“Rejoice in All the Good That the L-rd, Your G-d, Has Granted You”

by HaRav Dov Begon
Rosh HaYeshiva, Machon Meir

“When you come to the land that the L-rd your G-d is giving you as a heritage, occupying and settling it, you shall take the first of every fruit of the ground produced by the land...” (Devarim 26:1-2). Rashi explains: “This teaches that Israel did not become obligated to bring first fruits until they had conquered the Land and apportioned it.” The purpose of our bringing the first fruits is for us to proclaim before heaven and earth that we recognize G-d’s kindness and goodness and that we are not ungrateful. The precondition for us to fulfill this mitzvah is our occupying and settling the Land. Only by means of the Jewish People ruling over the Land of Israel is G-d’s name greatly sanctified throughout the world and His glory and goodness revealed for all to see. We therefore wait until we conquer Eretz Yisrael and settle it before we bring the first fruits. Then we are full of gratitude for G-d’s kindness.

Today we are living in a generation that has merited to go up to the land and to fight for it, conquer it, and settle it. Even so, we have not yet completed the work. We are still in the midst of political struggles and real wars concerning our sovereignty over the Land of Israel.

We belong to a generation whose job in the chain of history is to build the existential, material infrastructure of our state. It is natural that a generation caught up with mundane, material matters, does not see the divine goodness and kindness stored away within the whole enormous and remarkable undertaking of the rebirth of the Jewish People in their land.

Yet, the day is not far off when our eyes will be opened - the eyes of the spirit as well as of the soul - and we will all recognize G-d’s kindness and goodness. We will see the good land, a land flowing with milk and honey. We will then go to the site that G-d chose as the place associated with His name, and we will make our declaration in a loud voice before the L-rd our G-d (see Rashi on Devarim 26:5). We will then all rejoice together over all the goodness that G-d has given us. By such means, we will see with our own eyes the fulfillment of “A new light shall shine over Tzion, and we shall all merit speedily to its light” (Shachrit).

Looking forward to salvation,
With the Love of Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael,
Shabbat Shalom.