Shabbat Ki Tavo  20 Elul 5765, 24 September 2005

Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Ki Tavo Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8
By Shlomo Riskin

Efrat, Israel - “When you come to the land which the Lord your G-d gives to you as an inheritance and you inherit it… You shall take from the first of all the fruits of the earth which you shall bring from your land... And you shall respond and you shall say before the Lord your G-d: ‘My father was a wandering Aramean…’” (Deut. 26:1,2,5 )

The Mishna (Bikkurim) magnificently describes the drama of the bringing of these first fruits, the massive march to Jerusalem of farmers from all over Israel with the choicest fruit and grain of their labors in their hands, the decorated market – places of our Holy City crowned by the magnificent fruits, and the speech – song of each individual farmer as he stood in front of the Temple altar with the offering he handed to the Kohen – priest. What an impressive demonstration of fealty to the Master of the Universe, who is hereby recognized as the Provider of all produce and the Sustainer of all sustenance.

However, the drama of the first fruits seems to be emphasizing a far different truth than that of G-d, the Ultimate Benefactor. The speech-song which accompanies the first fruits – an element which is unique to this particular commandment, and is not even a factor in the giving of tithes but which is a codicione sene qua non with the first fruits – makes no reference to the Lord of the rains and the winds and the sun and the nutrient – filled soil which produced these luscious fruits and sustaining grains of the seven species.  The clear emphasis is the arrival of the Israelites to the Land of Israel – after having been enslaved and afflicted by the Egyptians, and after the Almighty heard their prayers and took them from Egypt to Israel with great miracles and wonders.

This quintessential early history of Israel goes one step further: it is recited by the individual in the first person (“My father was a wandering Aramean… The Egyptians placed upon us a land flowing with milk and honey” Deut. 26: 4-11) and makes the individual feel that the Land of Israel is his land. It is chiefly because of the brevity and total individual identification with Israel’s historical past that these verses are co-opted by the author of the Haggadah for Passover Seder. And if the drama of the Passover meal is tailor made to express the truth that “in every generation, it is incumbent upon every individual to see himself as if he came out of Egypt,” so is the drama of the first-fruits tailor made to express a parallel truth that “in every generation it is incumbent upon every individual to see himself as if he arrived in Israel.” Indeed, just as the Passover Seder is speech plus food, so is the Bikkurim speech plus fruits; and just as the Passover Haggadah comes from the verse “And you shall tell your child, vehigadeta” so does the speech – song of the first fruits open with the words, “I told (higadeti) this day to the Lord your G-d that I came to the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give to us” (Deut.26:3).

From this perspective I can understand why the first fruits are only to be brought from the seven species which are unique and bring praise to the Land of Israel (Deuteronomy 8) and why only an individual who owns a portion of the Land of Israel and on whose portion the fruits actually grew is obligated to perform the command of the first fruits. This is totally unlike the tithes, for example, which must be given by Biblical command only on wine, grain and oil (universal staples), and by Rabbinical command on all fruits and vegetables; the first fruits are not so much about G-d’s agricultural bounty as they are about G-d’s gift of the Land of Israel to the nation of Israel. Indeed, in the eleven verses of the first fruits speech – song, the noun land, Aretz, appears no less than five times, and the verb gift (natan, by G-d) no less than seven times.

To further cement the inextricable relationship between the first fruits and the Land of Israel, Rav Elhanan Samet (in his masterful Biblical commentary) cites a comment by Rav Menahem Ziemba (Hiddushim, Siman 50) in the name of the Holy Ari that the commandment to bring the first fruits is a repair, a tikkun, for the sin of the scouts. Perhaps that is why the Mishnah links the command of the first fruits specifically to the fig, grape and pomegranate (“If an individual goes into his field and sees a fig, a grape- cluster and/or a pomegranate which has/have ripened, he must tie them with a cord and state that these are to be first – fruits” – Mishnah, Bikkurim 1,3), precisely the three fruits which the scouts took back with them (Numbers 13:23). And the Bible relates to the scouts on their reconnaissance mission with the very same language that G-d commands the Israelite concerning the first fruits: Moses tells the scouts “And you shall take from the fruits of the land” (Numbers 13:20), “We came to the land… and it is even flowing with milk and honey, and this is its fruit (13:27), and – in remarkably parallel fashion – G-d commands the Israelites, “And you  shall take from the first of all the fruits of the land” (Deut. 26:2), “Because I have come to the land” (26:3), “And He gave to us this land flowing with milk and honey” (26:9). In effect, G-d is saying that we must bring precisely those first fruits from that very special land which the scouts rejected, or at least lacked the faith to conquer and settle. The command of the first fruits proves that we repented of the sin of the scouts.

Rav Elhanan Samet goes still one more step further. The Mishnah teaches that the first fruits are to be brought from Shavuot until Sukkot, each area in Israel in accordance to the ripening of their respective seven species. (Mishnah Bikkurim 1,10). And they are only commanded when there is a Holy Temple, and require additional offerings as well as song and over-night sleep in Jerusalem.

In effect, therefore, the first fruits are a fourth Pilgrim Festival, the Pilgrim Festival which celebrates our entry into the Land of Israel. It was just this accomplishment which was lacking in Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot – and what better way to celebrate the entry into the land than by bringing its unique fruits and reliving our entry after the exodus !

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