This week's Parsha (weekly Torah portion), Parshat Ki Tavo (When you enter), mainly talks about what will happen when Jews enter the land of Israel. The largest portion, by far, is the blessing the Jews will receive for being good people and following in G-d’s ways, and a curse if they do not. However, I would like to focus on the commandment directly preceding it: the Bikuriim. The commandment of Bikuriim is when living in Israel, to give the first fruits to G-d as a sacrifice and to say something which Jews have traditionally said at the Passover meal for over 1500 years “My father was a fugitive Aramean. He went down to Egypt with meager numbers and sojourned there; but there he became a great and very populous nation. The Egyptians dealt harshly with us and oppressed us; they imposed heavy labor upon us. We cried to Hashem, the G-d of our ancestors, and heard our plea and saw our plight, our misery, and our oppression. Hashem freed us from Egypt by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm and awesome power, and by signs and portents, bringing us to this place and giving us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Deuteronomy 26:5-9)
What is the purpose of this commandment? Why do many recite it at their Passover meal? How is this connected to the commandment of offering the first fruit? Many of the classic medieval commentaries, as well as the Talmud, points out that because the verse preceding the verses about the verse fruit is “When you enter the land [Israel]” (Deuteronomy 26:1), that only the first fruits that grow in Israel are required to bring (such as olives, grapes, etc…). This only strengthens our questions: Why is Bikuriim connected to the land of Israel and Passover?
Many commentaries say that the reason it is connected to Israel is because we are thanking G-d for giving us the land of Israel, and therefore, we should sacrifice some of our well-being to remind us of that. Considering the main theme of Passover is that we were taken us out of Egypt as slaves, it makes sense that we would recite the same passage: we want to thank G-d for freeing us from slavery.
Today, when most don’t practice the giving of the first fruits, especially outside of Israel, understand this idea in the Torah today? I propose that we should be more thankful in general, both to G-d as well as other people. Many Jews, when waking in the morning say the Modeh Ani, a poem thanking G-d for giving them another day to live. By being more thankful for both the big things, such as having a Jewish state, and protection, or even the small things, such as someone letting you borrow a pen, can both brighten your day as well as others. As Mark Twain says “Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”
