Netvort
Parshas Ki Savo 5770: Perennial Fruit
By Rabbi Joshua (constantly known as The Hoffer) Hoffman
In the beginning of parshas Ki Savo we are presented with the mitzvah of
bikkurim, which calls for the farmer in Eretz Yisroel to bring the first fruits
of his crop to the Temple and declare a statement of thanks to God for bringing
him into the land and giving him Hs produce. There is an interesting passage in
the Midrash Tanchuma which says that Moshe looked into the future and saw that
the Temple would be destroyed and the mitzvah of bikkurim would be suspended,
albeit on a temporary basis until the Temple will be rebuilt. He
therefore instituted that a Jew should pray to God three times a day. Rav Moshe
Tzi Neriah, in his work Ner La Amor, cites this midrash and asks how prayer is
able to replace bikkurim in the sense of providing the inspiration that
bikkurim, when operative, supplied? What is the connection between these two
seemingly disparate institutions?
Rav Neriah answers that when the Torah describes the process of bringing
bikkurim and reciting the relevant section of the Torah, the farmer is depicted
as reciting it before God, meaning, in God's presence. Through the mitzvah of
bikkurim, then, the farmer is given an opportunity to stand before God and
speak to Him. This is exactly how Rav Chaim Soloveichik of Brisk, known as Rav
Chaim Brisker, describes the process of prayer, as well. Rav Chaim writes that
according to the Rambam in his Mishneh Torah in the section of Laws of Prayer,
if a person does not have in mind when saying the shemoneh esreh - the central
prayer of our thrice-daily services - that he is standing in the presence of
God, he has not fulfilled his obligation, and must say the shemoneh esreh over
again. The essence of prayer, according to Rav Chaim, is speaking to God, and
if one recites his prayers without having this in mind he has in effect not
prayed at all. Since both bikkurim and prayer are processes that are done in
the presence of God, then, one can serve the function of the other.
I would like to add to Rav Neriah's remarks the comments of Rav Yehudah HaLevi
in his Kuzari, that the truly pious person, the chasid, sees his entire day as
revolving around the time he spends praying to God. The chasid does not
simply live his life and take time out three times a day to pray. Rather, the
central focus of his life is his relationship with God, and every time he prays
he renews that relationship. That experience sustains the relationship
until the next time he prays. We may add that this is why, according to Rabbi
Eliezer Walldman, prayer is called, in connection with Yitzchak (towards the
end of parshas Chayei Sarah) 'sicha' - a conversation - because it is
really part of a person's ongoing conversation with God. Rabbi Moshe Isserles,
in his glosses to the beginning of the section of the Shulchan Aruch - the
Jewish code of Law - that deals with the laws of daily living - Orach Chaim -
cites the Rambam in the Moreh Ha Nevochim (Guide to
the Perplexed) who says that a person should view himself as
constantly standing in the presence of God. This is consistent with the
Rambam's understanding of prayer as explained by Rav Chaim Brisker and taken as
reflective of an ongoing relationship with God, as described by Rav Yehuda Ha Levi.
The
process of bringing bikkurim, as well, is indicative of an ongoing relationship
with God. The essence of the mitzvah is to give gratitude to Him for all the
goodness He has bestowed upon us. The farmer is bidden to read the section of
the Torah which recounts Yaakov's descent into Egypt with his sons, the
nation's enslavement there and its redemption and entrance into Eretz
Yisroel, to the extent of settling there and producing a crop.
What was the purpose of recapitulating this history of the nation? I believe
that the idea here is that by reviewing the history of the process
that eventually led to the growth of the new fruit, the farmer is able to
see these events in perspective and realize that many things which happened
over the years that seemed, at first, as bad were, in truth, good and worthy of
giving gratitude to God. The eventual goal is to realize that God is constantly
doing small miracles for us, which is actually what we say three times a day in
shemoneh esreh when we thank God for the miracles that He performs for us
each day. The very fact that we remain alive, that we are able to breathe, as
the rabbis tell us, is the greatest gift of all, and worthy of our constant
expression gratitude to God. This awareness, sparked by the bringing of
bikkurim, should inform our daily lives. When Moshe foresaw the suspension of
this mitzvah in the wake of the destruction of the Temple, he instituted prayer
three times a day, as a means of maintaining this ongoing awareness of living
in God's presence and appreciating all that He does for us on a constant basis.
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