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From:
"Yeshivat Har Etzion's Israel Koschitzky Virtual Beit
Midrash"
To:
yhe-intparsha@vbm-torah.org
Subject: INTPARSHA -49:
Parashat Ki Tavo
Yeshivat Har Etzion
Israel Koschitzky Virtual Beit Midrash
Introduction to Parashat HaShavua
Parashat Ki Tavo - The Bringing of the
First Fruits
By Rabbi Michael Hattin
Introduction
"When you enter the land that
God your Lord gives to you, and you shall possess
it and dwell in it. Then you shall take from the first of
all the fruits of the earth that you shall bring from the land
that God your Lord gives you, and you shall
place them in a basket. You shall go to the place that God will
choose to cause His name to dwell there. You
shall approach the Cohen who shall be there at that time,
and shall say to him: 'I declare this day before God
your Lord that I have come into the land, that God
swore unto our ancestors to give us.' The Cohen shall take
the basket from your hands and place it down before the
altar of God your Lord.
"You shall proclaim
before God your Lord: 'A lost Aramean was my
father. He went down to Egypt and sojourned there few in
number, and there became a great, powerful and populous
nation. The Egyptians dealt harshly with us and afflicted us,
and put upon us difficult labor. We cried out to
God the Lord of our ancestors, and God heard our voice, saw
our affliction, our burden, and our distress. God
took us out of Egypt with a strong hand, an
outstretched arm, awesome acts, signs and wonders. He
brought us to this place, and gave us this land, a land flowing
with milk and honey. And now I have brought the
first fruits of the earth that you have given me God,'
and you shall put them down before God your Lord and prostrate
yourself before God your Lord.
"You shall rejoice in all the
good that God your Lord has given to you and to your
household, you and the Levite, and the convert that
dwells in your midst" (Devarim 26:1-11).
Parashat Ki Tavo begins with a
description of one of
the most poignant and dramatic ceremonies of Temple
times,
namely the presentation of the 'Bikurim' or 'First Fruits.'
First profiled in the Book of Shemot in
terse and non-descriptive terms (Shemot 23:19, 34:26), the ritual is here
elaborated upon and spelled out at some length. This
week,
we shall examine some of the laws
associated with the
bringing of the First Fruits; we shall discover
that this
mitzva presents us with the
exceptional opportunity to
understand and to observe how a fundamental, underlying
theme finds expression in every aspect
and detail of a
mitzva's fulfillment.
The Torah's Account
The outline of the rite seems
straightforward enough,
and can be conveniently broken down into
three discrete
elements, as indicated by the
quotation above: 1) the
bringing of the first fruits and their presentation, 2) the
proclamation, 3) the joyous aftermath. We should take
note
of the fact that the account of our Parasha
is described
from the perspective of the individual,
who brings the
fruits to God's House, and subsequently rejoices with family
and a close circle of
associated individuals. The
declaration, however, is phrased in the plural, and provides
a very concise outline of Jewish national history,
placing
particular emphasis on the experience of the enslavement in
Egypt, the Exodus, and the entry into the land. The
themes
of the declaration pivot around contrasts:
few ancestors
becoming a multitude, oppressed slaves
achieving freedom,
and homeless people acquiring a land 'flowing with milk and
honey.'
Although the text speaks of 'first fruits of
the earth'
it does not delineate specifically which species of
fruits
are to be brought. Are the first fruits to be brought
from
all species, or only from a select few? Also,
the passage
is ambiguous concerning the placing of
the fruits in a
basket. Is this a purely utilitarian
means of conveying
them to the Temple, or does
it perhaps represent an
indispensable part of the rite? Significantly, the Biblical
word here employed for basket, 'TeNEh,' is an unusual usage
that occurs only four times in the entire Scriptures, all of
those from our Parasha:
1) ".you shall place them in a basket
(TeNEh)" [26:2],
2) "The Cohen shall take the
basket (TeNEh) from your hands" [26:4],
3) "Blessed be your basket
(TaNAkha) and your kneading trough" [28:6],
4) "Cursed be your basket
(TaNAkha) and your kneading trough" [28:17].
In contrast, the much more
common word for basket, 'SaL,' occurs fifteen times in Tanakh.
Clearly, the emotional thrust of
the account in the
Torah is to foster and to inculcate gratitude on the part of
the individual who offers the first
fruits. He is to
express thankfulness to God for having merited enjoying the
fruits of his labor, and this he does by
presenting the
choicest of those before Him at His abode.
The Account of the Mishna
One of the tractates of the Mishna, the final section
of "Agricultural Laws" (the Mishnaic Order
'Zera'im'), is
Massekhet Bikurim. It is in the main devoted to
the laws
concerning the ceremony of the First Fruits.
Compiled in
the aftermath of the Second
Temple's destruction, it
provides a rare glimpse of how the people
observed this
commandment while the Temple stood at Jerusalem.
We shall
quote from some of the relevant mishnayot, especially those
of chapter three, and shall then compare and contrast
them
to the text from the Parasha of Ki Tavo.
Mishna 1: How are the first fruits
designated? A person
goes down to their field and when they notice that a fig or
grape cluster has started to appear, they mark
it with a
band and say "these shall be for first fruits."
Mishna 2: How were the first fruits brought?
All of the
people dwelling in the villages of a region would gather in
the regional capital, and would sleep in the streets rather
than in the houses. Early the next morning, the
appointed
leader would exclaim: "Arise and let us go up to
Zion, to
the House of God our Lord!"
Mishna 3: The nearby villagers would bring fresh
figs and
grapes, and the outlying ones would bring dried
figs and
raisins. An ox with gilded horns and a
wreath of olive
leaves would go before them. The flute would play until the
procession neared Jerusalem. When
they came close to
Jerusalem, they would beautify and
ornament their first
fruits. The governors, officials and treasurers of the city
would go out to greet them,
in accordance with the
importance of the arrivals.
All of the craftsmen of
Jerusalem would stop their work and stand to
greet them:
"Our people of such and such a place, enter in peace!"
Mishna 4: The flute would play before the procession
until
they reached the Temple Mount. When they reached the Temple
Mount, even Agrippa the King would take the basket upon his
shoulder, and proceed until he entered the forecourt.
When
he entered the forecourt, the Levites would burst into song:
"I praise You, God, for You have raised me up and
have not
allowed my enemies to rejoice over me!"
Mishna 6: While the basket was still upon his
shoulder he
would recite from "I declare this day,"
until he finished
the entire passage. Rabbi Yehuda says: until he
reached "A
lost Aramean was my father." When he reached
that passage,
he would remove the basket from his shoulder and hold it by
its rim. The Cohen would place his hand under
the basket
and ceremoniously wave it. The presenter would then
recite
"A lost Aramean was my father" and
complete the passage.
The basket would be placed down beside the altar,
and the
presenter would prostrate and exit.
Considering the Mishna's Account - General Contrasts
Before analyzing the specific matters
enumerated in the
Mishna, a number of general observations
are in order.
First of all, we note that the structure of
each of the
Mishnayot is the same: there
is a description of a
particular action, and this is followed by
some sort of
pertinent affirmation. Thus, the
first fruits are set
apart, and then are VERBALLY designated as such by the field
owner. The villagers would sleep in the streets,
and next
morning the procession leader would exclaim:
"ARISE!" The
people would arrive in Jerusalem, and the inhabitants would
GREET them. The Presenter would enter the
forecourt, and
the Levites would SING. All of these preliminary
acts are
evidently modeled on the formal presentation itself
which,
as we have seen, combines a specific act of
offering the
first fruits, with an associated
declaration. To again
quote from the above Mishna: "the Cohen would place his hand
under the basket and ceremoniously wave it. The
presenter
would then RECITE 'A lost Aramean
was my father' and
complete the passage." By adopting this textual
structure,
the Mishna is indicating to us that the
two aspects of
ceremonial act and formal declaration, first
indicated by
the text of Torah itself, are inextricably bound up with the
essence of the First Fruits. Thus, their binary effects are
felt at every stage of the ceremony's fulfillment.
Secondly, we notice that in contrast to
the description
of Ki Tavo, the portrayal of
the Mishna is decidedly
collective. We experience the ceremony from the perspective
of the people. They gather and go up to
Jerusalem not as
individuals, but as an aggregate. The officials and
people
of Jerusalem greet them in accordance with
their number.
The King, in a seeming act of democratic
identification,
joins the masses and offers his own basket like
them. The
forecourt of the Temple would no doubt be
filled with a
joyous throng as the Levites would sing.
All of these details suggest that
the ceremony of the
First Fruits would be an important vehicle
for fostering
unity among the villagers themselves as well as
among the
various villages of a region. Also, the harmony between the
capital of Jerusalem and the outlying
villages, as well
between the King and his subjects, are
other significant
objectives of the proceedings.
Thirdly, in contrast to the solemn and
serious tone of
the Torah text, the Mishna is preoccupied
with joy and
exaltation. The passage in Ki Tavo mentioned
happiness in
generic terms, as the climactic consequence of
the entire
ceremony: "You shall rejoice in all the good that
God your
Lord has given to you and to your
household." But it
contains no description of music, singing, or celebration as
part of the rite.
The tone of the
critical declaration is in fact
dignified but almost somber. It constitutes the
main body
of the Torah's account of this mitzva. In the
Mishna, on
the other hand, one reads of a parade led by 'floats'
(the
crowned ox with the gilded horns), musical accompaniment of
the flute, and an exuberance of joyous song.
The pensive
declaration is mentioned only briefly and does not appear to
be the focus of the Mishna's account.
Considering the Mishna's Account - Specifics
The Mishna's description raises a number
of issues that
require explanation. In Mishna 2, we saw that the villagers
would gather in the regional capital but would sleep in the
streets rather than entering the houses.
Seemingly, this
was a function of large crowds and inadequate
lodgings but
perhaps other considerations were at work.
Also, it is
important to note that the leader's
exclamation the next morning is
actually a quote from
Yirmiyahu/Jeremiah 31:5, and in its larger context describes
the bright future of the redeemed and restored
people of
Israel: "Thus says God: the nation that was a
remnant from
the sword have found grace in the wilderness, and Israel has
sought rest. God has appeared to me from afar,
saying: I
have loved my people with an everlasting
love and have
therefore drawn you to Me in compassion. I will again build
you and you shall be built, Virgin of
Israel; you shall
again be adorned with your timbrels and go out to
joyously
dance. You shall again plant vineyards on
the hills of
Shomron; the planters shall plant and enjoy the
fruit. For
there shall come a day when the watchmen on
Mount Ephraim
shall exclaim: "Arise and let us go up to Zion, to the House
of God our Lord!" Although there is the obvious
connection
with our ceremony of enjoying the fruit of one's
labor, we
must ponder if there are not other grounds for the inclusion
of this passage in the rite of the First Fruits.
In Mishna 3, we were treated to a
description of the
festive parade that the
villages staged enroute to
Jerusalem. The inclusion of the ox is, in all
probability,
an expression of its centrality to the agrarian
economy of
antiquity, for the ox was the most important beast of burden
and especially helpful for plowing. The closest
modern-day
parallel might be the role of
the tractor in kibbutz
celebrations of the bringing in of the harvest.
Mishna 4 described the
arrival at the Temple Mount.
Here, we are told, "even Agrippa the King
would take the
basket upon his shoulder, and proceed until he
entered the
forecourt." Agrippa the grandson of Herod, is
known to us
as one of the final kings of the Second Temple
period, and
his all-too brief reign is fondly recalled in Jewish sources
as one of stability and peace. Caligula, with whom
he had
been brought up at the Roman court, first appointed
him as
king, and Caligula's successor the Emperor Claudius gave him
dominion over all of the Roman
province of Palestine.
Agrippa was a beloved monarch who combined political acumen
with intense sensitivity to Jewish tradition, but his three-year reign ended suddenly in 44
C.E. when he died at
Ceasarea. We can
therefore pinpoint the Mishna's
description of the ceremony of the First Fruits as referring
to the final decades of the Jewish State, for the Temple was
destroyed by the Romans in 70 C.E.
Curiously, the selection
sung by the Levites as the
First Fruits were brought into the forecourt of the
Temple
is not one of joyous celebration or praise, as
one might
have expected given the other features of the
procession.
Rather, it is one of perseverance: "I praise You,
God, for
You have raised me up and have not allowed my
enemies to
rejoice over me!" Taken from the thirtieth
chapter of the
Book of Psalms, the hymn was composed
by David on the
occasion of the 'Dedication of the
House.' Its imagery
speaks of being rescued from
certain death, of being
preserved by God from
'descending to the pit' and
'everlasting doom.' In it, David praises God who has
saved
him from the clutches of his foes,
and has turned his
mourning into rejoicing. It is not immediately
clear why
this Psalm was chosen to be chanted at the
rite, for its
mood seems jarringly out of place.
Finally, Mishna 6 describes the actual
conferral of the
Bikurim. The basket would be removed from the
shoulder and
ritually waved, indicating the presentation of an offering,
and the declaration would then be made. Soon afterward, the
basket would be put down next
to the altar and the
supplicant would take their leave. Again, we
are left to
ponder the significance of the
basket and its seeming
centrality to the entire affair.
The Description of Rambam - More Pieces of the Puzzle
The Rambam, in his Laws of First
Fruits, codifies the
statutes of the Torah, Mishna, Talmud and associated
texts
on the matter, and we shall only make
mention of those
elements that we have not yet seen elsewhere. However, bear
in mind that unless otherwise indicated, the rulings of the
Rambam have as their source
the appropriate Mishnaic,
Talmudic and Midrashic passages scattered
throughout the
vast corpus of the traditional literature.
Chapter 2:1 - It is a positive command to bring first fruits
to the Temple, and they are only brought as
long as the
Temple stands and within the Land of Israel, as
the verse
states "the first fruits of your earth you shall
bring to
the House of God your Lord." (Shemot 23:19, 34:26).
Chapter 2:2 - One does not bring first fruits
except from
the seven species enumerated in the 'praise of
the Land.'
These are wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives
and dates. If one presents first fruits from other species,
they are not sanctified.
Chapter 3:10 - It is a positive commandment
to offer an
affirming declaration at the time that the first fruits are
presented at the Temple.and it can only be recited
in the
Holy Language of Hebrew.
Chapter 3:11 - One who brings first fruits may give them to
his servant or relative to convey enroute, until they reach
the Temple Mount. When they
reach the Temple Mount,
however, he himself must take them upon his shoulder,
even
if he is an exalted king in Israel.He recites the passage 'a
lost Aramean' and puts down the fruits on the south western
corner of the altar.
Chapter 3:14 - First fruits require overnight stay. How so?
One who has presented his first
fruits at the Temple,
recited the proclamation and offered his sacrifices, may not
leave Jerusalem on that day to return home, but rather must
remain overnight and return home to his own town only on the
morrow. Thus, First Fruits require seven things: bringing to
the Place, a vessel, the
declaration, sacrifice, song,
ceremonial waving, and overnight stay.
Considering the Rambam's Words
Reflecting on the Rambam's formulation,
we notice that
he includes a number of new and important
details. The
First Fruits can only be brought from the Land
of Israel,
and only from the so-called
'Seven Species' that are
cryptically referred to as 'the praise of the
land,' and
only as long as the Temple stands. Presumably, these
seven
types of fruit express the fertility and bounty of the land
more so than other varieties, for the Torah itself refers to
them in just such a context: "God your Lord is
bringing you
to a good land, a land of streams of
water, springs and
acquifers in valley and mountain. A
land of wheat and
barley, grapes, figs and pomegranates, of olives and dates.
A land in which you shall consume bread not in scarcity nor
lack anything, a land whose stones are iron and from
whose
mountains you shall hew copper. You
shall eat and be
satisfied, and bless God your Lord for the good land that He
has given you." (Devarim
8:7-10). Based upon these
criteria, we might reasonably assume that in our
times the
seven species have been usurped by the
ubiquitous Jaffa
orange, the modern-day symbol of barren tracts
blossoming
with bounty, but the sources provide no such provision! Why
not?
Rambam relates that the First Fruits can
be conveyed in
any manner, but upon reaching
the Temple Mount, the
presenter must himself carry the basket on his shoulder. He
understands the precedent of
Agrippa as not simply a
poignant expression of monarchy mingling with
the masses,
but as an exemplar of a halakhic
requirement. Thus, the
basket and its conveyance both turn out
to be necessary
features, although their significance is still unclear.
Rambam also indicates that
the declaration must be
recited in Hebrew. In other words, it is not
sufficient to
make mention of the themes of the
passage such as the
descent to Egypt, the Enslavement, or the
Exodus. Rather,
the passage is a FORMULA that must be recited
verbatim in
its original language. In contrast, we might consider other
mitzvot of the Torah that require some sort of verbalization
or statement, such as grace after meals
(Devarim 8:10),
prayer (Devarim 11:13), recitation of the
Shema (Devarim
6:4), or even the confession concerning
tithes (Devarim
26:12-15) that immediately succeeds our section. In
all of
these cases, as well as in the vast
majority of other
mitzvot requiring recitation, there is NO requirement at all
that the text be recited word for word in Hebrew.
Finally, Rambam makes mention of
overnight stay. Why
must the presenter not return home immediately?
Is there
any deeper significance to this provision other
then its
positive impact on the local hotel industry?
The Fundamental Axiom
Thus far, we have seen a wealth of texts
pertaining to
Bikurim and have raised a
large number of perplexing
queries. It would be possible to leave the subject at
this
point with a general appreciation of the mitzva's scope and
to not be overly troubled by
some of the questions.
Nevertheless, by considering the
meaning of a single,
central feature we will be able to shed a brilliant light on
the entire matter. Recall that the Torah spoke of a 'TeNEh'
or basket. We wondered about the almost singular
usage of
the term and if or how it differed from a 'SaL.'
We later
discovered that the carrying of
the basket 'ON ONE'S
SHOULDER' was a critical rite that
even the King was
expected to perform, and also learned that at the conclusion
of the declaration, the basket was to be placed down at the
side of the altar.
Considering the action of 'carrying on
the shoulder' in
broad terms, a number of Biblical examples come
to mind.
Recall that Rivka, ascending from the well with 'her pitcher
upon her shoulder' (Bereishit 24:15)
graciously offered
water to Eliezer and the camels. When the
Israelite camp
broke up and moved to a new location, the
Levites of the
clan of Kehat conveyed the
holy vessels 'upon their
shoulders' (BeMidbar 7:9). Most striking of
all, at the
time of the Exodus, the people left in such great haste that
they 'took their dough before
it was leavened, their
kneading troughs bound up in their
garments upon their
shoulders' (Shemot 12:34). In all
of these cases, the
expression to 'carry upon one's shoulder' indicates the
action of conveying an object from point A to point B, while
in the interim it CANNOT BE PUT DOWN. In other words,
when
the Torah describes the act of carrying on the shoulder, it
invariably associates it with a situation
in which the
object in question must be borne aloft
until a suitable
resting-place is found.
In the context of the First Fruits, the
significance of
carrying the basket is not simply to convey it
from one's
field to the Temple, but to actually RELIVE THE JOURNEY FROM
HOMELESSNESS TO SETTLEMENT! We must
carry the Bikurim
because we are symbolically re-experiencing the homelessness
of our ancestors who had no land. We bear the basket on our
shoulder because we are recalling the anxious
destitution
associated with having meager possessions and
nowhere to
rest them. Etymologically, the word TeNEh is
connected to
the Aramaic TuNA meaning a burden or load, and
the TeNEh
therefore differs from the basket in that it is used not as
a receptacle but rather as a container for
conveyance of
goods and possessions. One may still see it in
use among
the Arab peasants of the Judean and Samarian Hills who carry
their produce in baskets
borne upon their heads or
shoulders.
Re-evaluating the Texts - Biblical
Returning to the
Biblical text, the focus of the
declaration recalls the descent to Egypt, the
Enslavement,
the Exodus, and the Entry into the land, for this
national
experience more than any other
commemorates the dynamic
movement from rootlessness to possession. It is
precisely
because we were homeless sojourners in the land
of Egypt
that we were vulnerable to the whims of
our hosts. The
Pharaoh who welcomed the family of Joseph with
open arms
could so easily be succeeded by the cruel
Pharaoh of the
Oppression, and how quickly were
our national fortunes
transformed by the alteration!
It is therefore
not surprising that the Biblical
ceremony concludes with the basket being gently
put down.
After reliving the desperation of
exile by laboriously
transferring that basket from place
to place, we can
sincerely appreciate God's gift of
the Land. Having
recognized His bounty, we then put down the basket
next to
the altar. This is to suggest the state of national
'rest'
that is the antithesis of exile and wandering, as if to say
'now I have a home in which I can place down my possessions,
and that home is God's precious gift of a land.'
The connection with the Temple is
now obvious, for the
state of the Jews as well as the Jewish State, the national
framework that the Bikurim come to celebrate, are incomplete
without it. If the First Fruits are about
the people of
Israel achieving a settled and secure
status, then the
Temple must be standing at Jerusalem. If it lies in
ruins,
then one cannot perform a ceremony
celebrating domestic
tranquility and national permanence, for the Temple edifice
is the barometer of the intensity of our connection to God.
Re-evaluating the Texts - Mishnaic
The account of the Mishna began with the villagers
sleeping in the streets. Rather than being an expression of
insufficient housing or
a mechanism for fostering
camaraderie, we can now see that it is the most appropriate
means of beginning the procession. If the First
Fruits are
evocative of nomadic and unsettled wandering, then let their
consignment commence with a physical act
of sleein the
unsheltered open.
The rousing
words of the procession
leader, in
actuality a quote from Yirmiyahu
the Prophet of the
Destruction, remind the people that separation from homeland
is not only a historical event from the
dim and distant
past, but also a recurring theme. The Enslavement of
Egypt
was followed by the Babylonian Exile and later still by the
domination of Rome, and the
ideal state of national
equilibrium and corresponding
reconciliation with God
remained and still remain a distant hope.
"I will again
build you and you shall be built, Virgin
of Israel; you
shall again be adorned with your timbrels and
go out to
joyously dance. You shall again plant
vineyards on the
hills of Shomron; the planters shall plant and
enjoy the
fruit. For there shall come a day when
the watchmen on
Mount Ephraim shall exclaim: 'Arise and let us
go up to
Zion, to the House of God our Lord!'"
The song of the Levites,
passionate and pained, speaks
not of joyous celebration and unmitigated
happiness, but
rather of struggle and eventual triumph.
"I praise You,
God, for You have raised me up and have
not allowed my
enemies to rejoice over me!" describes not
sentiments of
complacency and comfort, but rather those of
endeavor and
exertion. Settling the land is no easy task, and
remaining
cognizant of the efforts invested to achieve national
rest
as well as of the Divine assistance that makes
it at all
possible are critical elements in maintaining that hold.
Re-evaluating the Texts - Rambam
Rambam records the tradition that the
First Fruits are
to be brought only from the so-called seven species.
These
particular fruits are referred to as the
'praise of the
Land' and seem to be expressions of its bounty and
beauty.
In light of the above analysis, however, a more
startling
fact emerges: these seven fruits, to the exclusion
of the
proverbial Jaffa orange and its ilk, are INDIGENOUS to this
land. In other words, if
the ritual of the Bikurim
addresses the themes of taking root in the land and becoming
integrally connected to it, it naturally follows
that the
choice of fruits should highlight species that
from time
immemorial have been regarded as native to its
shores. It
is not exclusivity that the Torah seeks, for some of
these
seven may thrive in other locales as well.
Rather, it is
the idea of connection to a place and deep attachment to its
earth that these seven species so eloquently express.
Rambam's curious assertion
that the declaration be
recited in Hebrew is now comprehensible. What could be more
appropriate than the national language of the Jewish people
for conveying our profound emotional bond to
the Land as
well as our gratitude for God
for His precious gift?
Although we might succeed in capturing the outline of those
themes in other tongues, their sublimity would be
lost in
the translation.
As for the
overnight stay, it forms the
perfect
conclusion to the rite. The ceremony began
with sleeping
outdoors in the open countryside, as if bereft of
home and
hearth. The ritual concludes by staying
overnight in the
national capital of Jerusalem, to emphatically proclaim that
now the people of Israel have 'somewhere'
to rest their
weary heads, that 'somewhere' being none
other than the
'place that God shall choose to cause His
name to dwell
there.'
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