Page 45 - HaMizrachi #26 Tu Bishvat USA 2021

TU BISHVAT READING

Rabbi Shalom Rosner Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander

MITZVOT HAT’LUYOT BA’ARETZ BIKKURIM

First Fruit Praye

ith the rainy winter behind to Pharaoh and all who would follow. our relationship with the Land is con-
them and the summer har- We give thanks to G-d for our people’s tingent upon maintaining that unity.
Wvest ahead, Jewish farmers providential continuity, ensured by the It is for this reason that the Mishnah
in the time of the Beit HaMikdash stability of living in our own Land and (Bikkurim 3:3) describes the lead-
would celebrate the year’s bounty by fulfilling our destiny in part through ership and citizens of Yerushalayim
offering their first fruits of the Shivat its sustenance. warmly greeting the bikkurim-pil-
HaMinim (the seven species), bikkurim, Yet there is an alternative interpreta- grims as an essential part of the mitz-
to G-d. They would festively carry their tion, suggested by Ibn Ezra and others, vah itself. G-d has brought us from
produce to Yerushalayim and ceremo- that oved is an adjective meaning wan- being a “wandering Aramean” to the
nially present them to the Kohanim. At dering or nomadic, hence rendering promised Land of Israel in order for us
this sacred, joyous moment, the farmer the opening phrase as “My forefather to live in harmony; to love and respect
would recite a prayer, one of the few was a wandering Aramean.” every Jew – a challenge we still face
tefillot written in the Torah, recalling today.
the history of the Jewish people from According to this reading, the back-
our earliest ancestors: drop of the farmer’s recounting of the The recitation of this paragraph at a
servitude in Egypt is Ya’akov’s experi- time of agricultural plenty and afflu-
י ֵ ת ְ מ ִּ ב ם ָ ׁש ר ָ גָּי ַ ו ה ָ מְי ַ ר ְ צ ִ מ ד ֶ רֵּי ַ ו י ִ ב ָ א ד ֵ בֹא י ִּ מ ַ ר ֲ א ence of wandering. The instability of ence comes to remind us of a very
…ב ָ ר ָ ו םּוצ ָ ע לֹוד ָּג יֹוג ְ ל ם ָ ׁש־י ִ הְי ַ ו ט ָ ע ְ מ Ya’akov’s home, riddled with family fundamental tenet: our respect for
“Arami Oved Avi, and he went down strife among his children, becomes the the other is a necessary condition for
to Egypt and sojourned there in a direct cause for the descent to Egypt at our physical affluence and for our
small group, and he became there the end of Sefer Bereishit, paving the safety and security in the Land as well
a great, multitudinous, populous way for the Jewish people’s subjuga- as being the foundation necessary for
nation…” (Devarim 26:5). tion under Pharaoh’s rule. achieving our purpose: being a light
The meaning of the opening phrase, As the farmer recites these words over unto the nations.
arami oved avi is ambiguous and the bikkurim-basket, what comes to As we celebrate Tu BiShvat this year,
much discussed. The avi, forefather, mind is not an image of our enemies let us rejoice in both the goodness
mentioned here is identified with from afar, but rather of our own famil- of the Land of Israel and accept the
Ya’akov Avinu. ial conflicts and communal points of responsibility for strengthening the
tension. bonds among all Jews, including those
Some of the traditional commentators
consider oved a verb: “An Aramean Distrust, breakdowns in communica- who may differ from us, so we may
wished to destroy my forefather.” tion, resentment towards our fellow merit G-d’s blessings this and every
Jews – these are the sins that led to year.
This interpretation, adopted by Rashi, the first-ever exile to Egypt and the
Sa’adia Gaon and the Maharal, has destruction of the second Beit HaMik-
the verse referring to Lavan’s attempts dash and its long exile, which perpet-
to already stymie the Jewish peo- uate our continued experience to
ple’s development at its inception. It this day.
is recalled by Jewish farmers living
centuries later to celebrate the Bikkurim, the personal/national
immortality of the Jewish celebration of the bounty of
people, despite the attempts the Land, is a celebration Rabbi Dr. Katriel (Kenneth) Brander is Pres-
of all those who have tried of the unity of the Jewish ident and Rosh HaYeshiva of the Ohr Torah
to destroy us – from Lavan people, and a reminder that Stone network.

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