varieties of

(, ) and three varieties of barley (, , ).Pesachim 35a Since European medieval times, Ashkenazi Orthodox Jewry accepts the five grains as wheat, barley, oats, rye and spelt. Other than the traditional translation, some researchers today propose that only the grain species native to the Land of Israel can become

chametz ''Chametz'' (also ''chometz'', ', ''ḥameṣ'', ''ḥameç'' and other spellings Transliteration, transliterated from ; ) are foods with leavening agents that are forbidden to Jews on the holiday of Passover. ''Chametz'' is a product that is b ...

. 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.How To Prepare For Passover / Pesach
/ref>

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 Birkat Hamazon ( "The Blessing of the Food"), known in English as the Grace After Meals ( "to bless", Yinglish: Bentsching), is a set of Hebrew language, Hebrew blessings that Halakha, Jewish law prescribes following a meal that includes at le ...

after eating. * Only bread made from these grains is obligated in

challah Challah or hallah ( ; , ; 'c'''hallot'', 'c'''halloth'' or 'c'''hallos'', ), also known as berches in Central Europe, is a special bread in Jewish cuisine, usually braided and typically eaten on ceremonial occasions such as Shabbat ...

. *

Matzah Matzah, matzo, or maẓẓah ('','' : matzot or Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashk. matzos) is an Unleavened bread, unleavened flatbread that is part of Jewish cuisine and forms an integral element of the Passover festival, during which ''chametz'' (lea ...

can only be made from these grains, and conversely only these grains can become

and seor (

sourdough Sourdough is a type of bread that uses the fermentation by naturally occurring yeast and lactobacillus bacteria to raise the dough. In addition to leavening the bread, the fermentation process produces lactic acid, which gives the bread its dis ...

). * The prohibitions of eating and harvesting chadash only apply to these grains.

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; , from the verb ''šānā'', "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is ...

Menachot 10:7

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

or other grains. This debate is practically significant because of the candidates for the five species, oats are the only one which is

gluten Gluten is a structural protein naturally found in certain Cereal, cereal grains. The term ''gluten'' usually refers to the elastic network of a wheat grain's proteins, gliadin and glutenin primarily, that forms readily with the addition of water ...

-free. Although there have been no changes to normative Jewish law to reflect the debate, 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 The Passover Seder is a ritual feast at the beginning of the Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday of Passover. It is conducted throughout the world on the eve of the 15th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar (i.e., at the start of the 15th; a Hebrew d ...

Additional species

According to Rabbi Johanan ben Nuri,

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

and

millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most millets belong to the tribe Paniceae. Millets are important crops in the Semi-arid climate, ...

are also included among the "species of grain", and thus can become ''chametz'' and ''matza'' and are obligated in ''challah''. This opinion was not accepted as ''

halacha ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is based on biblical commandments ('' mi ...

''.Pesachim 114b

References

{{reflist Jewish law and rituals Plants in the Bible Agriculture in Israel

Identity

Laws

Oat matza

Additional species

See also

References