The purpose of bringing the first fruits to the kohen is to loudly proclaim that we are not ungrateful. Quite the contrary, we thank G-d for having taken us out of Egypt. "He brought us to this area, giving us this land flowing with milk and honey." (Deuteronomy 26:9)
Yet, the bringing of the first fruits is conditional on our first having conquered the land and divided it up by tribes: "When you come to the land that the L-rd your G-d is giving you as a heritage, occupying and settling it, you shall take the first of every fruit...." (26:1) Rashi comments, "This teaches that they incurred no obligation to bring the first fruits until they had conquered the land and divided it up."
Why was bringing the first fruits conditional on this? It is because only through the conquest and settlement of the land can G-d's glory be fully revealed. G-d's kindness and benevolence bring light to the nation and to the individual Jew. In such a reality, there is room for rejoicing over all the goodness that G-d showers upon us, and through us, upon the whole world.
Today, we must be grateful to G-d who had given us the privilege of seeing with our own eyes the ingathering of the exiles, millions of Jews returning home. We have also seen the Land yielding its crops generously to its inhabitants.
Yet, we are still in the very midst of the process of reconquering and settling the Land. The Arabs and the nations of the world have not yet resigned themselves to Israel's rebirth in their land, and they are working to drive us out - it will never be. They have had all sorts of bizarre thoughts and plans: the Partition Plan, the Rodgers Plan, Oslo, the Clinton Plan, and now the Roadmap and the Disengagement Plan.
All of these plans are insignificant nonsense before the counsel of G-d, who gave Israel good counsel, promising and swearing to them:
"The L-rd annuls the counsel of nations; He foils the plans of peoples. Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the L-rd's purpose that shall stand. The L-rd's purpose stands forever; His plans are through all generations." (Morning Prayers, "Yehi Kavod")
The most painful plan is the "Disengagement" Plan. Imagine a beloved, loving son, who one day presents his mother with a plan to cut himself off from her. The mother weeps in open sorrow over her son's having lost his mind. Is it possible to cut oneself off from one's mother? Surely one cannot. Finally, after thousands of years, the Jewish People have returned home to their motherland, their homeland, Eretz Yisrael, and suddenly they scorn their mother? Can it be?
Yet the mother does not despair of her son and she seeks of G-d that her son should repent and go back to being what he was - a loving son, faithful to his people and to his land.
G-d, who hears our prayers, will hear the prayer of the mother, the prayer of our land and our own prayers, and He will remove the evil decree. Through this, we will merit that the old year and its curses will end and the new year and its blessings will begin.
With blessings for a good, sweet year.
Yet, the bringing of the first fruits is conditional on our first having conquered the land and divided it up by tribes: "When you come to the land that the L-rd your G-d is giving you as a heritage, occupying and settling it, you shall take the first of every fruit...." (26:1) Rashi comments, "This teaches that they incurred no obligation to bring the first fruits until they had conquered the land and divided it up."
Why was bringing the first fruits conditional on this? It is because only through the conquest and settlement of the land can G-d's glory be fully revealed. G-d's kindness and benevolence bring light to the nation and to the individual Jew. In such a reality, there is room for rejoicing over all the goodness that G-d showers upon us, and through us, upon the whole world.
Today, we must be grateful to G-d who had given us the privilege of seeing with our own eyes the ingathering of the exiles, millions of Jews returning home. We have also seen the Land yielding its crops generously to its inhabitants.
Yet, we are still in the very midst of the process of reconquering and settling the Land. The Arabs and the nations of the world have not yet resigned themselves to Israel's rebirth in their land, and they are working to drive us out - it will never be. They have had all sorts of bizarre thoughts and plans: the Partition Plan, the Rodgers Plan, Oslo, the Clinton Plan, and now the Roadmap and the Disengagement Plan.
All of these plans are insignificant nonsense before the counsel of G-d, who gave Israel good counsel, promising and swearing to them:
"The L-rd annuls the counsel of nations; He foils the plans of peoples. Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the L-rd's purpose that shall stand. The L-rd's purpose stands forever; His plans are through all generations." (Morning Prayers, "Yehi Kavod")
The most painful plan is the "Disengagement" Plan. Imagine a beloved, loving son, who one day presents his mother with a plan to cut himself off from her. The mother weeps in open sorrow over her son's having lost his mind. Is it possible to cut oneself off from one's mother? Surely one cannot. Finally, after thousands of years, the Jewish People have returned home to their motherland, their homeland, Eretz Yisrael, and suddenly they scorn their mother? Can it be?
Yet the mother does not despair of her son and she seeks of G-d that her son should repent and go back to being what he was - a loving son, faithful to his people and to his land.
G-d, who hears our prayers, will hear the prayer of the mother, the prayer of our land and our own prayers, and He will remove the evil decree. Through this, we will merit that the old year and its curses will end and the new year and its blessings will begin.
With blessings for a good, sweet year.