Rabbi Roodyn

וְהָיָה כִּי תָבוֹא אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר ה’ אֱלֹקֶיךָ נֹתֵן לְךָ נַחֲלָה וִירִשְׁתָּהּ וְיָשַׁבְתָּ בָּהּ: וְלָקַחְתָּ מֵרֵאשִׁית כָּל פְּרִי הָאֲדָמָה אֲשֶׁר תָּבִיא מֵאַרְצְךָ אֲשֶׁר ה’ אֱלֹקֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ וְשַׂמְתָּ בַטֶּנֶא וְהָלַכְתָּ אֶל הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר יִבְחַר ה’ אֱלֹקֶיךָ לְשַׁכֵּן שְׁמוֹ שָׁם:

And it will be, when you come into the land which Hashem, your God, gives you for an inheritance, and you possess it and settle in it, that you shall take of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you will bring from your land, which Hashem, your God, is giving you. And you shall put [them] into a basket and go to the place which Hashem, your God, will choose to have His Name dwell there: (Devarim 26:1-2).

This week’s sedra starts with the parsha of Bikkurim, first fruits. The Torah attaches special significance to the this mitzvah. For a full discussion of the essence of the mitzvah, click on this short audio shiur https://rabbiroodyn.com/2017/09/07/audio-shiur-bikkurim-the-heart-of-the-matter/).

Rav Hirsch adds a new dimension to the mitzvah by explaining that fruit trees are expressly prepared by nature for man’s immediate enjoyment. This is why they are most suited to symbolise possession of the land. But possession of the land alone, like freedom and independence is not something that the Jewish People owe to our own power and prowess. Our possession of the Land of Israel is gained and retained by our observance of the mitzvos.

Perhaps this is the reason why the person bringing the Bikkurim recites a declaration describing the descent to and Exodus from Egypt. We are a nation that was formed in a manner different from all the other nation of the world. We were born in a ‘strange land’, and ‘in poverty’. We were born in servitude and were redeemed by Hashem’s providential Hand. It is only from His Hand that we continue to survive.

This is the reason why the Bikkurim are specifically brought on Shavuos, the festival of the giving of the Torah, to teach us that our material success and physical survival is a function of our relationship with Hashem and His Torah. The relationship between the People and the Land is one that goes back thousands of years and has its own unique dynamic, one that we still see clearly today.

Good Shabbos