A Whole New World by Rav Moshe Weinberger

Parshas Ki Savo A Whole New World

By Rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf

The parsha is all about beginnings. It starts (Devarim 26:1-3, 5-6), “And it will be when you come to the land that Hashem your G-d gives you as an inheritance and you take possession of it and dwell in it, you shall take from the first of the fruits of the ground... You shall come to the kohein... and you shall say... An Aramean [attempted to] destroy my father, he went down to Egypt and dwelled there, few in number... And the Egyptians treated us cruelly and afflicted us...”

Why, when we bring first fruits, bikkurim, must we rehash all of these ancient bad memories? Those first making this recitation after our conquest of the land would have just endured the suffering of fourteen years of the deprivation and trauma of war. After all of their recent pain and sacrifice, what is the point of reminding of them of our people’s much older suffering?

A second question: Rashi (on ibid. 2), quoting the Mishnah (Bikurim 3:1), explains the process for separating bikkurim. “A man descends into his field and sees a fig that has ripened. He wraps a reed around it as a sign and says, ‘Behold, this is bikkurim.’” Why do Chazal and Rashi focus on the fig as their paradigmatic example of bikkurim? There are six other species with which Eretz Yisroel is praised. According to most opinions, the fig was the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil eaten by Adam and Chava! Why would they choose that fruit specifically? Why this repeated focus on bad memories from the past at the time of the joyous mitzvah of bringing our first fruits to the Beis HaMikdash?

Perhaps there is one simple message in all of this. No matter how many difficulties we have endured, no matter how bad the past was, no matter whether we have a reminder of the first sin sitting in our own field, Hashem is telling us that we still have bikkurim – first fruits. We can make today the first day of an entirely new existence. And by “entirely new existence,” He means that today will not simply be a continuation from yesterday but with certain improvements. It will be an entirely new existence.

Chazal say that “In the beginning” – i.e., the creation of the world itself, was in the merit of the mitzvah of bikkurim (Bereishis Rabah 1:4) and in the merit of the Jewish people (Rashi on Bereishis 1:1). What is the nature of this connection between the Jewish people, first fruits, and the creation of the world, all of which are associated with the word “beginning”? Perhaps Hashem is trying to show us that the Jewish nation in general, and every single Jew in particular, have a wondrous ability to move beyond all of the mistakes, sins, pain, and suffering of the past and start again from the beginning.

The 25th day of Elul is the anniversary of the creation of the world. And Rosh Hashana is “yom haras olam,” the anniversary of the creation of man. This is the time of new creation. It is no coincidence that Rosh Hashana is also called “The Day of Remembrance.” We want to call to mind the difficulty and suffering of the past year in order to remind ourselves that these very things will be turned around in the coming year. Hashem wants us to dip an apple in honey and say with simple faith, love, and optimism, “May it be Your will that this be a good, sweet year!” He wants us to know the exact nature of the pain and troubles which are being pushed into the past with the beginning of the brand new year.

It is the same with bikkurim. That

is why the one who brings them recalls the first sin that began all of our troubles, the suffering of Yaakov Avinu at the hands of Lavan, and our slavery and oppression in Egypt, as well as his own mistakes and suffering. The performance of the mitzvah, standing in the Beis HaMikdash, and enjoying the blessings of Eretz Yisroel show the one bringing bikkurim that Hashem has given him the power to recreate himself. And learning this parsha reminds each of us that we all have the power to look at whatever mistakes we made before and say, “Behold this is bikkurim!” and rejoice before Hashem with the knowledge that we are living in a whole new world unencumbered by the past.

We know we have this power because the seforim hakedoshim (Arizal Ateres Rosh, and others) teach that every new year is a brand new reality which never existed before – with no connection to the past. Elul and Rosh Hashana are the bridge, the pathway, to this new existence. The Maharal (Gevuros Hashem 51) says that the word for year, shanah, is from the same root as the word for change, shinui, because every new year offers the opportunity for a complete change from what existed in the past. And Rav Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, zt”l, the Ramchal, says (Derech Hashem 4:8), “On this day [Rosh Hashana], He renews the entirety of reality with the changing of the month, i.e., the new year.” Our whole effort as we cry out, “The King!” on Rosh Hashana is to ask Hashem to create this new beginning

Every new year is a brand new reality which never existed before – with no connection to the past.

again for us in the coming year. This, along with the mitzvah of bikkurim, is the source of our ability to start again, to renew ourselves.

The last public address ever given by Rav Gedaliah Schorr, zt”l, the rosh yeshiva of Torah Vo’daath, was at the sheva brachos of a close student several days before the he passed on into the next world. Because Rav Schorr was very ill, his family begged him not to attend – but he insisted. They brought him in a wheelchair and, with every bit of strength he could muster, the rosh yeshiva told the bride and groom, and everyone else present, the following:

There is a custom to give the bride and groom a gift at their wedding. And

we know that Hashem observes the Torah just as we do on earth. So what is Hashem’s gift to the bride and groom? If it comes from the infinite G-d, the gift must be the most perfect gift in the world. And what is this most perfect gift? What is the most valuable thing a bride and groom and receive? This gift is forgiveness. The husband’s ability to forgive his wife and a wife’s ability to forgive her husband. No other commodity is more precious in a marriage than forgiveness.

Forgiveness comes from one’s ability to tap into the power of Rosh Hashana, the power of bikkurim. It means recognizing that one can put the mistakes and pain of the past, whether self-inflicted or endured because of another person, and start again from scratch.

May Hashem grant us the ability to connect to the power Hashem has given us to renew ourselves. May we merit to remember that nothing that came before can drag us down or hold us back because they existed only in a previous world. In the world Hashem creates this coming year, those things never happened.

May we merit to journey together into this new world and in this new year to Yerushalayim with Moshiach, where we can physically bring bikkurim to the rebuilt Beis HaMikdash, may we see it soon in our days!

Rav Moshe Weinberger, shlita, is the founding Morah d’Asrah of Congregation Aish Kodesh in Woodmere, NY, and serves as leader of the new mechina Emek HaMelech.