Parshat Ki Tavo – When You Will Come
CARLSBAD, California –This week we read the portion titled ‘Ki Tavo’, which means ‘When you will come (into the Holy Land). The beginning of the portion details the laws of the Bikurim – the First Fruits. The Jewish people were commanded to bring a yearly first fruit offering in the Holy Temple.
In fact, the Jewish people are called the first fruit of the Almighty. Why?
The Mitzvah of offering the first fruit shows us something very important. Fruit is a result of hard work. It is quite different than the Mannah – the heavenly bread that sustained the Jews during their 40-year sojourn in the desert following the exodus from Egypt. The Mannah was miraculous as each day each person’s portion fell from the sky. It was not a result of hard work – it was served up to the Children of Israel on a ‘silver platter,’ so to speak.
The Bikurim, on the other hand, only came into existence with the considerable effort of picking a viable crop and planting the seeds in an appropriate location. As the young seedling would grow it had to be nurtured and protected. Only after years of care would edible and permissible fruit come forth. And that fruit, the result of all that work, would be brought to the Holy Temple as an offering.
While the Mannah fed the faith of the Jews the Bikurim trained our people to perceive G-dliness wherever we looked and taught us the value of appreciation. The fact is that grateful people are happier people. It is instructional that we are taught the value of thankfulness via crops that we worked diligently to produce. One may mistakenly think, “The power of my hand created this.” The first fruits remind us that at especially such a time we need to remain mindful of the blessings showered upon us by the Creator.
The Rebbe points out an additional thought that is profoundly important. When the basket of fruit was brought to the Temple a special prayer was recited. It mentions that an Aramean (Laban, father in law of Jacob our father) tried to destroy us, but that G-d protected us. Isn’t it interesting that G-d’s loving protection of His people was extended before the giving of the Torah? We have always been taught that the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai was like our wedding, so to speak, with the Almighty. This would mean that the love between us and our Creator started at that time.
Bikurim tells us something else entirely. G-d had a love for us even before we accepted the Torah. Consequently we see that the loving connection between G-d and His children is even greater than the love generated through Torah observance. There is an intrinsic, unbreakable connection, which the bringing of the first fruit and its attendant prayer proves!
When is this incredible connection most in evidence? On the coming holiday of Yom Kippur – the essence of our connection becomes revealed, which is why it is the Day of Atonement, the level of our soul that is one with G-d is revealed. That level negates any chasm created by our sins. Perhaps we can venture to say that living our lives with the ethic of eternal gratefulness directed towards the Eternal Greatness, is likewise a revelation of the deepest, most G-dly aspect of our souls.
The bottom line is that we should all feel most grateful due to our oneness with the True One!
Wishing everyone an uplifting, joyous, and healthy Shabbos!
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Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort is Director of Coastal Chabads and Chabad at La Costa. Rabbi Eilfort welcomes readers’ comments and questions and may be reached at RabbiE@ChabadatLaCosta.com.