Rosh HaYeshiva, Machon Meir
“When you come to the land that the L-rd your G-d is giving you as a heritage…. you shall go to the site that God will choose as the place associated with His name. There you shall go to the priest officiating at the time, and say to him, ‘Today I am affirming to the L-rd your G-d that I have come to the land that G-d swore to our fathers to give us.” (Deuteronomy 26:1-3). Rashi comments: “You shall say to him that you are not ungrateful.” Ingratitude is when you deny the good that has been done for you. Gratitude is part of the essence of man, in general, and of the Jewish People in particular. The Jewish People are therefore called “Yehudim”, after Leah’s fourth son, Yehuda, who received that name because when he was born Leah said, “This time let me thank [odeh] G-d” (Genesis 29:35).
The first thing a Jew says when he gets up in the morning is, “I render thanks to You, everlasting King, who has mercifully restored my soul within me. Your faithfulness is great.” A Jew must thank G-d sincerely for the good things G-d does for him. In the same way, one who brings the first fruits when he comes to the Temple announces that he is not ungrateful. Quite the contrary, he recognizes the kindness and bounty that G-d showers upon him, and he expresses his thanks for them.
Today, not just the person who brings first fruits to the Temple must announce that he is not ungrateful, but each and every one of us must recognize the kindness and goodness that others do for us, and we must thank G-d for all of that goodness. This applies not just to what individuals do for us, but to the kindness we enjoy from our family, our society and our country. Especially during these times, the period of forgiveness and mercy, we must search our souls as individuals and as a nation and we must repent, asking ourselves if we are not ungrateful.
The greatest ingratitude of recent years is the relationship of the government and its leadership to the settlers of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, in general, and to those of Gush Katif and Northern Samaria in particular. The settlers' entire intent in settling Eretz Yisrael was to fulfill the mitzvah of settling the Land, and thereby to strengthen the nation, and to defend the country against its Arab enemies, and all this through genuine self-sacrifice. Instead of being raised up in the air and thanked for the good they do for the nation and state of Israel, they met with terrible ingratitude in the form of their being expelled by force from their homes, when they had done nothing wrong.
The entire public must repent and ask forgiveness. How did they allow such injustice and ingratitude? Quite the contrary, we must raise up the settlers on our shoulders, especially those of Gush Katif and Northern Samaria, and we must ask their forgiveness. We must propitiate them and appease them. By such means we will truly unite as one man with one heart, and we will be privileged that next year will be a year of forgiveness. That will be the day we have been waiting for -- we will sing and rejoice on it!
Looking forward to redemption,
With blessings for a good, sweet year,
Shabbat Shalom!
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