KI TAVO_DEUTERONOMY XXVI – XXIX,8
Once settled in Israel, Moses instructs our ancestors regarding their obligations, even though he will not lead them to the conquest of the Promised Land. The first of these Mitsvot is related to the Bikurim, the first fruits (of the seven species that characterize the Land of Israel) that are to be offered to the Kohen in the place chosen by God. The delivery of these fruits is accompanied by a Sipur, the recitation of several verses of our text that highlight that Providence led our destiny from the moment the patriarch Yaacov descended to Egypt until the moment of the conquest.
After several centuries of slavery and a nomadic journey through the desert, the people were eager to till the new lands so that they could feed themselves with the fruit of their efforts. Like every peasant, they intensely anticipated the opportunity to savor the fruits they had produced through their labor. But the Torah requires that the first-fruits be destined for religious worship. The teaching is clear. Man has to recognize that God, through nature, is the one who makes the fruit grow. Man plows, sows and waters, but in order to harvest it requires the energy and the possibility of reproducing that the earth gives to the seed. Everything comes from God.
The Torah does not stipulate the number of fruits to be presented to Kohen in a basket at the aforementioned Bikurim. The Kohen could retain the basket if it was made of wicker, but if it was made of any metal it had to be returned to the donor. The Talmud suggests a minimum amount of fruit corresponding to a sixtieth of the total product. Rambam, based on the Talmud, describes the process of selecting the first fruits. Upon entering the orchard, Rambam says, the trees are inspected, and a ribbon is tied over the firstfruits, (even if they are not yet ripe), separating them this way so that they become part of the Bikurim. One should bring the Bikurim to Yerushalayim and not send them through a messenger. The Kohen that receives the Bikurim, could consume them only in Yerushalayim.
The tradition consists of placing the basket on the shoulder and according to the Mishnah, even king Agrippa himself did it so, carrying himself the Bikurim once on the Har haBayit, the Temple Mount, up to the Azarah, the interior of the Beit HaMikdash. At that time the Leviyim sang the words of the psalm, Aromimecha HaShem ki dilitani…, “I will praise you, Eternal, for You have sustained me and did not enable my enemies to rejoice”. The basket was presented to the Kohen at the same time as some verses of our text were repeated, verses which Rambam calls Vidui, confession. This Vidui was to be recited in Hebrew and at its conclusion, the basket was placed next to the Mizbeach, the altar.
On the other hand, Shema Israel, which is the basic affirmation of our faith, can be recited in any language. Because the most important thing is to understand the idea contained in Shema Israel. It is essential to understand the intellectual scope of the affirmation of the existence of one God. But, in the case of Bikurim, there is a splendorous ceremonial and the very delivery of the fruits to the Kohen contains the essential message that our efforts are futile without Divine Providence. At first, those who knew well the text that accompanies Bikurim, recited it by heart, and those who did not listened to its reading. But since people who did not know the textual words well began to refrain from presenting Bikurim, the Chachamim instituted that the original text be read aloud to all, without distinction.
The Torah commands that, for the ceremony of Bikurim, Ve’anita ve’amarta, we should raise our voice and recite, Arami oved avi, remembering that our patriarch Yaacov had been a wandering Aramaic before going down to Egypt. During the Egyptian yoke, God heard our lament and echoed our suffering. God took us out of bondage and brought us to the land where milk and honey flow. Bikurim, the first fruits obtained thanks to divine goodness constitute a cause for rejoicing and joy.
As a consequence of the Meraglim episode, the spies who had come of age in Egypt, perished in the desert and, therefore, did not participate in the conquest of the land. Those who were now in charge of presenting Bikurim were their descendants or those who had been minors at the time of the departure from Egypt. The exodus was then, a recent event in the history of our people. However, our Chachamim insist that the Torah instructions are valid for all ages and the original text must be repeated.
Centuries later, each one that appeared in front of the Kohen recited equally, Arami oved avi…, vayare’u otanu hamitsrim vaya’anunu,”A wandering Aramaic was my father…, but the Egyptians mistreated us”. This statement implies that there is still, in each person, the feeling of having been mistreated by the Egyptians, despite the many centuries that separate us from that time. Similarly, Mosheh Rabenu states in an earlier chapter Lo et avotenu karat HaShem et haberit hazot…, which means, not (only) with our parents did He enter into this covenant (at Mount Sinai) but (also) with us, we, who are alive here and now.
The night of the Seder, we recite in the Hagadah, Chayav adam lir’ot et atsmo ke’ilu hu yatsa mimitsrayim, which means that everyone should consider as if he himself had participated in the exodus from Egypt. We leap and locate ourselves in the same place and time of our ancestors in Egypt.
Indeed, we recite these same verses from our weekly text and elaborate on additional details, to point out that Yetsi’at mitsrayim is an inseparable fact of our formation and nationality. Yetsi’at mitsrayim bears witness to God’s intervention in History and His response to our supplications. Yes, there is One Who answers prayers and yes, there is He Who cares about the oppressed. Especially in the moments when we feel the apparent absence of divinity, Yetsiat mitsrayim affirms that divine intervention happens at the right time.
The history (religious and ideological) of the Jewish people does not consist of an analysis of facts and thoughts that belong to the past and that have a possible influence on our present and on our future. Our past history is an integral part of our present. Verb tenses are not clearly defined in the grammar of the Hebrew language. Just as E’in mukdam umeuchar baTorah, which means that the Torah account does not follow a chronological order. In a sense the events that, at different times, happened to our ancestors are current, and part of our present.
We never allowed Israel to belong exclusively to the account of the exploits of other times. At all times, Erets Israel was an integral part of our discussions and studies, of our writings and prayers. We raised our prayers for rain in Shemini Atseret during the long exile of nearly two thousand years at the time when it was necessary for Israel, just as we would have done if we had resided then on the Promised Land.
Exile was a real physical fact. But ideally, we never leave that land. Therefore, the return to Israel in our time did not require transcendental emotional adjustments for the Jew and neither did it necessitate a period of social and political consolidation.
MITSVAH: ORDINANCE OF THE TORAH IN THIS PARASHAH
CONTAINS 3 POSITIVE MITZVOT AND 3 PROHIBITIONS
- Deuteronomy 26:5 Reciting a statement as you bring the First Fruits to the Temple
- Deuteronomy 26:13 Reciting a statement as sou bring Tithing to the Temple
- Deuteronomy 26:13 Do not ingest the Second Tithe in a state of mourning
- Deuteronomy 26:14 Do not ingest the Second Tithe while in a state of ritual impurity
- Deuteronomy 26:14 Do not spend the money for food and drink for which the Second Tithe has been exchanged
- Deuteronomy 28:9 Imitating God’s Ways by fulfilling His commandments
