Dear Friends;
I hope that you’ll enjoy the following Parasha summary followed by a Dvar Torah;
” Parsha in a Nutshell ”
Moshe instructs the people of Israel: When you enter the land that G-d is giving to you as your eternal heritage, and you settle it and cultivate it, bring the first-ripened fruits of your orchard to the Holy Temple, and declare your gratitude for all that G-d has done for you.
Our Parsha also includes the laws of the tithes given to the Levites and to the poor. Moshe reminds the people that they are G-d’s chosen people, and that they, in turn, have chosen G-d.
The latter part of Ki Tavo consists of the Tochachah (“Rebuke”). After listing the blessings with which G-d will reward the people when they follow the laws of the Torah, Moshe gives a long, harsh account of the bad things — illness, famine, poverty and exile — that shall befall them if they abandon G-d’s commandments.
Moshe concludes by telling the people that only today, forty years after their birth as a people, have they attained “a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear.”
” Dvar Torah ”
Harvest time! After months of backbreaking work, a farmer can finally enjoy the fruits of its labor. He can reap all of his crops and hopefully, it will cover his sustenance for the year to come. But before he can enjoy his freshly-harvested crop, the Torah commands in this week’s parsha that the farmer bring his “Bikurim”, or first-ripened fruits, to the Temple in Jerusalem as a gift to the Kohen. The sages describe the remarkable scene of thousands of people, rich and poor alike, come together in Jerusalem, rejoicing in song and dance with their baskets of fruit in hand, celebrating their successful harvest and offering thanks to Hashem.
Upon arriving in the Temple, the Torah commands: “The Kohen shall take the basket from your hand”. The Talmud relates an interesting detail regarding this event. The wealthy people, who brought their fruits in exquisite gold and silver baskets, would hand the baskets to the Kohen with the fruits still inside. The Kohen would then remove the fruits and return the baskets to their owners. However, there was a different approach used for the poor people. Unlike their wealthy counterparts, the less fortunate farmers who brought their fruits in cheap straw baskets would not receive the baskets back from the Kohen; the fruits would remain inside the baskets until the Kohen took them home. The obvious question is, why? The rich gets back his silver and gold basket, while the poor who might still have a need for his basket, goes home empty handed?! The Talmud comments regarding this ceremony that “The rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer”!! Is this justice in the eyes of Hashem? The Torah who is the master in showing compassion towards the needy, seems to have missed this opportunity! Why is it so?
Rabbi Kamenetsky gives a very interesting explanation. The wealthy farmer who owns many top quality fields, he probably has a lot of produce to present to the Kohen, and his fruits are beautiful and well-formed. The poor person, on the other hand, might only have one small field, and his produce is most likely of inferior quality. As a result, the amount of fruit that he brings to the Temple will be less, both in quality and quantity. If the fruits would be removed in order to return the baskets to the owner, the poor farmer would be forced to suffer the embarrassment of having people see his inferior gift. The halachah therefore prescribes that the fruits should remain hidden in the basket. The Torah feels that a person’s dignity is worth more than a few dollars. Let the Kohen keep the fruit in the basket. Let it at least have the appearance of being something significant. Even if it will cost him the price of the basket, let the poor man walk out with his dignity. A person can always make a little more money. It is much harder to recoup one’s pride!
Yes my friends, the Torah is teaching us that we should respect other people’s dignity and pride. It’s telling us how we should go out of our way in order to protect the feelings of others and to avoid embarrassment. The Almighty demands from us not to humiliate another person, not to put anyone to shame and above all, not to destroy anyone’s pride. Every person deserves to be respected since we are all children of Hashem. The whole theme of the Torah is about having compassion for your fellow human beings and to love your fellow Jew just like yourself.
Showing compassion for our fellow Jew is an important thing to do throughout the year, but as the Day of Judgment is approaching soon, it is more critical. Our sages tell us that Hashem deals with us in the same manner that we deal with our peers. If we are merciful towards others and we treat them with kindness and compassion, then Hashem will also be merciful towards us and judge us with compassion too.
Remember that Hashem accepted both fruits of the rich and the poor. Both were given the same respect to enter the holy Temple and to present their gift to G-d. Both walked in with their pride and dignity and both left with a joy in their heart. In the eyes of Hashem, all of his children are dear to him, and they should be dear to us too.
Shabath Shalom & Regards;
Martin