בס"ד

Ki Tavo – Travelling First Class Through World History

Dr M Banks

A Guten Erev Shabbos. This weeks parsha is again an incredible insight so many treasures. I would like to call the voyage that we take into this weeks parsha, traveling first class through world history.

א וְהָיָה, כִּי-תָבוֹא אֶל-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, נֹתֵן לְךָ נַחֲלָה; וִירִשְׁתָּהּ, וְיָשַׁבְתָּ בָּהּ.

It will be when you enter the land that H your G-d gives you as an inheritance, and you possess it and dwell in it;

ב וְלָקַחְתָּ מֵרֵאשִׁית כָּל-פְּרִי הָאֲדָמָה, אֲשֶׁר תָּבִיא מֵאַרְצְךָ אֲשֶׁר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ--וְשַׂמְתָּ בַטֶּנֶא; וְהָלַכְתָּ, אֶל-הַמָּקוֹם, אֲשֶׁר יִבְחַר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, לְשַׁכֵּן שְׁמוֹ שָׁם.

You will sanctify every fruit on the ground, that you bring in from your land that H your G-d gives you, and you will put it in a basket and go to the place that H your G-d will choose, to make His name rest there.

OK, so this is the whole halocho, so to speak, of the first fruits, the bikkurim. We learn from the meforshim that at the beginning of creation, even before creation, H had three things in mind, three things were first in creation. Toras Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael and Am Yisrael. So really, Am Yisrael is considered, in world history, the bochor. If you look historically, from Noach to Shem, then it went on to Avraham Avinu, then to the younger of the two, Yitzhak Avinu, and then the younger of the two, Yaakov Avinu, who is Yisrael when he graduated from overthrowing the guardian Angel of Esav, on his return journey to Israel. It was one of the last challenges he faced before coming into the land. Of course, in the land he faced Esav with 400 gladiators. The mightiest soldiers, all trained to do battle, and ready to annihilate this family man that had survived the most devious character of world history that lived, of all places, in the White House, Lavan HaArami. Arami oved avi. As we say in the hagada shel pesach, this Aramean was a most cunning and treacherous creature. He didn’t believe in annihilating people outright. His battle was for the heart and soul, to destroy the faith in H’shem. He worked a person until they had no more koach to fight for their beliefs. So that was Lavan, back then the policy of the White House was to destroy the moral fabric of the world and to put them under his sword. So we see that even when Yaakov got the mitva miraculously to go home, to come back to Israel, this Aramean chased after him, caught up with him after 3 days, and was ready to slay him. He said, but for your G-d telling me not to touch you, I would have annihilated you on the spot. Which means nobody escapes from the history of the world, from bayit Lavan, from Lavan’s house. From the domain of Lavan. He was such a treacherous character, fabulously wealthy, but it wasn’t enough for him. Yaakov humbly and with tremendous toil as Yaakov personally put it, that when it rained, and in the blistering heat, he was accountable for every one of Lavan’s flock. If anything perished, he would have to pay for it. Even in marriage to the daughter of this treacherous character, its almost shmad. I can just imagine that Lavan felt he wasn’t inheriting a son in law, he was capturing H’shem’s brochos. Now that they would be under his domain, his son in law, iy efshar, there was no way he could believe his first fruits would be given to Lavan. That Lavan was in fact the one in place of H’shem, chas veshalom. He felt that he was a slave master. And then if that was anything to brag about, having escaped the impossible Bayit Lavan, the White House of the aramean, then Yaakov for a few moments in world history had the opportunity of coming back to Israel and saying, “Aaaah, first class”. At last, I’m home. You know what its like to have your own bed. There is nothing like it in the world. You can have a five star hotel, you can be wherever you want in the world, there is nothing after a vacation like climbing into your own bed with your own pillow, exactly the way you love it. This is Israel – exactly the way H’shem loves it. He wants us here. The Land doesn’t give its brochos to anybody else. When we get these brochos from H we’ve got to know where they came from. Most precious is first, the first fruits of your efforts, is the first acknowledgement that H is blessing ha’Aretz, the Land. For 2000 years, as Mark Twain put it, this land was as desolate as a waste land. Nothing could grow there almost. All the other nations, the mightiest nations of the world tried to dwell in this land, and tried to counterfeit Israel’s brochos. The ancient Romans, they couldn’t make it here, they had to use Caesaria as they military headquarters because that was where they were landing their boats from Rome. Thye were exporting water from the Kinneret because they couldn’t get any rain water. So, they had to use the aqueduct. They were genius in technology but genocidal in philosophy. Anything that got in their way was annihilated. So was ancient Greece. Until they rose up, destroyed the Beis Hamikdash, as it says in Maseches Megilla (Daf ו) when Yitzhak Avinu cries out to H when he hears for the first time that Esav had no faith in Shamayim, and Esav was famous for his kibud Av. He cried out to H and said, H, surely my son that was such a good boy, surely he must have some goodness in him. Even kibud av. H says no to Yitzhak Avinu – ‘Shall the one who destroys my home be welcome to shomayim? So we see that is the lot of Esav. That he spurned his birthright. He turned around and left without saying birchas hamazon. As it says, he was starving, he wasn’t successful that night as a hunter. He came, he was starving. Yaakov Avinu said, have some of this. Esav thought it was a fleishig cholent but really it was lentil soup. Tradition has it that they were mourning for Avraham Avinu. But be that as it may, he chugged down the whole lot. Without a brocho rishona. He got up, turned his back and walked away from his birthright. He walked away forever. He was first by birth but it was a privilege, not a right. He discarded it and trampled it over. Of course Yaakov, even from the womb, the struggle was going on. H’shem declares in the nevuah to Rivka, that the power will eventually go from the mighty one, the rov, to the tzir, the dear one, the younger one. To the innocent one, the power will eventually go. When will it go? When Yisrael come back to Torah, Eretz Yisrael, H will give us Olam Haba in Olam Hazeh.

So now we’ve started to catch up with the hole concept here. We have the ooportunity to travel first class through world history. We have this choice. You an chose to travel first class, where everything is kosher, bedatz, mehadrin min hamehadrin. Perfectly checked. Every crumb and every grain of rice. You can be sure that you are traveling like nobody before has ever traveled through world history. Or, if you decide to rebel, the Captain comes out of the cockpit, or sends somebody out of the cockpit, and says – take that person to business class. The guy is sitting in business class and behaving like a drunkard. He is arrogant and very abusive to the people around him, so the captain sends out the co-pilot and says, or the stewardess – sorry sir, please go to economy class. The guy is still abusive and upsetting and so on and so forth, then maybe they will put him in the hold. Where all the cargo is and the temperature is about -50 degrees. So the guy is going to be chilled out. He is going to appreciate what he had before. Or maybe not. And if he doesn’t appreciate that, and is kicking and thrashing and smashing things around in the cargo hold, somebody, the tough man in the plane, security, will go down there, if you can visualize the thing, and he’ll open the port hole. In the olden days, planes had, like B52 bombers, had bomb doors that they could drop the bombs. Imagine this guy is causing a tremendous raucous and noise in the cargo hold, he is not even appreciative of that, so they take him and they throw him out. Imagine now he is holding on to the back of the wing of the plane. What is the likelihood of him surviving the journey? And what is the likelihood of him surviving the landing. The prognosis is abysmal. And that may be for the people that are traveling, we may even describe it as traveling in a plague of darkness.

The plague of darkness was the most tragic of all the 10 plagues. The one least seen. The one least understood. Rashi says hamushim – one fifth survived. One fifth of Am Yisrael survived the plague of darkness. 4/5ths lusted after the flesh pots and melting pot of Egypt. Kegoyim – they wanted with all their might to become like the other nations. The other nations swallowed them up and had them, for breakfast. So we see the frightening remez of what is going on here in world history. We see how awesome is our loss and how awesome is our privilege. If we can only hold on to our first class ticket to fly. If we behave ourselves like people accustomed to traveling first class, with the dignity of royalty, then of course the Captain of the plane, who has no price on his ticket, will choose people according to their behaviour, and the only way to get to our destination is to travel the voyage with our Captain. So now we see for the first time, that actually traveling with this nation is actually one of the privileges of world history. Albeit there have been tremendous challenges and tragedies over the last 2000 years, that remnant that has clung with all its might bchol levacha, bchol nafshcha, uvchol meodecha. With all its heart, might and resources. To the ticket that it has been given, and it has never forgotten that ticket, which is the shnei luchos, the dibros, which leads to Torah itself, the Etz Chaim, the tree of life. That is our actual first class ticket.

We invite the world to join us on our flight to eternity. We say to them, just by keeping the 7 Universal Laws of Noach, you are guaranteed your place in shamayim. You are guaranteed your place in heaven. So what could be greater than am Yisrael in first class, sharing with the rest of the world and turning their seating place into their first class. So that the whole airplane is a first class plane. Can anybody decide to laugh and think that it is a joke? They can learn from Noah’s ark. That generation behaved in the most horrific way. Noah, for 120 years, warned them. They laughed their heads off. Then the ark doors were closed. With the first few drops of rain they didn’t do teshuva. Then the rain came harder from heaven and earth. Before they knew it, they were no more. This is the eternal message for every species and every creature that walks on the earth, that either we travel first class or we’ve missed the flight. There can be nothing more tragic if it was the last flight out of Auschwitz. The last opportunity to escape the cauldron of Europe. To think, that was the last opportunity to go to a free and sanctified shore. That was the hope of the people on board the St Louis, that boat that escaped Germany just before the Holocaust, almost 1000 jews on that boat. All had visas to Cuba. All got off in Cuba. They were all rounded up. Cuba was then under US sovereignty. Within a day or two they were all rounded up in Cuba. They were all put back on the boat and told to get out. Visas, permission to come to Cuba. Everything was confirmed. The got out of the cauldrons of Germany. They thought they had made it to friendly shores, They couldn’t count on it. The Captain rushed off to Miami to see if he could do something and spoke to the authorities in America. They told them that not one person was to set foot on the mainland. They then sailed to Canada in the last great hope that maybe Canada who pride themselves on helping to free people. America was their ‘send me your tired, weary and forlorn’. Lady Liberty put her hand out through the lights of the ocean. And extinguished those lights she had by saying not one foot will step on our land. You are not our tired, weary and forlorn. Jews not welcome here. No dogs or Jews allowed. That’s what they had on hotels 80 years ago. So, what also happened was, they went to disembark in Canada, a tremendous irony. They had arrived from the furnaces and the cauldrons of Auschwitz. No Rahamim. They were sent on their way. In one last desperate hope they stopped in London. In London 5 people disembarked instead of the 1000s on the ship. They had relatives in London. The rest died in the furnaces of Germany. Every one of them perished. Even if Am Yisrael escaped to different shores, that is no guarantee.

By the way, the statistics now in America, this may be one of our darkest moments. 80% are spiritually assimilating, spiritually self destructing and spiritually being annihilated. All their forefathers with guns at their heads and knives at their throats, being thrown into the furnaces of Auschwitz, would rather go into the furnaces than be shmaded, which is spiritual annihilation. That is the worst of everything. So we see with all these tragedies of the last 2000 and 3000 years, where we could have come home to the Beis HaMikdash, we could have come back to Eretz Yisrael, we could have come back to Toras Yisrael, unfortunately the long and winding road led to everybody else’s door and everybody else’s peace covenant except H’s. That is told to us in Ha’azinu. Waanton and backsliding generation. See what will be your end of you keep following everybody else’s peace guarantees but you continue to desecrate my Shabbos, you can be guaranteed that instead of peace, it will be a piece of the grave. Do not trust in anyone or anything but HaKadosh Boruch Hu, Adon Ha’Olam, Adon Ha’Shalom. The Master of the Universe and the Master of Peace. There will be no peace if H doesn’t bless.

So we go further into the parsha. You shall come unto whoever shall be the Cohen in those days, and you shall say to him, I declare today to H, your G-d, (that is, the G-d of the Cohen), you follow, we are recognising the kedusha of the Cohen, as the commentaries say. The first fruits of some, but not of every species. The sages derived that this commandment applies to the 7 species which are praised in the land (in posuk 8,8). When a man saw a ripe fig, he would tie a chord to it, stand and declare, this is bikkurim, according to Rashi. The Sages describe how Jews from the entire land converged on Jerusalem with the bikkurim in a festive procession, accompanied by music and celebration, in city after city as it picks up momentum. Anybody that has been in Israel for Shavuos and goes to the netz minyan at the Kosel, the further you are away and the closer you start to get, at 4.00 in the morning to the Kosel, its like the estuary of the rivers from all the four corners of the world, all picking up momentum and all starting to get stronger and stronger, as the voices break out into spontaneous songs of celebration, into Hallel and into Am Yisrael Hai, at 4.00 in the morning. You go through other parts of the Ir Ha’Atika, the Old City, where all the doors and windows are locked, sealed and bolted, and the streets are flooded with am Yisrael, like a magnet attracting Am Yisrael to the Kosel after 2000 years of darkness. As we come to the Kossel concourse, there is an ocean of Am Yisrael, and the serious humming of Tefila, you can feel the urgency, the Sun hasn’t risen yet. You feel a desperate need to quickly put your tallis on and open your machzor so that you will be there with Am Yisrael as the first cracks of light break over the horizon, the remez of light starts, the remez of geula starts. You are with am Yisrael, and you hear the shluchei tzibur one after the other saying, Borchu es H Hamevorach, and a roar across the concourse saying, Boruch Shem Kevod malchuso Leolam Va’ed, and then the hum of very intense tefilla continues, until Am Yisrael get to Shema Yisrael, and its lev ehad and guf ehad, across the concourse, with nobody leading. The whole nation cries out, Shema Yisrael, and as it echoes through the concourse, 100,000 – 200,000 people roaring Shema Yisrael together. Then everybody going at their own pace through Boruch shem kevod malchuso le’olam va’ed. Ve’ahvta, and you hear almost one voice, going through Shema Yisrael. Then it gets closer to the Shemone Esrei, you start to hear the crazy noises, starting to calm down, your hear the last voice saying the last word, before Am Yisrael go into the Shemone Esrei. You can hear a pin drop opn the concourse floor. You can hear the birds screaming and singing going and swirling overhead, as though they’re the angels picking up every word of tefilla because its their duty to quickly rush it back to shomayim. Then all of a sudden you hear the first baal kore on the first minyan say H Sefasai Tifsach Ufi Yagid Tehilasecha, Boruch Ata H’, and it ripples throughout the concourse. All of a sudden the next minyan picks up, and the third minyan. You almost have a feel that you are back in Jerusalem in ancient times. Almost like the times of the bikkurim. Like you are coming to bring your first fruits via the Cohen, to HaKodesh Boruch Hu.

The Parasha says, you will go to whoever will be the Cohen in those days, and say to him, ‘I shall appear you today and before your G-d’, because he is the representative, the chosen one of H’. Their G-d and ours is obviously the same, but they will bless us. You see from this an awesome idea from the Motzei Shabbos Tefilla, that H blessed the first fruits of the womb, of produce, the first of the fruits of your labour. All these fruits are the bikkurim. The bikkurim are offered by the bechor. Am Yisrael is the true bechor of world history now. We are supposed to be a light to the nations. If our fruits are blessed, the fruit of the womb, the fruit of the fields, the fruits of our efforts, the rest of the nations of the world will say, what a great and wise nation. And what do we say after that? That I have come to the land sworn to our forefathers to give to us. We are completing nevuah, we are completing what h swore to our forefathers. We are living proof of the truth of Torah, nothing less. The Cohen shall take the basket from your hand and lay it before he alter of H your G-d. It is too holy for us to do ourselves. Then you shall call out and say before H your G-d. It is an amazing script. It just doesn’t gel. If you were to write it you would write it differently. You would say, thank you H’ for the first fruits that you have given me. It is such an awesome privilege to see the efforts of my hands, the efforts of my land. Your hand and your land. It doesn’t belong to me. This is a sign that you are allowing me to continue to live, continue to grow and to inhabit this land. Eretz haKadosh – this holy land. With Am HaKadosh. With your holy nation. With torah HaKadosh, with Torah. A first class ticket to fly. It is not only this land that we are landing in. Thisland, it is only through this land that we make it to Olam Haba Be’Olam Haze, to the next world and to create this world, perfect – so that we can accomplish Taryag Mitzvos, 613 Mitzvos. Without this land, 2/3rds of Torah cannot be perfor,ed. Due to that Moshe Rabbeinu cried so hard to H’. H’ please let me in. What as a tourist? No, to serve the Torah, to do all the Mitzvos. Moshe Rabbeinu had a craving to do Bikkurim. He had a craving to do Shemitta, to do Taryag Mitzvos. Not that he wasn’t zoche. On his own he was zoche but who was not zoche – that generation was not zoche. Am Yisrael wasn’t zoche. There will be a time in the future when there will be techiyas hameisim, revival of the dead, and moshe Rabbineu and Aharon HaKohen who are now serving in the heavenly Beis Hamikdash every day, which is parallel to the earthly Beis Hamikdash which doesn’t exist in this day, but soon will come down in fire. H’ will bring his nation to rise up and reach the perfection of Torah.

An Arramean, it says, tried to destroy my forefather. Tried to destroy him, nothing less. Yaakov Avinu, when he was serving so loyally, trying to earn an honest living. Yet we hear from the posuk that the Aramean changed the deal a hundred times, that he found Yaakov was selling this particular product so he switched him to work for that. He was selling during the day, let him work at night. He was selling produce, let him take care of the flocks. He was selling in the flocks, let him work in the blazing heat with the flocks. Let him see that none of the flocks leave. Let him see that none of the flock gets injured. If anything gets injured, if anything gets stolen, if anything gets eaten by the wolf, he is responsible. He is the one that caused all the problems. H is our Shepherd, we shall not want. H was the Shepherd of Yaakov Avinu. H was the Shepherd of Dovid HaMelekh. H is the Shepherd of the nation today.

I’ll tell you something awesome and frightening about our generation that never happened before. H has given this nation blessings that the world has never seen before. We have never been so opulent and affluent. It could take one check from one man to cure world hunger. It could take one check from one man to meet all the needs of this nation. And yet, we continue to struggle. We continue to try to disseminate and transmit the power of Torah. Yet the plague of darkness tragically enough is still causing brothers and sisters to choose death over life, to choose marrying out of the faith instead of choosing to be part of the faith. To destroy their bris mila, their Torah, their Olam Haba. The tragedy is al taamod al dam reeacha, these are your brothers. Don’t stand on their blood. Don’t rest. Save whoever you can.

Lavan, the most subtle character of world history, tried to get Yaakov to destroy his own faith. Yaakov was too good, too strong. That is why he was Yaakov Avinu. That is why he was one of the forefathers that H hand picked from even one of the most evil violaters of the soul. So if that wasn’t enough, Yaakov comes back to Eretz Yisrael for a fleeting sigh, Oh thank you H’, and in a moment, his beloved son Yosef was swept away and lost. Then eventually the rest of his sons, through starvation, had to go to Egypt and then the whole family lands up in Mitzrayim. Yaakov descended to Egypt in a small number. Just 70 people. There you became a great nation. Corresponding to the 70 nations of the world, each descendant was another nation. A great strong and numerous nation, and place hard work upon us. It wasn’t just hard work. It was backbreaking, spiritually, physically and emotionally. They wanted to physically annihilate, as the people who went into Auschwitz saw – on the gates Arbeit Macht Frei, work will set you free. The secret there was the eternal secret of the enemies of Israel. You think that work will set you free because you can earn a living and struggle for your life. But you wont be alive. The work camps were a vision of how to work the Jews. But Amalek’s vision was annihilation, work them to death, until there is no hope left. Until they starve to death, break their backs, bones and break their spirit. What happened? As Rebbetzin Yungreis said, she was at Bergen Belsen at 8 years old and said, she wanted to ask the commandant who rode around with a machine gun and SS troops and his German Shepherd, an ironic name, German Shepherd, the Alsatian wolf dog that tore flesh from bone. Of course, we learn from the meforshim, that dogs are a living remez of Amalek because they bite the flesh off Am Yisrael. We should never have faith in the dogs. When we left Egypt for that fleeting miraculous moment, they didn’t bark at am Yisrael. What did they get? They get the neveila. The torn flesh. That is what they are zoche to. Only torn flesh. So we see the concept of working Am Yisrael to death. That was their vision. Pharaoh said, let us be smart and let us find a way to deal with this nation that is breeding to fast and may join with the enemy. There was really no danger, but they might have possibly joined with Pharaoh’s enemies. They could be the fifth column in the nation so, lets work them to death. They put backbreaking work on them. They had to work harder and harder. Then they took struggle even further and forced them to collect the straw before sunrise and then prepare bricks before dawn. It wasn’t just backbreaking, but the Mitzrim would whip Am Yisrael until the flesh on the bone was pouring with blood. The viciousness of it. So we see from that that H doesn’t forget. What do we see now? Beyond all imaginations, that same threat, Egypt is again attempting to destroy us through the Plishtim in Azza, the same ancient place, making the same haunting threat to Am Yisrael. If you look at Rabbi Blazer’s new book, the Palestinians and Philistines, he suggests that the weakness of protecting the bris mila is causing a Sitra Achra amongst the enemies of Israel which makes them want to him. If we don’t protect our covenant, our bris mila, if don’t keep all the Torah we will experience the curses, as described later.

There seem to be eleven specific curses, but there is a twelfth, corresponding to all the 12 tribes, which is a great yesod in Torah.

יד  וְעָנוּ הַלְוִיִּם, וְאָמְרוּ אֶל-כָּל-אִישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל--קוֹל רָם.  {ס}	14 And the Levites shall speak, and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice: {S}
טו  אָרוּר הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר יַעֲשֶׂה פֶסֶל וּמַסֵּכָה תּוֹעֲבַת יְהוָה, מַעֲשֵׂה יְדֵי חָרָשׁ--וְשָׂם בַּסָּתֶר; וְעָנוּ כָל-הָעָם וְאָמְרוּ, אָמֵן.  {ס}	15 Cursed be the man that maketh a graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and setteth it up in secret. And all the people shall answer and say: Amen. {S}
טז  אָרוּר, מַקְלֶה אָבִיו וְאִמּוֹ; וְאָמַר כָּל-הָעָם, אָמֵן.  {ס}	16 Cursed be he that dishonours his father or his mother. And all the people shall say: Amen. {S}
יז  אָרוּר, מַסִּיג גְּבוּל רֵעֵהוּ; וְאָמַר כָּל-הָעָם, אָמֵן.  {ס}	17 Cursed be he that removes his neighbour's landmark. And all the people shall say: Amen. {S}
יח  אָרוּר, מַשְׁגֶּה עִוֵּר בַּדָּרֶךְ; וְאָמַר כָּל-הָעָם, אָמֵן.  {ס}	18 Cursed be he that makes the blind to go astray in the way. And all the people shall say: Amen. {S}
יט  אָרוּר, מַטֶּה מִשְׁפַּט גֵּר-יָתוֹם--וְאַלְמָנָה; וְאָמַר כָּל-הָעָם, אָמֵן.	19 Cursed be he that perverts the justice due to the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say: Amen.
כ  אָרוּר, שֹׁכֵב עִם-אֵשֶׁת אָבִיו--כִּי גִלָּה, כְּנַף אָבִיו; וְאָמַר כָּל-הָעָם, אָמֵן.  {ס}	20 Cursed be he that lies with his father's wife; because he has uncovered his father's skirt. And all the people shall say: Amen. {S}
כא  אָרוּר, שֹׁכֵב עִם-כָּל-בְּהֵמָה; וְאָמַר כָּל-הָעָם, אָמֵן.  {ס}	21 Cursed be he that lies with any manner of beast. And all the people shall say: Amen. {S}
כב  אָרוּר, שֹׁכֵב עִם-אֲחֹתוֹ--בַּת-אָבִיו, אוֹ בַת-אִמּוֹ; וְאָמַר כָּל-הָעָם, אָמֵן.  {ס}	22 Cursed be he that lies with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother. And all the people shall say: Amen. {S}
כג  אָרוּר, שֹׁכֵב עִם-חֹתַנְתּוֹ; וְאָמַר כָּל-הָעָם, אָמֵן.  {ס}	23 Cursed be he that lies with his mother-in-law. And all the people shall say: Amen. {S}
כד  אָרוּר, מַכֵּה רֵעֵהוּ בַּסָּתֶר; וְאָמַר כָּל-הָעָם, אָמֵן.  {ס}	24 Cursed be he that smites his neighbour in secret. And all the people shall say: Amen. {S}
כה  אָרוּר לֹקֵחַ שֹׁחַד, לְהַכּוֹת נֶפֶשׁ דָּם נָקִי; וְאָמַר כָּל-הָעָם, אָמֵן.  {ס}	25 Cursed be he that takes a bribe to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say: Amen. {S}
כו  אָרוּר, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-יָקִים אֶת-דִּבְרֵי הַתּוֹרָה-הַזֹּאת--לַעֲשׂוֹת אוֹתָם; וְאָמַר כָּל-הָעָם, אָמֵן.  {פ}	26 Cursed be he that confirms not the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say: Amen.' {P}

From here we learn the power of the word Amen. Amen is actually Ani maamin. It affirms true faith – Kel Neeman - which is an attribute of H’ and alluded to in the 13 Principles of Faith of the Rambam. So, with of these things it is signing a personal contract. The curses are basic ethical principles which everyone would agree with. To take a wife of a forbidden relationship, almost nobody would do. Yet the whole nation say Amen. Lying with an animal – which is unthinkable, yet the whole people say amen. The one who lies with his sister, the daughter of his mother etc,. These eleven seem to a normal person, impossible. But its not a bad thing to say Amen. In the twelfth one, which is a remez of tying up all the blessings for the whole nation, the 12 tribes, and this is actually the pledge of alegiance. Cursed is the one who promises to keep all these mitzvos and does not perform them. And the entire people say amen. So this is the secret of all of the Torah, this twelfth brocho encapsulates and encompasses all the eleven others, and all the Taryag mitzvos. This is the guarantee that if we ulfil the mitzvos there is great reward.

א  וְהָיָה, אִם-שָׁמוֹעַ תִּשְׁמַע בְּקוֹל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, לִשְׁמֹר לַעֲשׂוֹת אֶת-כָּל-מִצְוֹתָיו, אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּוֹם--וּנְתָנְךָ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, עֶלְיוֹן, עַל, כָּל-גּוֹיֵי הָאָרֶץ.	1 And it shall come to pass, if thou shall hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all His commandments which I command you this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all the nations of the earth.
ב  וּבָאוּ עָלֶיךָ כָּל-הַבְּרָכוֹת הָאֵלֶּה, וְהִשִּׂיגֻךָ:  כִּי תִשְׁמַע, בְּקוֹל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ.	2 And all these blessings shall come upon thee, and overtake thee, if thou shall hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.
ג  בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה, בָּעִיר; וּבָרוּךְ אַתָּה, בַּשָּׂדֶה.	3 Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field.
ד  בָּרוּךְ פְּרִי-בִטְנְךָ וּפְרִי אַדְמָתְךָ, וּפְרִי בְהֶמְתֶּךָ--שְׁגַר אֲלָפֶיךָ, וְעַשְׁתְּרוֹת צֹאנֶךָ.	4 Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, and the fruit of thy land, and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your kine, and the young of your flock.
ה  בָּרוּךְ טַנְאֲךָ, וּמִשְׁאַרְתֶּךָ.	5 Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading-trough.
ו  בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה, בְּבֹאֶךָ; וּבָרוּךְ אַתָּה, בְּצֵאתֶךָ.	6 Blessed shall you be when thou come in, and blessed shall you be when thou go out.
ז  יִתֵּן יְהוָה אֶת-אֹיְבֶיךָ הַקָּמִים עָלֶיךָ, נִגָּפִים לְפָנֶיךָ:  בְּדֶרֶךְ אֶחָד יֵצְאוּ אֵלֶיךָ, וּבְשִׁבְעָה דְרָכִים יָנוּסוּ לְפָנֶיךָ.	7 The LORD will cause your enemies that rise up against you to be smitten before you; they shall come out against thee one way, and shall flee before thee seven ways.
ח  יְצַו יְהוָה אִתְּךָ, אֶת-הַבְּרָכָה, בַּאֲסָמֶיךָ, וּבְכֹל מִשְׁלַח יָדֶךָ; וּבֵרַכְךָ--בָּאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר-יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ.	8 The LORD will command the blessing with you in thy barns, and in all that you put your hand to; and He will bless thee in the land which the LORD your God gives thee.
ט  יְקִימְךָ יְהוָה לוֹ לְעַם קָדוֹשׁ, כַּאֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע-לָךְ:  כִּי תִשְׁמֹר, אֶת-מִצְוֹת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, וְהָלַכְתָּ, בִּדְרָכָיו.	9 The LORD will establish you for a holy people unto Himself, as He swore unto thee; if you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and walk in His ways.
י  וְרָאוּ כָּל-עַמֵּי הָאָרֶץ, כִּי שֵׁם יְהוָה נִקְרָא עָלֶיךָ; וְיָרְאוּ, מִמֶּךָּ.	10 And all the peoples of the earth shall see that the name of the LORD is called upon thee; and they shall be afraid of thee.
יא  וְהוֹתִרְךָ יְהוָה לְטוֹבָה, בִּפְרִי בִטְנְךָ וּבִפְרִי בְהֶמְתְּךָ וּבִפְרִי אַדְמָתֶךָ--עַל, הָאֲדָמָה, אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע יְהוָה לַאֲבֹתֶיךָ, לָתֶת לָךְ.	11 And the LORD will make thee over-abundant for good, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of land, in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you.
יב  יִפְתַּח יְהוָה לְךָ אֶת-אוֹצָרוֹ הַטּוֹב אֶת-הַשָּׁמַיִם, לָתֵת מְטַר-אַרְצְךָ בְּעִתּוֹ, וּלְבָרֵךְ, אֵת כָּל-מַעֲשֵׂה יָדֶךָ; וְהִלְוִיתָ גּוֹיִם רַבִּים, וְאַתָּה לֹא תִלְוֶה.	12 The LORD will open to you His good treasure the heaven to give the rain of your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand; and you shall lend unto many nations, but you shall not borrow.
יג  וּנְתָנְךָ יְהוָה לְרֹאשׁ, וְלֹא לְזָנָב, וְהָיִיתָ רַק לְמַעְלָה, וְלֹא תִהְיֶה לְמָטָּה:  כִּי-תִשְׁמַע אֶל-מִצְוֹת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּוֹם--לִשְׁמֹר וְלַעֲשׂוֹת.	13 And the LORD will make you the head, and not the tail; and you shall be above only, and thou shall not be beneath; if you shall hearken to the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them;
יד  וְלֹא תָסוּר, מִכָּל-הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוֶּה אֶתְכֶם הַיּוֹם--יָמִין וּשְׂמֹאול:  לָלֶכֶת, אַחֲרֵי אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים--לְעָבְדָם.  {פ}	14 and shalt not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. {P}

This is a hallmark of how Am Yisrael are holding in world history. How are ma Yisrael doing today? Well for the first time in the last 2000 years, for the last 7 years, Am Yisrael has been an export produce nation. Am Yisrael export their produce, One little man came to Israel 3 shmittas ago. He was running a farm. He decided that during the shmitta, he was not going to touch it. He would leave it fallow for the shmitta year. Shortly after the Shmitta year, he became fabulously successful. He started to buy other farms and other land. His success was unprecedented in the land. By the second shmitta, he had thousands of people working for him. Came the second shmitta and he decided once again, hands off. He made his farms hefker – which meant that despite being one of the biggest producers of vegetables, his farms made no profit. He was one of the biggest producers of Esrogim in the land and possibly in the world. By the third shmitta, he was already exporting 1 tonne of vegetables a year, representing about $20,000,000 per year. One little man decided that he was just going to keep the shmitta and make sure that there were no profits because as the prophet said, that is the real profit. So he’s been keeping the shmitta. Sure enough this year, all his huge farm estates, he is the biggest farmer in Israel today. Everybody working for him has been told to take a year off. Nobody will touch the produce. He has developed kollels and people will be learning for the year. They will be paid for their learning. People who have known him over these yearws have a seen a blessing unknown in world history. We can be sure that this shmitta will be an awesome Kiddush H’ . This can be contrasted to a famous quote from Shakespeare – All is not well, there are weeds in the garden. So we learn from that, if the King doesn’t have domain over his garden, then it indicates that in the palace there are also weeds growing. You can be sure that pretty soon there may be an overthrow of the King. If people are plotting, or there are other problems, the King doesn’t have time to worry about his estate. That is a terrible sight to see. That people outside the Palace can see that the King is out of control. His servants are out of control. On the contrary, in the Torah world. Two shmittas ago, I went back to South Africa and people asked me, how was it in Israel. I learnt at Ohr Sameach. I said to them, you cannot imagine. Israel, has traffic jams on Shabbos. I was shocked to see traffic jams on Shabbos. And it’s a jungle out there. It’s a jungle in Israel. So the Rabbi was teaching us the laws of Shmitta and Shabbos etc, was shocked. He said be very careful with your words, talking about the King’s palace like that could be treasonous. I said please let me explain. The traffic jams were prams, people pushing their babies to shul on Shabbos morning. There were traffic jams because people were blessed with the fruit of the womb. H’s blessing to this nation was unprecedented. That so many mothers came to shul to thank H for their infinite eternal blessings, that the next generation had been brought to this world in Jerusalem, Eretz HaKodesh, that’s an awesome blessing. It’s a jungle out there, not in the work sense. No. In a physical sense. No-one was touching their garden. Their gardens were growing wild. At Ohr Sameach you had to climb through the trees to get to davening in the morning. It was awesome. The sight and the sounds, to see how nobody touched their gardens during the Shmitta. The weeds were growing wild. It wasn’t proof that all is not well in the palace. It is absolute proof, that everything is fabulous in the Palace. If H says hefker for one year, the nation are in awe. They even left the weeds. But come the end of Shmitta, boy do the weeds get yanked out in a second. We’ve seen the blessing for the last seven years. For the last seven years, this country has been an export nation. It is not because of our wisdom. It is because of one thing and one thing alone. As Mark Twain declared, the arid desert wasteland, as he got closer to Jerusalem, even the hardy friend of the dessert, the hardy cactus, he claimed, had no place in Jerusalem. That Jerusalem appeared to him to be the most G-d forsaken place in the world. Mr Mark Twain you ain’t seen nothing yet. H’shem saved his brochus for his people living in his land according to his Torah. If you see the blessings of heaven and earth overflowing, that we see in the land today people going to the shuck on Erev Shabbos. It’s a physical Gan Eden. Everything this world can offer, the sweetest and the best, is overflowing to the point where the shop owners run away. All the beggars clean up what is left which is a King’s ransom. Erev Shabbos is pandemonium. They are just throwing away what is left of their brochus because by next week there is new produce coming in and what can they do with the old? So they run away. The bread is overflowing, the challohs are overflowing, the fruit of the land is overflowing. All the produce, the finest this world has to offer, is overflowing in the shuck. With the shop owners getting close to Shabbos, everything is left fallow for the poor and needy to come and collect for their own homes for Shabbos, which is even more than they can deal with. So we see the blessing with which H blesses this nation. It is perfectly planned down to the last grain and the last blade.

So, we see, going back to the beginning of the posuk, The Egyptians mistreated us, and placed hard work on us. We cried out to H our G-d and the G-d of our forefathers. And H’ heard our voice and saw our affliction, and our travail and our oppression. By the way, the concept of crying out, is at the end of days, Yoel Hanavi says, on that great and awesome day, the biggest secret of world history, only those that cry out to H’ will live, on the Yom gadol VeNora, Sofet hayamim. For those that don’t cry out to H’, sofet hayamim. There will be a rediat adama, an earthquake that will swallow up every one who doesn’t cry out to H’. So just to keep our finger on the place to know that when we are in trouble, we have a place to cry out to. Its not 911 the telephone number or 9/11 the date. Its 911 spiritually. We have a cell phone but we don’t have to pay monthly subscriptions. We can use it three times a day, at least. The subscription is paid up just by saying thank you to H’ each day, for the goodness, Ha’aretz ha Tov asher nasan lach.

H took us out of Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm with great and awesome signs and wonders. He brought us to this place, Eretz HaKodesh, he gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. As we mentioned two weeks ago, the land of milk and honey shakes. That if you appreciate it is like having milk and honey in a milkshake. If you don’t appreciate it the land will vomit you out. Like an earthquake. And you will be swept away with all the milk and honey that you didn’t appreciate. Until its lost in Galus.

And now behold, I have brought the first fruits of the ground that you have given me H’, and you shall lay it before H’ your G-d, and you shall prostrate yourself, before H your G-d and shall be glad with all the goodness that H your G-d has given you and your household. You and the Levi, and the convert that is in your midst. You shall be glad and celebrate, including activities that make people joyous such as shared songs, wherever people come together to celebrate the happy event. It is natural for them to sing. The verse shows that we must include the Leviim, and needy in their celebrations for that person’s good fortune (Ibn Ezra). This promise that Israel will have joy is juxtaposed with the obligation to give the tithe properly, to teach us that we can be assured of happiness if we provide for the Levi, the poor and the helpless. So we see, the first fruits after the land was conquered and allocated to individuals, farmers had to take the first ripe fruit and take them to the Temple. This is symbolic. Like some people in business frame their first dollar. The first dollar that they ever earned. This is a sign that they are on their way to success. And that first dollar for them is the sign of their first effort. For H that is not impressive. The first fruit is dedicated to H’. The first of our bikkurim, of our parnassah, our first born. That which H has blessed us with. First and foremost, give that to H’. Can we understand it? How does it work? If we try to reflect on the concept, h is not short of anything. H has everything. What does H want? The first fruit. What does H want the 10% for? Why does he want the firstborn? He gave it to us, as well as the last born? Everything is from H? So why does he want it from us? How is it that this tiny little act can make H happy? Well, can you imagine, kol am Yisroel kulam tzadikim everybody should be zoche to have children, and you have done everything for them since they came out of hospital. You have clothed them from when they first needed clothing, educated them from the moment they could read alef beis until they are self supporting, and even afterwards, you continue to support them morally and emotionally, and wherever necessary, financially. You never stop giving. So imagine the emotion if one day your little boy comes back and he bought his favourite sweet, and you figure he is going to say a brocho and sink his teeth into it and imagine the surprise when he gives you the sweet or the ice-cream, dripping with the melting glida, and he hands it to you and says, Abba, I bought this for you. This ice-cream or chocolate that is my favourite, I bought it with my pocket money, it took me hours of baby-sitting. Maybe 20 hours of baby-sitting. The first pocket money that I earnt. I want you to have it. How would the father feel about that? The father is infinitely richer than the son. But that tiny little act of appreciation makes it all encompassing. It is as though everything the son gets he acknowledges and appreciates from his father. This is the greatest happiness, the remez of Sukkos, when Am Yisrael come into the Sukka.

If it rains on Erev Sukkos it is a siman as if the King took a jug of water that the servant brought to him, and he tipped it over on his servant’s head. What kind of a servant is that? What kind of a King is that? The remez is right here. He saw the face of the servant. He was exhausted working for the King. He wasn’t happy any more. He resented working for the King. So the King throws the water at him, to say why aren’t you grateful? Why do you have that sour face? Try to feel the snakes and scorpions outside and their venom, eating your flesh to feed their families. Think of what you had while you were working in the palace. Treated like royalty by the people inside the palace and outside. Get out of my palace right now. I don’t want you here. Get out. So when a person’s sukka is overflowing with water, gets out of the sukka. That is the wrong attitude. The person has to cry to H’, cry to the King, I’m so sorry, please fogive me. I will never do this again. Please don’t send me out of your palace. That was the riginal sin of Adam haRishon. Eating from the forbidden fruit,. Had he cried out to H’, He would have said, Ayeka, Where are you? I’m hiding. There is nowhere to hide, nowhere to run, Please forgive me. Instead of blaming his wife. This wiked woman that you gave me. You are responsible, not me. Just get out of my palace. You gave her laws that I didn’t give you. You told her not to touch the tree. You ate it yourself. Don’t blame her. You were the cause of the tragedy in the word. No go out.

We see from a lack of gratitude, modem anachnu lach, we were sent out of the good land. To experience the trouble and bitterness of exile, to be assimilated and anihilated, heaven forbid. Our ultimate ticket to fly first class is if we cling with all our heart, all our might, and all our resources. There is so much more to explore in this parsha. But it comes down to the final posuk which says,

ח וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם, אֶת-דִּבְרֵי הַבְּרִית הַזֹּאת, וַעֲשִׂיתֶם, אֹתָם--לְמַעַן תַּשְׂכִּילוּ, אֵת כָּל-אֲשֶׁר תַּעֲשׂוּן.  {פ}

8 Observe therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that you may succeed in everything that you do. {P}

With absolutely everything H can bless us. As long we are following his ratzon, He will bless our ratzon because it is His ratzon. May I wish the whole of Am Yisrael and the whole world, that we should all experience the ultimate Shabbat Shalom, Olam haba in Olam Haze, that we should have the Geula Shlema, Tehias Hameisim, the Beis hamikdash Bimheira Veyameinu and Shamayim Al Haaretz. Have a Great Shabbos.