Tehillim 80 – The Grapevine and the Number 7

Tehillim 80 – The Grapevine and the Number 7

Tehillim 80:9 - “Gefen mi-Mitzrayim tasia, tegaresh goyim vatita'eha” - (You brought a grapevine out of Egypt; You drove out nations and planted it). The Torah states: “The chief cupbearer recounted his dream to Joseph, and said to him: …There before me was a grapevine; and on the vine were three branches. It blossomed, its flowers came out, and its clusters ripened into grapes.” (Bereishit 40:9) The Sages explain that the grapevine symbolizes the Jewish people, as it is written: “Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel.” Three – “3 branches” – represent the Patriarchs, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, and also allude to the three Temples (the Third will be built at the End of Days). Grapes can be used to make 7 different products, each of which calls for a different blessing: - For unripe grapes, the blessing is “borei pri ha-adamah”; - For ripe grapes – “borei pri ha-etz”; - For wine, the blessing is “borei pri hagafen”; - For spirits made from grapes – “shehakol”. Taken together (counting both the blessings recited before eating and those recited afterward), this makes 7 blessings. The passage itself also speaks of 7 different stages: “On the vine were three branches (3). It blossomed (4), its flowers came out (5), they grew (6), and its grapes ripened (7).” It is also known that a grapevine is not grafted with other species of trees, indicating the purity and holiness that Joseph preserved by withstanding the test involving Potiphar’s wife. This also indicates that the cupbearer’s dream directly concerned Joseph and the entire Jewish people. This explains why Hashem brought His people out of Egypt, driving out the nations in order to plant His vine. (Hakham Menashe Menachem, “Ahavat Chaim,” on Bereishit 40:9)