Parshas Ki Savo: How Gratitude Transforms Your Life | TYH Nation (Rebroadcast)

The Gratitude of Bikurim

SPEAKER_01 0:00

They call themselves Thank You Hashem. The movement T Y H Nation. It's a famous, very popular unit of people, a new movement that is a bunch of Jews joining together in the service and the performance of taking joy and thanking the Almighty for the blessings that he bestows upon the Jewish people. You've probably seen this movement, this famous blue and yellow T Y H thank you, Hashem logo plastered upon the chests of hooded sweatshirts of your fellow Jews. You've probably seen it on the back plastic bumper. Bumper stickered. Magnetically. Proclaiming that they are a part of this holy movement of TYH Nation. The thank you Hashem group. It's a bandwagon. And it's on the way to the Promised Land. I was never sure what to make of the movement. Never knew why exactly it became a movement. But I'm here to tell you loud, audibly, to roar, that I'm jumping on the bandwagon of the T Y H movement. I'm all in on Thank you, SM Nation. And let me tell you why. Parsha's Kisovo contains in it one of the most incredible mitzvah do risas known to mankind. It is truthfully actually two of the mitzvos number 606 and mitzvah number 91, all included in the first ten psukam of our parsha parshazki sovo. What is this mitzvah you ask? It is the mitzvah of bikurim. First fruits. Surely you've heard of it? It's what a man shall go down into his field and see the very first budding green showing of all of his hard work and effort. He seeded, ploughed, organized all of these different services to get some parnassa, some food, and now finally the very first fruits of his labor, quite literally. This mitzvah's a tithe. It's also one of the 24 gifts that we're obligated to give to the Kohanim. And this service is so fantastic. Let me set the scene so you understand just how remarkable this iconic sight was to simply marvel at. The way that Bikurim works is that when a fellow would go down into his field, he would tie a little ribbon around that first fruit and then place it inside of this basket. And it wasn't any fruit, it was only this Shiva's Haminim. So it was the most special fruits. And he came together, put it inside of either, if he was from the middle class, more of a wicker basket, from the high class, the affluent fellows, they would put it inside of a gold basket, each fruit having its own separate compartment. These are certain halakhos codified for eternity by Maimonides. All the barley, wheat, dates, figs, grapes, all put into separate parts of this basket or its own basket. The whole basket, the whole Santa Batena, it should all be bursting and being crowned with grapes coming out of the top. And you're not allowed to travel up with this basket to its destination, which is the holy, holy plateau that is above Jerusalem, that Mount Moriah area, where we have the holy domicile, the house of Hashem, the place that Hashem is Shoikin Sham Hashem dwells with us, the holy base amade us. You're not allowed to travel with your holy bikrim by yourself. You must travel together with your entire community. It's to be an entire service, a procession, a Thanksgiving Day parade. You have floats of Snoopy up above. For those that get that reference. Everyone together on a 54-seated coach bus. There's supposed to be an ox in the front, adorned with someone playing a flute. Everyone together be royv am Hadras Melech, the more people, the more merrier, and the more honor it brings to the king. The Halacha is codified, and the medris teaches that everyone together sings while the flute plays a specific and unique song. They sing Shir Hamalos Ladovid Somahti Beimrimli Baishashem Nelich. Over and over. A song of a sense of David that I rejoiced when they said to me that we're going to the house of the Lord. Over and over. We are going to the house of the Lord. I rejoiced when they told me that we're going to the house of the Lord. So Machtivi, Oimrimli, Besashem Nelech over and over and over. Even if they lived in the outskirts of Kaysari or the outskirts of Tel Aviv, even though that's not in the biblically ordained part of Israel. But the farthest most multi-day journey away from Jerusalem and they need to travel with it be Kurim. Certain halakhas for those are given too. You're still supposed to make that trek with friends and family. And this whole event should go on, and still you sing the same song over and over, thousands of thousands of times, drilling it into your soul. So Mahtibay Baisa Shem Nailek, a whole party as you travel from town to town, making your way up. And you should ask. Not to be worried, though. You drive them before, says the holy Tara. And you bring them up and you place them in this basket next to the holy Mizbayak, the holy altar, and you give it as a gift to the Kohen. You should bring with this extra gifts for the Kohen, maybe a bird or two. And as soon as you cross over into the gates of Yerushalayim, the song changes for those that sit in the back of the bus and are finally waiting for the song to end and move on to the next song. Can we please hit fast forward? They get their wish, and the tune changes to the very original push base of this Tehilim, chapter 122 of Psalms. It moves on. They cross over into the gates and they say, Our feet stood inside your gates, O Jerusalem. Ebenezra actually, I made some quick research to this posic, to the significance. Evan Ezra says, Oimdais Hayraglenu, our feet stand. It seems to give the drift to lean towards that standing while moving. Omdos means in a very stationary way because it was so crowded. There was so much traffic on the way to Yerushalayam that Omdos Hayura Glenu, they were stuck in traffic, their feet in a standstill. That is bikurim. Along with this gift that you finally place in this beautiful basket, Samta Batana. Place it down. And one last halacha to make note of. Lena is required. Lena, the Hebrew word, meaning you must stay over the night. You cannot skedaddle. You cannot hightail it out of Jerusalem and just quickly fulfill your obligation. But no, you need that whole experience. You gotta stay over one more night. Lena. And get the full experience in a nearby Airbnb in Jerusalem. Bikurum. An incredible mitzvah. What is the point? What is the significance? What is it about? And you know, let's be quite deliberate here. And let's assault the topic with five separate questions. Deliver a theme based on the great tire of the great Mirror Mashkiak, the spiritual dean of Yeshiva Smir during the roaring twenties, Rabbi Yeruchim Levovitz. And then systematically go about answering the five questions and tie it all together with a practical takeaway that we should commit to going forward, especially at this month of Elul for the upcoming year. I hope we haven't bitten off too much, but let's give it our best shot. And we don't need to imagine as we begin to answer this, what bhikurim is about before we assault it with questions. That the immediate takeaway and what floats to mind is bikurium is all about taking your first fruits and having gratitude to Hashem. Thank you, Hashem. Here is like business owners do, they place the first dollar on the wall. That's bhikurim. When you see George Washington's face plastered upon the cleaners, that's because that was their first dollar they made. This is our bikurim. They got it from us. And Rashi makes note of that. Says, Rashi, when you bring the bikurim, why are you doing this? Quote, Shaincha Kafui Tova to declare that you are not an ingrate. You are not ungrateful, but rather you recognize where all of the goodness comes from. That is Bhikurum. The fundamental principle that goodness comes from somewhere, and gratitude must be bestowed to that source of goodness. And God forbid, should one ever fall, lapse into the coma of ungrateful, of self-centered, and fail to properly voice and declare his gratitude. There is no greater evil than that. That is bhikuru. And so here let's pepper assault and declare war upon this topic before we piece it back together with question number one of five questions on the topic of Bhikurum. After this whole fanfare that we've described, and hopefully you can picture, it is interesting to note that after all that has gone on of the traveling up to Eritisrael, all the importance given to the actual fruit, that when you finally get there and you have this declaration, the Torah says, He got it. I profess, I declare. The Torah says he should open his mouth. This congregant who has gotten off his coach bus and placed the basket down, but on Nisov, he must declare and say this whole following composition of Sukim about how you came to be in this position and why you are so grateful. And question number one is Isn't it clear from this spectacle that it's obvious why we're here? I need to open my mouth and say something to the Kohen. The Kohen knows why I'm here. Everyone has traveled together. There was an emissary, even according to Halacha, that was sent ahead of the coach bus, the macher, who would travel in and say, by the way, there's a group coming up to bring Bikurim. Why does it need to be audible? Why does there need to be the anisa ve'al marta, the opening up and audibly declaring your gratitude? Question number two. When the person finally arrives at the Big Sam Migdash and he's to fulfill his next mitzvah, part two of the mitzvah of Bikurim, he must declare a special declaration, a constitution of thanks, to which he says the words should sound familiar. He goes into the entire backstory of the Jewish people. He says, over that famous paragraph that comes from the Haggadah, or that the Haggadah takes from the Torah, from his announcement and declaration of Bikurim, Mayegru Wasanuam Mitzrimva Ya nuvaynua le no avoidekasha, and they oppressed us, and eventually God took us out with an outstretched hand, and it was miraculous. It's very interesting to note that the Torah here, unlike everywhere else, writes the text of what he is to say. All the Psukim, six, seven Psukim. And the Torah does not waste words, does not mince words. And then every other time that we're commanded to say something, we get maybe a hint to it. A one letter, a the Ochalta Vesavata Uve Rachta, the mitzvah to bench. The Torah doesn't then go and say, and you should say no you do the khashemalokenu, and you should say, you should say uvene, you should say a rachamon, you should say Yuru. It doesn't say any of that. It is there set forth, and now the men of the great assembly tell us what's the text we're supposed to say. But here, the Torah, line by line, tells us what is the script to this song of gratitude. Question number three. This specific song, unlike all other prayers, cannot be said in any other language. It must be in Hebrew. Why is God so specific and how this passage must be read as opposed to all the other ones? That if you understand Aramaic better, just like Kaddish, it's in Aramaic, then that's the choice lashon. If that's what makes sense to you, it works. But it doesn't work here. Bikurim must be in Lashana Kodesh. The next question. It is incredibly puzzling that one of the very first Midrashimen all of Torah says the following. God created the world. Says the measures. Beracious in the beginning is alluding to some very important reasons why God created the world. Because God created it for things that are called racious. What is called racious? The first the Jewish people are called racious. The Medra says cites the source. We are the racious, we are first. So the Torah, the world all created for the Jewish people.

The Power of Gratitude in Torah

SPEAKER_01 15:48

But what else? What is one of the lone entities that the world was created for? You guessed it. The racious, the guncha, the racious bhikuriad musecha, your very first fruits. The world was created, says the Medrash Rabbah Parshas Bracious. The Bikurim are called racious, and the entire world was created for the sake of Israel, for the sake of Tyra, which in Mishlay is called racious. And for the sake of Bhikurim. One of those three does not belong. So let me tell you, friends, what bikurim is about. Tell you why the world is created for the sake of Bikurim. Why our job in the world is Bikurim. Why I'm also jumping on the bandwagon of TYH, the thank you, Sham Nation. And it all begins from the most important essay, treatise of the great Nachmanid is the great Ramban, his very last essay of Parashaspo. It is required reading at least a hundred times, Red Vulva would say. And the Ramban writes like this, and it holds our answer. Kyakone mezuzah. When a person will buy a mezuzah, echad, one mezuzah. The kova, and he places it on his doorpost. And he has in mind what is written inside of the mezuzah. Kivarhodah. He has now recognized Bihidesha'ulam, the creation of the world. Ubiyadias Habore. And then he has the knowledge of Hashem. The Hashkach also. And God is in charge of the world and his divine providence. The Gamba Nevua. The Heeman, and he believes in all parts of Torah. This is part of the Ramban's essay about why we do mitzvos, which makes it required reading. But the way that we learn Rishonim in Yeshiva, and the way that I believe should be the way that anyone learns a Rishon, is to give tremendous gravity and weight to every single word of the holy Roshonim. And right here in this next line, the Ramban tells us something that the whole world hinges upon. Milvad. God for the kindness that he did. That he took us out of that slavery, Lechairus, to freedom. And all the other good things that he merited, that we merited to get from Hashem. All of that, the Hodu'a to Hashem, is all declared. It is all present. When you do a mitzvah, when you buy one mezuzah and place it upon your door. Mitzvos, belief in God. Why do you do them? What stands as the linchpin and crux of all of Torah and belief in Hashem? Why do you listen to God? Not because He just told you so and He's in charge. But because we are indebted with a debt of gratitude to God. We perform the services that Hashem commands because Shahoida, Shechaset, Habore, Godom'od aloso Ritsono, Shautsey Onu meoso avdos the chairis. The thanking of Hashem that we'd be dead without you, that we were in the belly of the iron crucible of Egypt, just a small family of people, that the boys were being thrown into the Nile, there was no hope left. But Hashem turned over the entire world for us, and now we live on with a point to our lives, and therefore God took us out and to do his mitzvos. Why, why, why, why are we doing the mitzvos? says Hashem, says the Ramban. Shahodas Shachasra Borregado, because we're indebted with a debt of gratitude. And how do we pay that back? How are we mak your tove? How do we say thank you, Hashem? By doing the mitzvos. The Ramban continues. But one more line must be stated out loud and read inside. Vilafika, and therefore, because of this new understanding of why we do mitzvos, which is because we are indebted with a debt of gratitude to Hashem, to be makir tov to Hashem. That's why it says in Pirke Yavos, have a Zyrba mitzvah kalokamura. That's why we are scrupulous about small mitzvos, putting your right shoe on first before the left, and shoeing away the mother burr, the easy ones. We are just as scrupulous with those as we are to any of the Ten Commandments. Now, what is the understanding to that? But from the drift of the Ramban, it's clear. Because it is all paying back that same debt of gratitude that Hashem, we owe you our lives, and this is what you ask of us. So each mitzvah is part of the paying back of the Hakara Satov. Hashem tells us. Kikarovlecha hadavar ma'od. Torah chuva. Depends on how you learn. Rambana Rashi. But let's just take the basic understanding that this thing called Torah is very close to you. Your obligations in life, Kikarovar, is very near to you. Says the Torah. Every word gold? In your mouth. In your heart to do it. This is a gold mine. Because there's multiple, multiple layers. Some real magical, mystical things going on. But there are layers, there's a whole world of in your mouth, a whole different world of service that's in your heart. There are certain mitzvos that are just in your heart. And there's a whole different world of Torah that's actually in actions. Easy to understand. But there's only one creature in the whole wide world that's able to serve God with befika, with his mouth. Right at the beginning, we're told Uncleus, he'd translate the Pasak when God created man by it, he gave him a living spirit, says Unclus. What does it mean that God breathed the living spirit into our noses, into our nostrils, says Uncleus? Uvi ra sham elokim, yas adam afra minadmasa, unafahpa apo, nishmasa dechaya, the havas pa odam rah me malala. And man became a living, speaking soul. We are the only creatures created by God that can bestow and express their gratitude with their mouths. We are the only ones that can declare our Hakara's Hatov. Bikurim. What is the mitzvah of not falling back into the haphazard, lackadaisical approach to life of accepting everything as coming your way and taking life for granted, but rather expressing your gratitude, that must be the anisa the almarta. It must be done the human way. It must be done the way that all the fanfare cannot even suffice. Because the human has the opportunity to repay with his mouth, with his living, breathing, speaking, audibly soul his debt of gratitude to Hashem. It isn't the slightest wonder why the Torah goes into such detail about what the expression is that we asked. Why here do we get the whole parsha? It's obvious. This is the main point of why man was created to be able to be Moida Lakel, to thank you Hashem. It is the essence of everything. Every single jot and tittle needs to be masterfully declared. Of course, the Qurm needs to be said in Hebrew. Of course, it needs to be done the best possible most luxurious type of declaration of only in Lushana Kodesh and nothing else will suffice. Hakaras Hatov is why everything is here. But the hardest question to answer is why does Bikurim Bhagavad find itself to be the basis of the haggadah? We're all sitting around the table giving over the Masora, the tradition that God took us out of Egypt. And it is a twin uttering of the man standing with a wicker basket in his hands, altarside, when he brings his first fruits up. Which the Shaykh is what's the connection? And people say, well, Pesach. It's all about Amuna. Bikurim? It's not about Amuna. But again, this answer, it sings like a song because of this Ramban. Because even Amuna, even Amuna, on the night of Pesach, Emuna is also based, says Rabir Ruchim, on Hakara Satov. Because it was personal that we receive something. That's my Hashem, and I love him because he saved my life. Emuna itself is also the whole Pesach night is based on Bikurim, on Akara Satov. The Masora that we give over to our children is a Rami Oyvade Avi, but God saved us. So children and grandchildren, you have to be and feel so lucky that you were saved and let us come together and sing. I nainam. Thank you, Hashem. Gotta do it audibly. And on Seder night, there are many halachos. All about how to give over the story properly. It has to be the Gemaram Psachim. I believe it's 116. You have to start with the Genus, start with the bad, and end with the good. All these different parts to the telling of the story, you gotta tell a vincha. It's hard to imagine why it all needs to be done if it's just about solidifying faith in the children's hearts. But again, once we keep in mind that we are saying thank you, Hashem, then there are certain laws of how to give proper thanks. And that is by beginning with how bad things were before someone came, something came, an entity came and made things better. That is part of the thank you. It is Megalah, it reveals and deepens the haqqara satov, the gratitude that we feel. It's truly a law in Hakara Satov. When you say thank you, you have to go back to the beginning, Rabbi Racham says. You want to give someone a proper thank you? Well, then you are able to fully audibly declare this. You must be doing it out loud. When someone does something for you, even as small as opening up of the door for you as you walk into the office, you turn around and the anisa va amarta, you have given me something. Thank you for giving this to me. You have made my life better, and I am forever indebted to you. You go back to the beginning. Rubi Ruchham points out that the Haqqara Satov should be that a Rami Ayyvade Avi. It's remarkable. That in saying thank you to Hashem, you must begin all the way back with Laban. You must begin to where things were so bad. It sounds like in Halachos of Hakara Satov. You should turn to your friend and say, Oh, I was having such a bad day, and before this, you don't even know what happened. But because you did this, you have now changed my life. It's all part of the building up of the thank you. Just look at the bracha of Nodelachab when we say thank you to Hashem. Thank you to Hashem for this piece of bread that I hold in my hand. It's a Kazayas, it's Vakalta, it's fisavata, it's uve rachta. But listen to how far you go back. You tell the story of thank you in the same way that God, thank you for this bread. But not only this, but it started with so much pain. I used to be a slave in Egypt, and now it all led to this bread. It's

The Power of Audible Gratitude

SPEAKER_01 30:42

all building up of just how much we have received from Hashem. Our thankfulness, our appreciativeness. The chol hamarbeh lesaper hoduah to Hashem, Ha Rezem ishubach. Bikurim is a mitzvah of audibly declaring in Hebrew, thank you, Hashem, everything is from you. As you keep this in mind throughout the whole reading of Bikurim, every line, they're all laws of thankfulness, of gratitude, of intense heartfelt appreciation. The Samahta Bacholatov, the Pasak says, you must rejoice. Because when you show happiness in the presence that you've got from grandma on Hanukkah night, and you play with them right away, and you don't just say thank you and put them down and run and do something else, but instead you stay and put a smile on your face, even though you weren't interested in those bunny slippers. That's part of the Hakara Satov because you are avowing your debt of gratitude in a distinct, deliberate, and definable way. That is bhikurim, that is the haggadah, that is racious, that is why the three most important things and why the world was created for Torah, for the Jewish people, and for bhikurim. Because Torah, we study and we can know. Jewish people were brought into existence. We've done that, check and check. We're trying on the Torah. But Bikurim is that last part of the three-legged table. The very sturdy three-legged table that you recognize and you give gratitude and you perform all the mitzvos because you are so thankful for everything Hashem gives you. A practical takeaway. What I hope would like to begin to start doing, and I hope you'll join in this commitment with me, is to do the no-delika out loud in benching. It's possible that the Anisa Va Marta, the Haramas Koal, the The Fika Ubilvovcha La Soso That level of gratitude that only we as humans can do should be done in benching. Bench out loud. Bench out loud to show your part of the thank you, Hashem nation. If you can do the whole benching, all the better, but at least know the lacha hashem elokeno. Al Shin Khaultala Vosseinu, that you gave me this bread, you have given me lungs out loud, audibly. That a mere tip of the cap will never suffice. Bikurim is about heeding the call to recognize the good that Hashem constantly does for us. When someone else does something good, you recognize it. And you bring it out. Every part of the bhikurim is to bring out in a unique way of a karasatov in the most incredible way. That is far from lackluster. Amir Shakayah will never suffice. We should eradicate it from our dictionaries. Bench out loud with me. Declare Thank you, Hashem. Audibly and discernibly, with deep gratefulness. That you are Shaincha Kafoitova. You are not an Ingrid. And do the mitzvos. Because you just can't stop saying thank you, Hashem. That everything, my freedom, my life, my lungs, my eyes, my kids, my family, everything. It's all from you, Hashem. So thank you, Hashem.