Our Parsha this Shabbos is Parasha Ki Savo.This Parsha starts out by HaShem Telling us that, as Jews, when we come out of the Wilderness and finally enter the land after HaShem freed us from Mitzrayim and have conquered the enemies that were at that time and taken possession of the Land, we are to bring our Bikkurim, our First Fruits that ripen in our Land , in a basket to the Kohanim , to the place that HaShem Chooses , thus always reminding ourselves, that although we work our own territories,everything belongs to HaShem Who Makes all things and Gives all things to us, from His Goodness.The Mishna gives a beautiful rendition of the beautiful processions that people of the different towns would make, with their representatives called Maamadim,when bringing their Bikkurim of the Seven Species for which Eretz Yisrael is famed,being wheat , barley , grapes , figs , pomegranates , olives and dates , packed in a basket in a specific order ,so we can bring our Bikkurim , our First Fruits , as HaShem Instructed in His Torah . When noticing the First Fruits of the owner's crop, the owner would tie a red ribbon or blade of grass around that stalk and declare it Bikkurim .The Mishna tells how the First Fruits would be put in a basket and carried in the procession,while the people in the procession would be playing flutes and singing ,as they would make their way to Yerushalayim , where they would be welcomed by the residents of the City and the Kohanim and at the place designated, would make their declaration that is written in this Parsha and then leave the fruits for the Kohanim designated at that time.
Then the Laws of Tithes are discussed.These Laws are related to the fact that the Children of Israel were about to enter the Land of Israel and thus , these Laws would come into effect.HaShem Reminds us in this Parsha that we Jews are to Him a Treasured people and that we are to always observe His Commandments.
HaShem then Instructs that when we enter the Land of Canaan, we are to set up great stones and coat them with plaster and inscribe on them this Torah and these stones shall be on Mount Eival.Thus all Jews who would enter the land would be reminded of their Covenant between HaShem and His people, the Jews.The Tribes would stand ,six on Mount Eival and six on Mount Gerizim , while the Levites would speak and say the words of curse written in this Perek ,to those who do not uphold that which is written in the Perek and the entire people would say Amein.It is after this section that HaShem, through Moshe, Tells us of the Blessings that will come about for keeping HaShem's Commandments and the Curses one brings upon oneself for going one's own way and disobeying HaShem and His Commandments.
The Parsha ends with a reminder of what HaShem Did for us when we left Egypt and how HaShem Watched over us in the Wilderness, how our garments and shoes never wore out , how our sustenance was and should be of a spiritual nature, showing that it is not by bread alone that we live, but by every Word of G-D and how HaShem Smote our enemies for us and how we are to observe the words of this Covenant so that we will succeed in all that we do.
If we look at the Name of this Parsha, it is called 'Ki Savo,' which means ' When you enter/come .' As I said above, it refers to us bringing our First Fruits to the Kohanim in honor of HaShem. This shows that our very first and best , in all that we do and are, must be for HaShem, for HaShem's Service in serving HaShem .That must be our first thought always. We see this in the Shulchan Aruch about the Law to acknowledge HaShem as soon as we wake up in the morning, by saying 'Modeh Ani,' thanking HaShem for restoring our soul within us.We avoid saying HaShem's Name till we Toivel , but our first thoughts must be to get up with alacrity so that we can as soon as possible, serve our Creator. If it was a human king who called us to attendance, we would surely go as quickly as possible. How much more so, the King of kings , The Holy One Blessed Be He , HaShem , Ha Kadosh Baruch Hu . Dovid Ha Melech always spoke of 'Waking the Dawn,' in other words,rising early to serve The Creator.'
The entire Laws of Yiddishkeit and Torah are set so that we will always serve HaShem first before anything.
This is what we are to do , when our First Fruits ripen.It is HaShem first that we thank and acknowledge, for all we have , is by His Kindness and Gift of Love.
If we look at the Name of this Parsha, it is called 'Ki Savo,' which means, 'When you enter.' Looking deeper' we see that it is written with a Hebrew letter 'Tav' which can also refer to the future tense. But in what way can these words be referring to the future tense. We find the answer to this in the Gematriah of the words 'Ki Savo,' which comes to 20 + 10 + 400 + 2 + 6 + 1 = 439 and 4 + 3 + 9 = 16 and 1 + 6 = 7 which is the Gematrical value of the Hebrew word Mashiach , which shows that HaShem could be Telling us that in Mashiach's Time, we will 'Ki Savo' - ' Come into a special closeness with HaShem and finally come and enter into the closeness of HaShem's Love. How can we accomplish this? The answer to that is, by keeping HaShem's Commandments.The very fact that we are to bring the First Fruits, to HaShem , shows that this is a way to bring Mashiach. But how would that bring Mashiach? The answer to that is in the first few lines of this Parsha, with the words 'Meireishis Kol Pri Ha Adamah,' - ' Every First Fruit of the Ground,' where the word 'Adamah' can also refer in connection , to all things physical on this Adamah - Ground - Earth , which we are to bring to HaShem , which means that one of our tasks in this World , is to make all things that are physical, to become holy, by raising their level , the level of the physical , that we interact with and so, bring this very physical World, closer to HaShem , by making it Holy .
The result of this, will be to 'Ki Savo,' to 'Enter into ' HaShem's special Garden at Mashiach's time, the Special Gan Eiden, the Special Garden of Eden . So , thus to bring Mashiach, we need to give of and from our 'Meireishis,' - 'First ,' of everything, which includes our making HaShem and His Commandments, first before anything, first before ourselves.
When we can all learn to give HaShem all of us and make everything we do,to fulfill His Will, then we can look forward to 'Ki Savo,' 'Entering and Coming ,'closer to HaShem .
With Love to HaShem, I wish HaShem with Love , a Very Special and Sweet and Beautiful Shabbos Kodesh with Love and to all , a very special and sweet and beautiful Shabbos Kodesh with love.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.