As with Yaakov and Esav—and with Ephraim and Menashe—our second grain is really our first. Wheat may be preferred, but there is no food more central to Judaism than the under-loved grass called “barley,” modestly known as “the spiky, hairy thing:” “Seorah” in Hebrew and “Hordeum” in Latin.
It is true that wheat was crucial for the bread set out in the Mikdash each week. But wheat was harder to grow in Israel—especially in the hills that are the original homeland of the tribes—above the coast where Philistines and Canaanites lived. Unlike Egypt and Mesopotamia, the river valley civilizations nearby, Israel depended on rain from heaven, as the Torah says. It was a land of smallholder farms mostly without irrigation, other than cisterns to preserve some of the winter’s rain. The greatness of barley is that it can thrive with less water, and can handle harsher conditions than wheat, including salty soils and alkaline soils. And it uses nitrogen more efficiently to create its proteins, so farmers can apply less manure or fertilizer.
Unlike big cities or empires, Israel was not fed by others. We possessed no enslaved farming population like the helots of Sparta. We did not rule Arameans or Moabites against their will, forcing them to feed us. We ate what we grew—or we didn’t eat. There was enough wheat for special occasions and for the avodah in Jerusalem, but the common people mostly grew barley.
We may never have thought of grains as markers of status, but such is the case. I am reminded of a quip of Dr. Johnson’s in his 1755 Dictionary, in which he put down the Scots: He defined “oats” as “a grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.” As with oats, so it is now with barley: Today, 70% of the world’s barley is fed to animals. The rest is malted to make beer and whiskey. Apart from a handful in cholent and soup, very little is now eaten directly. Almost no one makes barley bread anymore, but make no mistake: Barley bread was the main food of our ancestors in Israel.
The humility of barley bread and its centrality to Israel are part of the story of Gideon (Shoftim 6-7). “When Israel would sow,” it reads, Midian ravaged the land and the crops, and Israel was forced to hide in “caves and clefts in the hills.” An angel came to Gideon at Ofrah while he threshed wheat inside a wine press, hiding it from the Midianites. Gideon doubted that he could defeat Midian, so he was told to go spy on their camp and listen to what they were saying. He did so, and he heard one man tell another, “I had a dream: A loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed.” His friend said, “This can only be the sword of Gideon, son of Yoash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands.” The champion of the oppressed Israelite farmers was “a loaf of barley bread.”
There is another reason why the humbler grain was more important for our ancestors and our religion. If planted at the right time and blessed with sufficient winter rain, barley could ripen in time for the uniquely Jewish festival of Pesach. Barley grows more quickly than wheat. This alone could seal its appeal for the common farmers of Israel, but the fact that Pesach was ordained to be several weeks before the summer harvest meant that barley is the star of the show. At least after an omer of it was waved in the Mikdash on 16 Nisan and permitted for eating.
As far as archaeologists know, Egypt is the birthplace of yeasty, fluffy bread; they mastered the art and it became a hallmark of their civilization. Wheat has more gluten and rises more, so it is no surprise that Egypt preferred wheat for eating (keeping barley for beer) and spent time and effort irrigating it. But we left Egypt when the wheat in Goshen was just grass and without kernels beginning to dry in the sun. Instead, it was barley season. In keeping with the theme of the release of the downtrodden, we were freed when the humbler of the two grains was ripening.
Barley has now descended to fourth among the world’s grains, after wheat, rice and maize. And what is grown is used for animals and drinks. But for Jews and Judaism, there was nothing greater than humble barley.
Shimon Steiner is a garden educator with GrowTorah and facilities manager for Congregation Shaarei Orah in Teaneck.
