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GLOBAL RELIGIOUS LEADERS




                                                                        Chief Rabbi Dr. Warren Goldstein










                      Celebrating our Connection to Israel

                                  with Pride and Gratitude








             om HaAtzmaut happens in the    mark the  occasion.  At  the  head  of   tive-driven portions of the Torah, when
             weeks leading up to Shavuot –   the procession, there was a bull dec-  really the Torah is a book of command-
       Ythe time of the harvest during      orated in gold. And all the residents of   ments (Rashi, Bereishit 1:1).
       which we celebrate the great bounty   Yerushalayim – the shopkeepers and   Quoting from a remarkably prescient
       of the Land of Israel. This includes   all the workers, sometimes even the   Midrash (Midrash, Yalkut Shimoni
       the mitzvah of bikkurim – the Torah   king – would come out to greet the
       requirement for farmers to bring their   farmers’ arrival. Upon arriving at the   on Torah 187), Rashi explains that
                                                                                 the reason the Torah begins with the
       first fruits to the Beit HaMikdash.   Beit HaMikdash, the  Levi’im would   story of Creation is because one day
       Interestingly, the mitzvah of bikkurim   sing a song from the book of Tehillim   “the nations of the world” will accuse
       can teach us how to approach Yom     (Mishna, Bikkurim 3:3–4).            the Jewish people of unjustly appro-
       HaAtzmaut.                           Why all the fanfare? What is so special   priating the Land of Israel, to which
       What is most unusual about this mitz-  about the mitzvah of bikkurim that it   we can respond – G-d, the Creator of
       vah is that when the farmers brought   warranted such a declaration and such   the world, gave it to us. That is our title
       their baskets to the Beit HaMikdash,   a grand, beautiful ceremony?       deed. And we underline this claim by
       they would make a short declaration,   The Malbim (Devarim 26:5) explains   publicly declaring and celebrating our
       summarizing Jewish history: how the   that the declaration regarding  the   connection to the Land of Israel in the
       Jewish people came to live in Egypt;   bikkurim was stated as a response to   bikkurim ceremony.
       how we were afflicted by the Egyptians   those who would challenge our right   There’s certainly a lesson we can draw
       and called out to G-d; how He answered   to the Land of Israel. He cites Rashi’s   here  in  our  own  age  about  proudly
       our cries and redeemed us with signs   very first comment on the Chumash –   and unapologetically celebrating our
       and wonders, and eventually brought   the question of why the             connection to the Land of Israel. Yom
       us to the Land of Israel – to the sacred   Torah begins with the          HaAtzmaut is a special time to do so,
       ground from which these first fruits   book of Bereishit, the             and remind ourselves of the justice of
       were harvested (Devarim 26:3–10).                                                   Israel’s cause.
                                            more narra-
       Furthermore, the Mishnah paints a
       colorful picture of the farmers’ proces-
       sion: they did not arrive one
       by one in Yerushalayim;
       rather, they would go up in
       a group, accompa-
       nied by music
       and a whole
       entou-
       rage
       to

                                                                                                    Rabbi Dr. Warren
                                                                                                   Goldstein  is the
                                                                                                   Chief Rabbi of South
                                                                                                  Africa.



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