Parasha Kitavo, "Do it with joy"
“And it will be that, when you come to Earth […], you will take from the first fruits of all products of the earth that you collect of your land, which Hashem, your God, gives you, and you will put [them] in the basket ”(Devarim-Deut 26: 1- two).
These verses illustrate the mitzvah of bicurim ('firstfruits'), through which a person is ordered to take the first fruits that appear on his tree and take them to Jerusalem, to the Bet Hamikdash (Great Temple ), and there, he must give them to the Cohen.
Regarding this Mitzva (Precept), we can say, first, that our Sages, of blessed memory, established as a rule that every expression “vehayá” (‘and it will be’) is an expression of joy; being so, what is the joy here in the mitzvah of bringing the firstfruits? And, in addition, it is worth asking:
Why did the Torah require the man to bother to bring his only fruit up to Jerusalem precisely and it was not enough for him to give a large sum of money as tzedakah for the Talmidé Chachamim (Torah Scholars)?
We could also ask what difference the mitzvah of bicurim has from the mitzvah of maaser sheni ('second tithe'), because regarding the maaser sheni the Torah says (Devarim 14: 24-25): “ If the place is far from you […] you will knot the money in your hand "; that is, even though, in the first instance, they should be bring the very fruits of the second tithe to Jerusalem and consume them there with holiness, if the Jew lives in a remote place and cannot bear the fruits themselves, he can redeem them for a sum of money, and that money take him to Jerusalem. That being the case, why did the Torah not give the same possibility also in the fruits of the firstfruits for those who live far away?
Particularly in the case of the one whom the Blessed Creator merited with vast orchards and many trees, and therefore has many fruits of firstfruits for which he will have to rent many carts on which he will load the hundreds of fruits of scoop and take them to Jerusalem.
For this person it would have been much easier if there were
was able to redeem the fruits for money (as is the case with the Maaser Sheni) and bring that money to Jerusalem.
We can explain, with the help of Heaven, that in the mitzvah of bicurim there is a particularity above all other mitzvot. All mitzvot are great actions that a person must perform; However, the mitzvah of bicurim is small and easy, through which the person takes a small fruit and brings it to the Bet HaMikdash. The action required to perform the mitzvah of bicurim is small and lacking in much thought, so the person who performs it is greatly surprised when praising it: for a simple fruit he has to "roll" through the roads until he reaches Jerusalem. .
But the opposite is true! Precisely because it is such a small mitzvah, when he fulfills it he understands the great value of a simple little mitzvah with which he can grow and become a great righteous in the fulfillment of the Torah and mitzvot.
And why in the text that says “bringing the bicurim” is the anecdote with Yaakov and Lavan mentioned? When Yaakov Avinu escaped from his brother Esav and went to Aram Naharaim, he raised an emotional prayer to Hashem.
In his prayer, he did not ask for great things; rather, he said: “If God were with me and would take care of me on this path that I go […], and I will return in peace to my father's house, etc. " (Bereshit
28: 20-21).
Rashi explains that Yaakov Avinu's intention when saying "and he will return in peace" is for him to return complete, free of sin, not to learn from the ways of Lavan ", because Yaakov understood that, even though he was a great Tzadik in the house of his father Yitzjak, in the surroundings of Laván Haaramí, the evil one, he would have to have a great fear of being influenced by his low behaviors, lest he learn from his bad habits and fall so low that he would no longer be nothing of the Tzadik within him Therefore, he prayed that, at the very least, he would not fall into his net, and that Tzadik could remain.
We could compare this prayer with that of one who requests to be underwater and still be able to breathe, or to enter the depths of the jungle, passing among the wild beasts, and remain intact. It is impossible! Still, Yaakov begged in prayer for him to succeed in living with Lavan and remaining Tzadik. In the end, not only did Tzadik remain, but he had the merit of developing there and growing: he established a splendid family, the twelve tribes, “the tribes of Hashem, the testimony of Israel”. All this teaches us that precisely from a small prayer, Yaakov Avinu had the merit of developing and growing. This is the reason why Laván Haaramí's theme is mentioned in the bicurim section: "The Aramaic wanted to make my father lose, etc.", in order to remember that precisely from the small and simple mitzvah of bearing the first fruits it is possible to have the merit of endless growth, just as Yaakov Avinu prayed in that small prayer, with which he had the merit of achieving great success.
According to what has been said, we can understand that precisely in the mitzvah of bicurim the Blessed Creator ordered to take a small fruit, and not the money of its redemption, and take it to Jerusalem as occurs with the Maaser Sheni, because precisely with this Hashem You will be glad and happy with the one who performs this mitzvah. That is why it is written with the term "vayehí", which is a
expression of joy, because when the person is happy with the small mitzvot that Hashem imposes on them to fulfill, and comes to Hashem and thanks Him for all the good that He does, this person will be able to grow in service to Hashem and flourish a lot In the spiritual aspect, because with the small mitzvot that the person fulfills, he reveals his intention that he does not have "the power and strength of my hand", and that he loves Hashem and does it only in His Name, Blessed One.
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