Thursday, August 26, 2021

Truth Be Told

The Chinuch mitzva #91 says the root of mitzvat bikkurim is משרשי המצוה, כדי להעלות דבר השם יתברך על ראש שמחתנו, ונזכר ונדע כי מאתו ברוך הוא יגיעו לנו כל הברכות בעולם. על כן נצטוינו להביא למשרתי ביתו ראשית הפרי המתבשל באילנות ומתוך הזכירה וקבלת מלכותו והודאתנו לפניו, כי הפרות ויתר כל הטובה מאתו יבאו, נהיה ראוים לברכה ויתברכו פרותינו.  It is from the roots of the commandment [that it is] in order to put the word of God, may He be blessed, 'at the top of our joy,' and that we remember and we know that it is from Him, blessed be He, that all of the blessings of the world come to us. Therefore, we were commanded to bring the first fruit that ripens in the trees to those that serve His house. And through the remembering and the acceptance of His kingdom and our thanking in front of Him that the fruits and the rest of all of the good comes from Him, we will be fit for blessing and our fruits will be blessed (citation and translation from Sefaria.)

According to the explanation of the Chinuch the reading of the parsha is to accept that the fruits are a blessing of Hashem.  If so, everyone should read the parsha, why are there those that bring the bikkurim but do not read the parsha as delineated in the beginning of Tractate Bikkurim?

The Chinuch in mitzvah #606 says about those that don't read the parsha ומן הענין הזה יש לנו ללמוד בתפלותינו ותחנונינו לפני השם ברוך הוא, לדקדק מאד ולהזהר בלשון, שלא לומר דבר לפני השם כי אם בדקדוק גדול, וזכור זה בני ושמרהו.  More important than instilling in one's self the acknowledgment of G-d's giving of the produce is to speak to Him truthfully.  [The idea that bikkurim is accompanied by prayer is clear in the Tanchuma of the beginning of the parsha and in the Rambam Sefer Hamitzvot #132.]  The principle of being exact in prayer over rides any other lesson that may be strengthened by one reading the parsha of the bikkurim.  

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