Ki Tavo -- 5774

Where do fruits and vegetables come from?  The grocery store.

That’s what many of today’s youngsters think, removed as they are from farms, orchards, and gardens.

The ancient Jew was under no such misconception.  He or she lived far closer to the land than we do, and regularly followed the commandment to “take some of every first fruit of the soil, which you harvest from your land that your God is giving you, put it in a basket,” and bring it to the Temple (Deuteronomy 26:2).  “The priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down in front of the altar of your God” (26:4).



We reap what we sow.  We live with the results of our actions in the world.

These are the days of tshuvah, of reflection, repentance, and transformation.  These are the days to consider what you’ve sown in the world:  how you’ve spent your time, how you’ve treated others, how you’ve treated yourself.  What connections do you see, whether positive or negative, between your behavior and the life you’re leading?

On Rosh Hashanah, we will bring our harvest to God – that is, we will bring our entire beings: the fullness, the yearnings, the fears, the joys, the passions.  We will bare our souls, for they are what we have to show for the year now concluding.  And we will take responsibility for the people we have become.

These are the days of tshuvah.