Parashas Ki Savo

This week’s parashah begins with the mitzvah of bikkurim, in which people would bring their first fruits to the Beis Hamikdash, where it would be presented to the kohen. The Mishnah (Bikkurim Ch. 3) details the great joy, pomp and ceremony associated with this mitzvah.

After coming to the Beis HaMikdash, the person presenting the bikkurim would generally recite a set of verses from this week’s parashah, presenting a succinct recap of Jewish history, thanking Hashem for all his kindness. The story starts with Lavan’s efforts to destroy Yaakov, continues through the Jews’ slavery in and redemption from Egypt, and concludes with Hashem’s having given us Eretz Yisrael. Parenthetically, it is this set of pesukim that forms the basis of our retelling the story of Yetzias Mitzrayim at the Pesach Seder.

Following these pesukim, the Torah concludes its discussion of bikkurim with the following: וְשָׂמַחְתָּ בְכָל הַטּוֹב אֲשֶׁר נָתַן לְךָ ד' אֱלֹקֶיךָ וּלְבֵיתֶךָ..., And you shall rejoice in all the goodness that Hashem, Your G-d has given you and to your family….

Rashi (from Pesachim 36b) notes that this verse teaches us that one only reads these verses if the bikkurim are brought during the “period of rejoicing,” during the harvest season, from Shavuos until Succos.

Would it not be more logical to teach us this rule before the verses of thanksgiving, where the Torah tells us the other details of the bikkurim ceremony?

The answer may be that to experience true joy – the וְשָׂמַחְתָּ of the Torah – requires not only that we have reap the fruits of our labor, but that we have shared it with others.

So long as we have not yet reached the Beis Hamikash and actually given the fruits to the Kohen, there can be no real וְשָׂמַחְתָּ. It is only now, that we have already completed the presentation and shared our bounty with others, that we can genuinely rejoice in all the goodness that Hashem, Your G-d has given us and our families.

This is true not only of bikkurim, but of everything – the wealth of resources, talents and abilities – with which each person is blessed. We must, of course, thank Hashem for those gifts. But if we truly want to revel in those riches, we must first share them with others.

May Hashem continue to shower his blessings on all of us and our families, and may we have the sense and the merit to thank Him for them and share them with others, so that we may truly be joyous and happy with all the good we have been granted.

Gut Shabbos.