Parshas Ki Savo - Stop, Drop, and "Four Score and Seven Years Ago..."

Parshas Ki Savo

Stop, Drop, and “Four Score and Seven Years Ago...”

By: Daniel Listhaus

“It will be when you enter the land that Hashem...gives you as an inheritance...that you shall take the first of every fruit of the ground that you bring in your land that Hashem...gives you...”

-Ki Savo 26:1-2

The parsha starts off with a rather unusual process. After dwelling in Eretz Yisroel, one must bring his first fruits to the kohen. The Torah¹ relates that each person comes before the kohen and says, “I declare today to Hashem, your G-d, that I have come to the land that Hashem swore to our forefathers to give us.” The kohen then places the basket of bikkurim (first fruits) before the mizbeach Hashem (altar of Hashem) and the individual then continues with a whole Gettysburg address:

“An Aramaean (referring to Lavan) would have destroyed my father, and he descended to Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a nation – great, strong, and numerous. The Egyptians mistreated and afflicted us, and placed hard work upon us. Then we cried out to Hashem, the G-d of our forefathers, and Hashem heard our voice and saw our affliction, our travails, and our oppression. Hashem took us out of Egypt with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm, with great awesomeness, and with signs and with wonders. He brought us to this place, and He gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And now, behold! I have brought the first fruit of the ground that you have given me, Hashem!”²

There are a couple of intriguing aspects to this procedure. Firstly, these passukim sound like something that should be part of the Pesach seder (which they are), not something that should be said when bringing first fruits to the kohen. What is the connection between the bringing of the new fruits and recalling a history of all that Hashem has done for us.

Secondly, why does the kohen have to suffer through this so many times just to get a basket of fruit? Let each man say it for himself when he is gathering the fruits into the basket. Why does this speech have to be said, specifically, to the kohen?

I think that we could come to better understand all of this if we recognize two areas of human nature. We live in a world of cause-and-effect; the actions we do seem to create real consequences. Imagine the following: You invest a tremendous effort going through school, go through the strains of finding a job, finally get a job, and work hard. Then, your first pay-check comes and you hold it up high, saying, “Yeah! Now I could go spend some of the money that I made!” One could get so caught up thinking that since he had to work hard to see the desired consequence, he must have been in control from the onset. The Torah³ warns against this reasoning, as it says, “...And your heart will grow haughty and you will forget Hashem your G-d...and you will say in your heart: My power and the might of my hand have wrought this wealth for me. Then you shall remember Hashem your G-d, for it is He who gives you the strength to amass wealth....” We cannot allow ourselves to be swallowed by hindsight bias. Rather, we must stop and think about the fact that it is not really us who causes things to happen, it is really all through the yad Hashem (hand of Hashem). Thinking otherwise would be misuse of the middah of gaivah. We would be serving ourselves instead of Hashem, which is why a ba'al gaivah is considered to be doing avodah zarah⁴.

This is exactly the purpose of this long monologue the Torah commands. We enter into Eretz Yisroel, fight battles, and work hard on our land. Now we finally get to benefit from the fruits of our labor, and we are forced to stop and think – “Wait. How did I get to this point of being able to benefit from my fruits?” We must therefore go back and remind ourselves how it was all through the guidance of Hashem which got us to where we now stand.

This is the first step. Stop and think who it really is controlling the world as a whole, and each and every person's individual life. However, as we see from the parsha of bikkurim, to just stop and think is not enough, we must actually verbalize our thoughts and say it to the kohen. Why is this necessary?

There is a pretty vague Rashi which comments on the passuk, “and you shall say to the kohen”. Rashi⁵ writes, “To show that you are not unappreciative”. The Sifrei⁶ comments that Rashi is telling us that the reason we must actually say this speech in front of an individual, is because that is the only real way to express appreciation. The Hebrew word for 'thanks' is hoda'ah,which is also the same word for 'admit'⁷. This is not a coincidence. When one thanks someone else, one is essentially admitting that he needed their help and depended on them. Therefore, a true expression of thanks only comes through subjugating oneself – by admitting his feelings to another person. Therefore, in order to demonstrate that the feeling of appreciation to Hashem is real, we must speak out our thanks to His representative, the kohen.

This concept that a true hoda'ah must be done verbally, is something that used to be relevant on a daily basis. In previous times, before the mass-production of siddurim, the role of the chazzan was slightly different. The members of the shul would listen carefully to every word the chazzan said, and it would be as if he recited the tefillos himself. This works through the principle of shome'ah k'oneh (hearing is like answering). This principle allows one to fulfill his or her obligation by listening and having in mind to someone else doing so. However, despite the many areas we use this rule, when it comes to the paragraph of modim (“we thank you...”) in shemoneh esreh, it is not enough for one to merely listen to the words of the chazzan. Instead, each and every individual must recite his own personal modim. This is why now-a-days when the chazzan goes over shemoneh esreh, even though we no longer have in mind to be yotzei with him, we also say our own modim, just as it used to be done.

This is the lesson of the parsha – we must stop, and drop any illusions that we may have that we are actually in control of our lives and determine the outcomes of our actions. Then, it is time to roll out the script and verbalize an admittance to Hashem, because as Rashi says, that is the only way to really show that you have an appreciation for all that He does for you.

1Devarim 26:3

2Devarim 26:5-10

3Devarim 8:14-18

4Orchos Tzadikkim: Sha'ar HaGaivah

5Devarim 26:3

6Sifrei 299

7This is why Jews are called “Yehudim” (which comes from the same root: hoda'ah) because it is our job to constantly recognize, thank, and admit to our dependency on Hashem. Our day starts with this theme every morning, as we say, “Modeh ani l'fanecha” - “I give thanks/admit before you...”.