“It will be, when you come into the land which G‑d gives you for an inheritance . . . that you shall take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, and you shall put it into a basket and go to the place that your G‑d will choose to have His Name dwell there. You shall come to the kohen who will be serving in those days… “(Deuteronomy 26:1–3)
The bikkurim, the “first fruit” offering, had to be the very best quality, produced in the Holy Land, from the very first fruits to ripen. These fruits were brought to the Holy Temple to express gratitude to G‑d for the opportunity of settling in the Land of Israel and for blessing its produce. (Mishneh Torah, Bikkurim 2:1 and 2:3)
Maimonides explains that “everything that is for the sake of G‑d should be of the best and most beautiful. When one builds a house of prayer, it should be more beautiful than his own dwelling. When one feeds the hungry, he should feed him of the best and sweetest of his table. Whenever one designates something for a holy purpose, he should sanctify the finest of his possessions, as it is written (Leviticus 3:16), ‘The choicest to G‑d.’”
Bikkurim-first-ripened fruits teaches us to establish priorities. In the crazy times we live in with the sheer amount of responsibilities of the “daily grind,” it reminds us to give precedence—and devote our strongest, freshest resources—to the people and values that we most cherish. Have we neglected to schedule quality time with our spouses, to reignite the spark that originally attracted us to each other? Do we dedicate time for our children at the end of our day, after we’ve been zapped of all our energy? Are we so occupied with pursuing material success that we leave but a few crumbs of energy to nourish our spiritual growth? Do we connect with G-d in only a few rushed moments of distracted prayers, to satisfy our feelings of guilt before tackling the “real” tasks of our day?
Step back and prioritize—the first and best of your fruit, time, energy, and resources, must be devoted to G‑d. Realize what’s important in your life and schedule that first. Recognize who you most cherish, and connect regularly with those individuals. Don’t allow your life to become so entangled with the small stuff that you forget the main purpose of why you’re here.
Shabbat Shalom,
Cantor Diamond
Affiliated with United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism