HaRav Dov Begon is Head of Yeshivat Machon Meir.
The purpose of bringing the First Fruits is to show that we are not ungrateful, as it is written: “And you shall come to the Kohen who will be in those days, and you shall say to him: I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come to the Land which the Lord swore to our forefathers to give us" (Deuteronomy 26:3). As Rashi explains: “And you shall say to him" - that you are not ungrateful.
And what does it mean to be ungrateful? This is a person who denies the good that is done for him, turns his eyes away from it, and denies it.
In order to increase his gratitude, the one who brings the First Fruits recalls the kindnesses of the Holy One, Blessed be He, and says: “An Aramean sought to destroy my father, and he went down to Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a great, mighty, and numerous nation. And the Egyptians treated us badly and afflicted us... And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, with great awe, and with signs and wonders. And He brought us to this place, and He gave us this Land, a Land flowing with milk and honey" (Deuteronomy 26:5-9).
He recalls how the Holy One, Blessed be He, saved us from Laban, who wanted to destroy the Nation of Israel, God forbid, and from the Egyptians who enslaved us, and brought us to our Land. This declaration must be made in a raised voice and not in a whisper (Rashi, ibid.). Indeed, we have the custom of reciting this expression of gratitude over the first fruits when we sit on Seder Night and read the Haggadah each and every year.
At the present time, fortunate are we, and how good is the portion of our generation, that after two thousand years of exile we have merited to return home to the Land of our life. Only a generation ago we were in darkness, in the terrible Holocaust, when our enemies tried to carry out what Laban the Aramean had plotted. And behold, today we have merited to have a State of our own and to fight back against enemies who still rise up against us to destroy us, God forbid.
Indeed, we have still not reached complete Redemption and Salvation, but it is a mitzvah and an obligation upon us to be filled with gratitude and to thank the Lord, Blessed be He, for enabling us to reach this point, and not to be ungrateful, God forbid. We must not ignore the goodness, kindnesses, miracles, and wonders that the Lord, Blessed be He, performs for us day after day.
And the more we are filled with gratitude, the more we recognize the kindnesses of the Holy One, Blessed be He, toward us - that His light continues to be revealed from day to day and from year to year through the revival of the Nation of Israel in its Land - the more the Name of Heaven will be sanctified throughout the world. And we will merit to see the fulfillment of the words of the Prophets of Israel who prophesied that He would renew our days as of old. And all humanity will recognize that the Lord God is King and that His sovereignty rules over all.
With blessings for a good and sweet year.