THIS WEEK’S DIVREI SIMCHA IS WRITTEN AS A ZECHUS FOR A REFUAH SHLEIMA FOR RUCHAMA ALIZA SARAH CHANA BAS ESTER LIBA

The beginning of this week’s parsha discusses the mitzvah of bikkurim, the bringing of the first fruits. The Mishna, Oral Law, talks about how bikkurim was brought during the Temple’s time. Basically, people would take their first fruits in a basket and bring them up to Yerushaliyim. It would be a great celebration when the people brought their bikkurim. They would parade down the street as they carried their baskets while the leaders of the community would greet them. The Mishna also mentions something which I thought is very strange. It says that the workers were required to stop doing their work and to stand up for those bringing bikkurim. Normally workers are not allowed to stop their work – why in this case are they not only allowed to but are supposed to?

The answer given is because those bringing bikkurim are doing a mitzvah at that time. When someone is doing a mitzvah, we stand for them. We give honor to the person and honor the mitzvah. This struck me as being a great lesson. I don’t know about you, but it seems like whenever I can find a loophole to a mitzvah, I jump for it. If I don’t have to do it, why should I bother. If I can take the more lenient position, why should I put in the extra effort to be one of the “extra pious” or “frummies” The answer is because when we are strict with ourselves, we show that we care more about it. We are very careful when we give an expensive piece of jewelry to another person. We don’t want any scratch or nick to appear in the jewelry. With cheap items, though, we do not care very much if another person ruins it. We can easily go and get a new one. When we treat the mitzvos with care, they become more precious in our eyes (and also our children’s eyes). When we look for the easy way out and always take the lenient view, we are basically treating the mitzvos as something that can be replaced.

Another mishna that talks about bikkurim mentions that when wealthy people would bring their first fruits, it would be brought in gold and silver baskets. The Cohen (priest) would take the fruit and return the basket. When the poor people brought the fruits, they would bring it in simple, woven baskets. The Cohen would take the fruit, but they would also take the baskets. The commentaries all speak about this. This makes no sense: we are making the poor poorer! Why should we take away their baskets if they barely have enough money to start with. The reason is because we are honoring the poor. When the poor bring their first fruits in these baskets, they need to weave the baskets themselves. They don’t have enough money to go to Bloomingdales and buy the top of the line gold basket. They involve themselves extra with the mitzvah of bikkurim by designing their own baskets. Therefore, the Cohen wants to honor them. Since the poor person puts in extra for the mitzvah, he deserves more honor. This is why the Cohen takes his basket as part of his offering.

In closing, as you can see this week’s Divrei Simcha is written for a refuah shleima for RUCHAMA ALIZA SARAH CHANA bas ESTER LIBA. This is a four year old girl who unfortunately fell into a pool last week and was not discovered for many minutes later. She is in very critical condition and anything we can do to help her would be worth it. Therefore, I recommend the following: let’s all take on an extra stringency in one mitzvah. It should be small and easy to do. It will benefit Ruchama Aliza and also show our care for mitzvos. Personally, bli neder, I am going to take on that when I bentch (grace after meals) at home, I am going to point to the words in bentching and say them slowly with concentration.

Good Shabbos!
-yes
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