GLOBAL RELIGIOUS LEADERS

Chief Dr. Warren Goldstein

Celebrating our Connection to Israel with Pride and Gratitude

om HaAtzmaut happens in the mark the occasion. At the head of tive-driven portions of the , when weeks leading up to – the procession, there was a bull dec- really the Torah is a book of command- the time of the harvest during orated in gold. And all the residents of ments (, Bereishit 1:1). which we celebrate the great bounty Yerushalayim – the shopkeepers and Y Quoting from a remarkably prescient of the . This includes all the workers, sometimes even the (Midrash, Yalkut Shimoni the of – the Torah king – would come out to greet the on Torah 187), Rashi explains that requirement for farmers to bring their farmers’ arrival. Upon arriving at the the reason the Torah begins with the to the Beit HaMikdash. Beit HaMikdash, the Levi’im would story of Creation is because one day Interestingly, the mitzvah of bikkurim sing a song from the book of Tehillim “the nations of the world” will accuse can teach us how to approach Yom (Mishna, Bikkurim 3:3–4). the Jewish people of unjustly appro- HaAtzmaut. Why all the fanfare? What is so special priating the Land of Israel, to which What is most unusual about this mitz- about the mitzvah of bikkurim that it we can respond – G-d, the Creator of vah is that when the farmers brought warranted such a declaration and such the world, gave it to us. That is our title their baskets to the Beit HaMikdash, a grand, beautiful ceremony? deed. And we underline this claim by publicly declaring and celebrating our they would make a short declaration, The Malbim (Devarim 26:5) explains summarizing : how the connection to the Land of Israel in the that the declaration regarding the bikkurim ceremony. Jewish people came to live in Egypt; bikkurim was stated as a response to how we were afflicted by the Egyptians those who would challenge our right There’s certainly a lesson we can draw and called out to G-d; how He answered to the Land of Israel. He cites Rashi’s here in our own age about proudly our cries and redeemed us with signs very first comment on the Chumash – and unapologetically celebrating our and wonders, and eventually brought the question of why the connection to the Land of Israel. Yom us to the Land of Israel – to the sacred Torah begins with the HaAtzmaut is a special time to do so, ground from which these first fruits book of Bereishit, the and remind ourselves of the justice of were harvested (Devarim 26:3–10). more narra- Israel’s cause. Furthermore, the paints a colorful picture of the farmers’ proces- sion: they did not arrive one by one in Yerushalayim; rather, they would go up in a group, accompa- nied by music and a whole entou- rage to

Rabbi Dr. Warren Goldstein is the Chief Rabbi of South Africa.

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