PARSHA - Ki Tavo (We Hashem's Bikurim)

This week's Torah portion, Ki Tavo, contains the commandment of bikurim, first fruits offering. As it says:

"And it shall be, when you come into the land...and you shall take of all the fruit of the earth...and put it in a basket...and you shall go to the priest...and the priest shall take the basket from your hand, and set it down before the altar of the L-rd your G-d."

The mitzva of first fruits applies to the "seven kinds by which the land of Israel is praised" -- grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, dates, wheat and barley.

Whoever cultivated these special fruits on his portion of land was obligated to bring the very first of his harvest to G-d's representative on earth - the priest who served in the Holy Temple -- thereby thanking G-d for His bounty and joyfully acknowledging the Creator of all things.

In the mitzva of bikurim, the farmer must go against his natural inclination to retain for himself the very best of the fruits of his labor, and hand them over to the priest in Jerusalem.

Even though we dont have the Holy Temple now, we can still observe this mitzva, in the spiritual sense; by thinking of ourselves as the "first fruit" of G-d: every action we take, every thought we have and every word that comes out of our mouths must be our absolute best, the MOST choice and select we are capable of producing.
And this should be applied to all details of our lives, as our Sages said, "All of your deeds should be for the sake of Heaven."

Until Moshiach comes, every Jew must picture himself at all times as if he is standing in the Holy Temple, about to hand over his basket of offerings to the priest.

May our efforts to refine ourselves in this manner bring the Final Redemption speedily in our day, and with it, the opportunity to observe the mitzva of bikurim in the literal physical sense as well.

Candle lighting time for l.a. is 6:58

shabbat shalom!