Ki Savo: Bikkurim, Hakaras Hatov, and Finding Simcha in What Hashem Gives

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Torah tells us there's a mitzvah. As soon as you come to Eretz Yisrael, V'lakachta me'reishis kol pri ha'adamah asher tavi me'artzecha. And as we read, it's the bikurim. Bikurim, the first of the fruit, needs to be cut off the tree and brought to the Beis HaMikdash. And as we soon will learn, as the Mishnayos Bikurim teach us, as the Chazal tell us, it was brought with fanfare. It's a parade. It was a tremendous parade in the streets. Bikurim! They're bringing the bikurim to Yerushalayim, to the Beis HaMikdash. The Gemara tells us, Chazal teach us, that all the storekeepers en route to the Beis HaMikdash, all the storekeepers on the sides, as the people were passing, would stop working, and they would come out and celebrate, celebrate, celebrate the bringing of the bikurim. And what is bikurim? V'lakachta me'reishis kol pri ha'adamah asher tavi me'artzecha, the first fruit. How much is bikurim? How much do you bring already, bikurim? Rashi tells us that you would go down to your field. And you would see a gargir. You would see one small cluster of grape, and you would come and cut it off and bring it. It's a small amount. It's not a big thing, the bikurim. It's not a lot. And yet, it was such a big simcha. It was such a big, exciting event, the bringing of the bikurim. Why? What's so special about the bikurim? Why was that the focal of all the trumos and maasros? There were so many kafts. There were so many things that had to be given: truma, maaser, all the years, the different years, sometimes truma gedolah and maaser, maaser ani and maaser sheini. That didn't get the tremendous parade. What got the big parade? Bikurim. What's so special? What's so unique about the bikurim? Let's talk. What is bikurim? What does it represent? And what is bikurim to us today? We don't even have bikurim. We don't have a Beis Hamikdash. You know, people don't realize. We live and we go to the shul and we daven and we learn. There's so many beautiful things that we lost. We don't have today. We don't have bikurim. We don't have this big parade. This big happy event in the life of a Jew, that he brought his bikurim. Maybe we do, because maybe if we understand what the bikurim represents, tachlit habikurim, if we'll understand what is the yesod, what was the bikurim about, we'll realize that we do have it, and it's so important, and it's a big part of the life of every person, and especially every Yid. To understand bikurim is really understanding what it means to be a Yid, a Jew. I want to begin with the psukim and bring you an understanding, a picture of what bikurim is. The pasuk says, V'haya ki savo'u el haaretz. The word v'haya is extra. It didn't have to say v'haya. It should have said, Ki savo'u el haaretz. V'haya, it will be, it will be when you come. Yeah, okay. Just say, Ki savo'u el haaretz.

Or Chaim HaKadosh, the Or Chaim asks this question: Why does it say, V'hoyo ki savo'u? It should say, Ki savo'u el ha'aretz, when you come to the land. Says the Or Chaim HaKadosh, V'hoyo, Chazal, our Chachamim tell us, is a lashon simcha. It's a lashon of happiness. The pasuk is beginning the parsha with this yesod. It's a time of happiness. V'hoyo. It's happy. It's a happy occasion, ki savo'u el ha'aretz. Explains the Or Chaim, what's the happy occasion in this parsha? And he says it's ki savo'u el ha'aretz, because happiness is only in Eretz Yisrael. Ein simcha—there's only happiness when a person is in Eretz Yisrael. She'ein lismoach ela b'yeshivas ha'aretz. You should be happy only in Eretz Yisrael. Why? Why is happiness only in Eretz Yisrael? And I have a better question: are all the people in Eretz Yisrael so happy? Should put it on here. Are all the people in Eretz Yisrael so happy? Rabosai. They could be, they should be. You got to understand what is happiness, and what does it mean to be in Eretz Yisroel, and what about Eretz Yisroel makes one happy? What is it that makes us happy? So the pasuk begins the parashah of Bikurim. Know that if you're in Eretz Yisroel, you're happy. And I believe that this is not the first time that talks about us being in Eretz Yisroel. Is this the first time it talks about us in Eretz Yisroel? No. Obviously it's happy, but it's connected to what? To the Bikurim. It's Eretz Yisroel. V'haya ki savo el haaretz, Eretz Yisroel means happy. Simcheh, v'haya is a lashon of simcheh. It's a language of simcha. Yes, Eretz Yisroel, but particularly, specifically, when it comes to Bikurim. Bikurim in Eretz Yisroel is simcha. As a matter of fact, if you look at the pesukim further as it continues, in pasuk yud aleph, the pasuk says, V'samachta b'chol hatov. That when you bring the Bikurim, you'll be happy with everything. Asher nasan lecha Hashem Elokecha uleveisecha, atah v'halevi v'hager asher b'kirbecha. Rashi says, why does it stress that you will be happy? Here, now, when you bring the bikurim. Says Rashi, מכאן אמרו. From here the Chazal, our Chachamim, understood, אין קורין מקרא ביכורים אלא בזמן שמחה. It's done in the time of the year, in the period of the year, that it's simcha, which is מעצרת, from Shavuos, ועד החג. From Shavuos to Sukkos is happy time. שאדם לוקט תבואתו ופירותיו ויינו ושמנו, because a person collects all his produce. It's the time of the harvest that they collect everything from the fields. You're happy. אבל מן החג ואילך, but if a person would bring bikurim from Sukkos and on, he brings it, but it's not with the same parade, with the same coming to the Beis Hamikdash and saying the whole, as we're going to learn, the whole Arami oved avi, Hashem, You gave me, I thank You. I have a question, rabosai. We're always taught that happiness is not about how much food you collect and how much parnassah you make.

It should have been, you know when? From Sukkos, because Sukkos, Torah, we sit in a sukkah. This is what we tell a person: it's zman simchah, it's the time of happiness. Now, I'm not undermining, and I'm not belittling happiness which comes from physical and monetary things. I'm not. The Torah wants you to be happy with a good house, like it says, you should be happy, asher nasan lecha Hashem Elokecha, whatever Hashem gives you monetarily. I'm not undermining, I'm not belittling it. But you see that we want you to bring it only b'zman simchah, the time that you bring in your produce. What are you collecting? He's melaket tevuaso, he's collecting his tevuah, his peiros, his wine, and that's called the zman of simchah. I would have wanted that you should bring the bikurim in a time of simchah, the simchah of spiritual Chanukah. Chanukah is such a spiritual time, and of course I understand Chanukah is not in the times of the Torah; it's much later. But I'm just giving you an example of times where people are happy spiritually. Simchah, Pesach, zman cheirus, zman geulah, beautiful. Why is the zman simchah in the bikurim parsha? The collecting of monetary valuables. But we do see something, that bikurim and simcha are connected. Bikurim and simcha are connected. V'hayah — happy. V'samachta b'chol hatov. There's something about this period and the bringing of the bikurim that brings out tremendous simcha, tremendous happiness. What is it? What is it about bikurim brings out happiness? What is it? Haboisai, what is it? Yeah, it's a good question, huh? It's a great question. What is it that brings out happiness? The bikurim is an expression of simcha. Let me tell you something interesting. There's a Baal HaTurim. The Baal HaTurim says, V'hayah connects this parsha to the previous parsha. The reason why it says v'hayah and not just ki savo, because v'hayah l'chaber, to connect this parsha to the previous parsha. And what was the previous parsha? Mechiyas Amalek. It's the Baal HaTurim. Baal HaTurim on the spot here, the Rishon, the Baal HaTurim. And what is the lesson? Ki savo'u el ha'aretz. The minute you come into the land, your first order of business is— To get rid of Amalek, destroy Amalek. Why do we have to learn in the parsha of Bikurim to destroy Amalek? We need an remez that the first order of business is to destroy Amalek. We're talking about parshas Bikurim. Tzrichim lechaber. We have to connect the destruction of Amalek to the parsha of Bikurim? Mah kesher? What's the connection? What's the connection? It's a great she'eilah that Chareidim and the Shlah HaKadosh talk about this question. What is the chibur? What is the connection between Amalek and getting rid of Amalek, and when you come into Eretz Yisrael you have to get rid of Amalek and bringing of Bikurim? The Shlah speaks different pshatim. The Chareidim speaks. I would like to introduce to you, offer you a very nice pshat. We need to understand: what is Bikurim? What is Bikurim? And like we spoke before, it's such an important part in Klal Yisrael. It's such an important mitzvah. They paraded the Bikurim in the streets. What is Bikurim? And the answer...

Rashi clearly tells us, V'anisa v'amarta. When you come to the Kohen with the bikurim, you tell the Kohen, V'anisa v'amarta. You should come and speak loud and declare, Lifnei Hashem Elokecha. Arami oved avi, says Rashi. What am I declaring? I'm declaring she'eineni kafui tov. That's what I'm declaring. V'amarta eilav, Rashi says, pasuk gimmel, she'eincha kafui tov. Bikurim is hakaras hatov, recognizing the good. Bikurim represents the act and the expression of, I am makir tov to Hashem for what He gave me. Ki savo'u el ha'aretz, I come to Eretz Yisrael, I say, Ribbono Shel Olam, I understand. You gave me Eretz Yisrael. You gave me a home. You gave me a field. You gave me produce. By bringing the bikurim, I'm announcing that I have hakaras hatov. I have hakaras hatov. V'anisa v'amarta. That what? What are you saying when you bring the bikurim? That you're not a kafui tov. Reb Yerucham, the great mashgiach. Explains that there's a very important part of bringing bikurim is to be b'simcha, is to be happy. It's something I must be, I have to be in a state of happiness when I bring the bikurim. Why? Says Rabbi Yerucham, because that's all part of hakaras hatov. You know how you show appreciation? You show appreciation by showing that you're happy with what you got. You ever get a present from somebody, right? So you could tell him from today till tomorrow how much you like the gift and that you're happy and you appreciate it, right? But if on your face you're saying it with a way that it's not, you don't show such happiness, so what are you really showing? You're not makir tov, you don't really appreciate what you got, right? Imagine you write a thank you card and it's sloppy. You know, you could tell the guy wrote it because his wife forced him to write the thing, but he doesn't look like he was really happy with the gift. Sometimes you get these cards, it looks like someone forced the guy to write the thank you card. Says Rabbi Yerucham, without the example I gave you, hakaras hatov means, you hear, hakaras hatov means that you got to be happy to show the person that you appreciate the gift. That's how Rabbi Yerucham, the heilige mashgiach Rabbi Yerucham from the Mir, explains the mitzvah of simcha, the importance, the emphasis of simcha. Because that's part of being makir toiv. Makir toiv means not just with words to say thank you, but to express that, and to show your inner happiness. That's called hakarat hatov. I would add, and I've always felt this is true, that it's not only to show that you're makir toiv, but that when you are makir toiv, you will be b'simcha. I'm going to teach you a lesson in life that's so important. People walk around unhappy. They focus on all the bad things. They focus on what they don't have. If you're makir, you recognize the good, you will be happy. Reb Yerucham is learning that you must be happy to show the hakarat hatov. The way we're explaining, and I think it's true, that if—

If you will be makir tov, you will be happy. If you will be makir tov, you will be happy. One of the basic things that a person could train himself to bring himself to happiness is to be makir tov, to be makir tov. Because there is so much that a person could be thankful for, but the yetzer hara and one's bad middos don't let him be makir tov. That's the inyan of a hodah, by hakaras hatov. V'samachta, happy, because if you are makir tov, you will be happy. Now let's go back to Amalek, the annihilation of Amalek and the kesher, the connection to bikurim. One of the bad middos of Amalek, and don't forget Amalek was singled out from all nations that you got to destroy it completely. We got to uproot it, minar v'ad zaken. What's so evil about Amalek? So there's a lot. Trust me, if you want to have an alphabetical order, all the evil of Amalek, you can look at all the sefarim that speak about Amalek on Purim and Haman. Bad people. But one of the underlying rishus of Amalek, they are kafuyei tov. They don't have a kares hatoif. In the piyut, in the piyut that is said on Purim, we stress this: V'lo yizachar Chasdei Shaul, Haman, which is the descendant of Amalek, represents Amalek and all the evil of Amalek. He was a kofei toiv to who? To Mordechai. Mordechai's grandfather kept his grandfather Agag alive, and that's how he survived. Right? They went to war. Shaul killed out most of the Amalekim, but he left Agag. And that night that Agag was left in jail, he had a child, and this is Amalek. So v'lo yizachar Haman. Haman is a kofei toiv. You're trying to kill Mordechai. You owe your life to Mordechai. Mordechai's grandfather made your life, saved your life. Instead of killing your grandfather, you left your grandfather alive, so you're alive today because of him, let alone that Haman was alive because of Mordechai in his time. Chazal, the Midrashim tell us that he was going to die. Haman was the head of the army of Achashverosh. Achashverosh's father-in-law, he was the head of the army, and he lost the war, and he had no food. And Mordechai... Gave him food. Mordechai gave him. And he even promised him, I'll be your slave, and that's the story. The Medrash says that he wrote on his shoe that, You're my slave. Haman was supposed to be a slave to Mordechai for protecting him, for sustaining him. And then what happened? He was a kofui toiv. He was a kofui toiv. What was Mordechai? Mordechai Yehudi. We emphasize that Mordechai is a Yehudi. What does Yehudi mean? Hoda, that a Jew is able to thank, to be appreciative. You know, Mordechai was so appreciative. Tachashverosh. He saved Achashverosh's life, because a Jew is about appreciation. And Haman, Amalek, is about kofui toiv. Good and evil is down this line. Hakaras hatov is good. Kofui toiv is what? Is evil. Amalek represents kofui toiv. Kofui toiv. Haman represented—

In the times of Purim, that he was a kafui tov, and Mordechai, Yehudi, to thank, to be appreciative. He protected Achashverosh's life. Appreciation, good and evil. Bikurim is about hakaras hatov, and therefore, v'haya, I believe that's the pshat, that the first order of business when you come into Eretz Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael needs that a person lives with hakaras hatov, with appreciation. You know the Meraglim. What was the big sin of the Meraglim? And the answer is many, but one of the simple explanations to the Meraglim, they didn't makir the tov, they didn't appreciate the good. They came into a land, Eretz zavas chalav u'dvash, and they didn't appreciate it. So what's the first thing you do when you come into Eretz Yisrael? V'haya, what do you do? Amalek. And then there's happiness. V'haya, first you have to get rid of Amalek. You got to uproot the concept of evil, which is to not appreciate the good. And if you do that, it brings tremendous simcha. You know, Purim is a tremendous time of simcha. LaYehudim haysa orah, laYehudim, Yehudi, hoda, thankfulness. When you're able to thank, it's a time of happiness. Chanukah, we also thank, l'hodos u'lehalel, and it's tremendous times of happiness. No matter how difficult and how dark the situation might be, if you have hakaras hatov, then you have simcha, then you have happiness. I want to tell you something. There's a Rashi, which really, if you have to pay close attention to, because it's a chiddush, and it's an interesting words that Rashi picks. When Rashi says that Bikurim is, I announce, it should have said, I announce that I'm a makir tov. It doesn't say that. What does it say? What do I come and I tell Hashem? I tell Hashem, V'amarta eilav. What do I say? I say, she'eineni she'eincha kafui tov. It doesn't say that I'm a makir tov. It says that I'm not a kafui. It should have said better, but I'm a makir tov. I bring the bikurim, I bring the bikurim, and what am I trying to announce? What am I trying to symbolize with my bikurim? That I'm a makir tov, not the, in Hebrew we call it shlili, not the opposite. I don't have to go backwards. I'm not a kafui tov. Say that I'm a makir tov. So I always give an answer which I think is 100% accurate, and it's so true. If a person believes that he's makir all the tov, then he's not really makir tov, because the tov is so much. It's impossible to appreciate all the good. Lakir kol hatoves shel HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Could you imagine sitting, writing down on a piece of paper all the good I could see, and I could—you don't even realize—walk into a hospital where there's a choleh, and then you walk away thinking to yourself, Look how much good I have. I'm able to walk and to talk and to eat and to sleep, and we take that all for granted. Lakir tov. It's so difficult. It's almost impossible to be makir, to recognize. But what at least, at least what? She'eincha kafui tov. That's also important. At least you're not a kafui tov. The lesson is to be makir, to fully understand all the good and all the whole gamut of everything that's good in my life. It takes a tremendous wise person. Here I have a family, and here I have my father, my...

It's so much. It's so great, encompassing. So that much we can't require a person. Shehemakir bishleimut hakol hatov, samachta bchol hatov, chol hatov. But it's enough to say, I'm not a kafui tov. That's why Rashi chose the language, melamed she'eineni kafui tov. How much are you bringing for bikurim? So Rashi says clearly, the person comes down to his field and he sees a gargir echad, one cluster of grape. And he goes and he ties around it, and he ties around it a string and he brings it. It's a small amount. It's a very, very small amount. The Baal HaTurim says that you bring it in a basket. V'lakach hatenam miyadecha. The kohen takes the basket. Tena is a basket. Says the Baal HaTurim, tena is gematria echad mi-samach, one of sixty, because that's how much you should bring, one of sixty. It's a small amount. You're bringing a basket. It's a small little... You imagine the shalach mones. You ever see shalach mones? You have these big, huge shalach mones, right? You ever see, right? Cost a few hundred dollars. That's not what you're bringing. You bring a little basket. It's a little bit, yeah, and he brings it. So what's the big thing? What are you bringing? It's very little. And yet, what do you do? You make a whole parade out of it, and everybody comes out. And the answer is very simple. When a person brings bikurim, the idea of the bikurim is to understand that you can't bring all of what you owe Hashem. If you had to bring what you owe Hashem, you would need trucks and trucks, and that still would not be enough. So what do you bring? You bring a little bit. The Chizkuni says, the pasuk says, V'lakachta mireishis, from reishis, pri ha'adamah. Says the Chizkuni, you don't even have to bring a full fruit. Mi'reishis, even a little bit, half. V'lakachta mi'reishis kol pri ha'adamah. You don't bring all of it. You bring even a little bit, a small, a half. Why would you bring? Tell me something. Imagine you come to a king, and you bring him a half an orange. Huh? The Chizkuni says, Mi'reishis v'lo kol hapri. I want to see how, what the president or the king does with your half an orange. He'll be lucky if all he does is takes it and throws it at you back, right? Who brings bikurim? What kind of bikurim, rabosai? Eizeh bikurim zeh? You hear, Chizkuni? V'lo kach mi'reishis, mi'reishis pri ha'adamah. Mi'reishis, from the beginning, v'lo kol hapri. Here, come, let's take the grape and we'll cut it in half, okay? We'll take the orange and we'll cut it in half. Here. He's gonna ask you who started it, who ate the other half. When you see a half an orange on the table—half an orange, but half a grape—let's say you walked in, who would even eat it? Would you eat a half a grape? You see half a grape on the table, would you eat it? So you would definitely not give it as a shalach manos to your next-door neighbor, right? Never talk to you ever again. Imagine you come, you bring a box of shalach manos, a half a piece of cake, a half a hamantasch, and a half a grape.

Now, talk about bringing this to the Melech, Malchei Hamelachim. Bring it to Hashem as a gift, appreciation, hakaras hatov. It's a bizayon. What does it mean? And you know what the answer is? I tell Hashem, no matter how much I would give, I could never be able to give You what You really deserve. I could never give You what You really deserve. It's just the thought behind it. Remember you say to somebody, when the gift is small, what do you say? It's not the gift, it's the thought behind it. You know what I'm telling Hashem? Hashem, the first thing that grew, I know, it's not me, it's You. Hashem, Atah natata li, Hashem. It's You, Hashem, who gave it to me. It doesn't make a difference what I give Hashem, as long as I appreciate. Let me tell you, rabosai, we can never give Hashem enough. For what He gives us, we can never give Him back anything. It's a joke. So it's the thought behind it, b'reishis. Hashem, I'm giving You the first. Whatever it is, it's all You. With this, rabosai, we can understand something very nice. How is bikurim brought in a basket to the kohen, and you have to announce to the kohen the parsha Arami oved avi, and like Rashi says, and what am I trying to bring out with Arami oved avi? That I'm not a kafui tov. Rashi says, v'anisa v'amarta, v'anisa, it's a double lashon. V'anisa, you answer, v'amarta, and you say. It could have just said, V'amarta or vanisa. Why the double language? It says, Rashi, vanisa lashon haramas kol. It's a lashon of loud. It's not enough just to say it. I almost have to scream it. Why? But Hashem can't hear? The Gemara in Halacha tells us you're not supposed to raise your voice in tefillah. You know why? Because you're saying that Hashem is hard of hearing. A person is supposed to speak regular, normal tone, because Hashem hears it anyway. Why here do you have to scream it, so to speak, lashon haramas kol? I'm not a coffee type. So it could be it's not meant to catch Hashem's ear, or even the kohen. It's for the people around. The people around should hear that you're proclaiming hakaras hatov to Hashem. Maybe, maybe. I would say it a little differently. I would explain it a little differently. You know, when someone is humbled and that he has to come on to show appreciation, he has a hard time doing it. He says it very low. You ever see when you have to say thank you and you're forcing, let's say, a kid to say thank you? You know, I just say, Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Okay, thank you. You ever see, when someone is, he holds of himself that he's, for example, a gvir adir. Imagine you take a guy who's a millionaire, yeah? And you tell him, you know, I want you to humble yourself and thank the shoemaker from down the block that he polished your shoes, because since he polished your shoes, he says, Tzachak, Tzachak, yafeh מאוד. It's a nice muscle. You like the muscle? So imagine he has to get up and scream on top of his lungs, you hear? The shoemaker down the block, he was the one who gave me all my riches and all my money. He can't do it. So what is he going to do if you force him? He'll say, Okay, okay, okay, let's move on. If you look today in the presidential race, when the candidates have to admit things that they don't want to admit, you know how they say it? When there's no media around. Okay, next, okay, let's move on to the important issues. Why? Because it's gaiva. They have to admit that everything is not you. You walk around, I'm this rich, big, honored...

A poor, rich balabayit, a gavir, and he has to come and say, It's not me, it's all You, Hashem. It has to come with an overwhelming hakarat hatov that I scream in the streets, V'anita v'amarta. It has to be b'pumbi. It has to be in front of all the people of Yerushalayim. And that's called hakaras hatov. Hakaras hatov, when you recognize really the chesed of Hashem, you want to scream it in the streets. People always ask me, I say so many shiurim, I say so many shiurim, I can hardly talk. See, I was coughing. I talk all the time. I'm giving shiurim all day and all night. And they ask me, What drives me to teach so much? Don't I ever get tired? I answer the same thing. You remember what I always answer? I owe Hashem so much. I owe Him so much. Whatever I could repay Him, it's nothing compared to what I owe Him. So I scream and I yell and I announce Hashem's greatness wherever I have a chance, because I understand that Hashem did me favors. Hashem did chesed with me. L'hagid baboker chasdecha. What does the word l'hagid mean? Higid iti hayom laShem Elokecha ki basi el haaretz. What do you say? Higadeti. Higadeti. V'amarta eilav. Higadeti. Hayom, I tell Hashem, I... What does the word hagadah mean? The Haggadah shel Pesach, what does it mean? And it's interesting, in the Haggadah, what do we say? There's parsha. You know what the word hagadah means? I proclaim it with strength, with everything that's in me. I'm screaming out, Shivchei Hamakom. I thank You, Hashem. When someone is really thankful, he screams it out loud and clear. Lehagid, lehagid, lehagid, baboker chasdecha, emunascha baleilos. Lehagid, to speak the chasdei Hashem is lehagid. It has to be with all my inner strength. Kol atzmosai tomarna, with all my inner self, I scream out, Mi chamocha Hashem, You're great, and I owe You. There's a beautiful story. It's a parable story that Rabbi Yerucham, the heilige mashgiach, Rabbi Yerucham of the Mir, once said the following. He said, if you ever see two Jews having a conversation, two Yidden having a conversation, one Yid tells the other, Thank you so much for the favor you did for me. The guy answers, Ah, ein badma. Don't worry. No problem. So the guy again says, No, no, no, really, thank you. Thank you so much, right? And the guy again, he answers, What? Az iz beseder, beseder. Ein badman. So don't worry. In Yiddish they say, nisht af avos. Not for anything. It's fine. Nisht, right? Nisht af avos. That's the expression back in Yiddish. So the guy says it a third time, No, no, but really, thank you so much. And the guy says, Okay, okay, okay, ein badman, beseder. He says, What do you understand in this conversation? That this guy is a makir tov tremendously, and that's why he keeps repeating, Thank you. And the other guy is humble, and he's saying, You don't have to thank me. He says, That's not really the understanding of this conversation. There's a lot more going on between the lines that you have to read in. When a person does somebody a favor, he owes him so much, and he should really pay him back by doing him back lots and lots of favors when he needs it. But you don't want to be makir tov because you don't want—

A feel mechuyav. Nobody wants that. So he figures if he'll say thank you a few times with a serious, and he'll make it sound like he's really serious about it, he's patur. He already paid up. Thank you, thank you. Oh, you see, I thank you. But that's not really. You think saying thank you, thank you, thank you — you owe so much, you should really go out of your way and owe him for the rest of your life to help to do, to repay him. What does the other guy? The other guy doesn't want you to say, Liftor es atzmecha with a thank you. He wants you to — he tells you, No, no, no, no, no. It's not enough to thank. Don't just thank me. You owe me. He says deep down, every person, whether even subliminally, might not even realize it, is a kafui tov. And he thinks, you know what, if I thank people, it's good enough. It's got to be deeper. If you understood really how much that guy did you a favor, thank you is really not enough. And the other guy is saying, Please don't just thank me. You know why? Please pay me when I need you. When I'm going to need you, I'm going to come to you. Tisha'er mechuyav. That's Reb Yerucham, the mashgiach, the mussar, how he understood human nature. A person comes with his little bikurim. He thinks that's it, yatza chov, you know, I paid Hashem back. He paid Hashem back. Ve'ani samarti. Can't just be a thank you, yeah, Hashem, thank you. It should be with your whole essence. You have to give it everything you've got, v'anita v'amarta, from depth, from the core of you. You should scream, l'hagid, baboker chasdecha, Hashem, how much I owe you. With this, I think we can explain a tremendous halacha from the pasuk that needs a lot of clarification, and most of the mefarshim speak about this question. It says you bring the bikurim. How do you bring the bikurim? U'vasa, it's pasuk gimmel, u'vasa el hakohen asher yihyeh bayamim hahem. You go to the kohen of that time, that will be in bayamim hahem. Rashi explains, he brings from the Chazal, Ein lecha kohen ela shebeyamecha. Ein lecha ela kohen shehu biyamecha. You come to the kohen, that's the kohen of your time. What's the question? I mean, what, you expect to go to a kohen that lived a hundred years ago, or that's going to live in five hundred years in the future? I mean, of course you come to the kohen that's there in your time. All the mefarshim ask this question. I mean, you have to come to the Beis HaMikdash, but so you can come to a kohen and turn back the clock and go to a kohen from a few hundred years ago? Of course it's bayamim hahem. The kohen, that's biyamecha, that's alive in your time. I think, be'ezras Hashem, I thank You, Hashem, just I should be able to say chidushim in Your heilige Torah. I thank You, Hashem, for this. This is maybe how You pay me back for teaching Your Torah, by showing me and giving me the chance to say nice divrei Torah on the words of Your Torah and Your Rashi. Yes, Hashem pays me back, and I thank You for that also, Hashem. I think a person needs to learn to appreciate everything in his life. I don't have a Kohen b'yamecha. I don't have it. My Beis Hamikdash is destroyed. I don't have that. I can't come to the Kohen and bring him my bikurim. We even today have an issue that when we have to make pidyon haben, we don't even know what to do with Kohen because we don't know if they're muchzakim, and we search for kohanim that we know for sure are kohanim. It's painful. Even the fact that you have a Kohen b'yamecha, that you have a Kohen to come to, that's also part of the thank you to Hashem. You need to appreciate everything in your life.

That's the Kohen b'yamecha. A lot of times people say, Oh, he's not like the Kohen from who knows a hundred years ago. A lot of people complain, Oh, look at the rabbanim today. They're not like the rabbanim of the... That comes from kfiyat hatov. Because if you look positive, you would thank Hashem for the rabbanim you do have. You would thank Hashem for the situation you have. Ein lecha ela kohen b'yamecha. The hakaras hatov is to thank Hashem for the kohen I have. Instead of thinking about the kohen that I would have wanted, I could have had a hundred years ago, it's all part of the bikkurim, you hear? To thank Hashem for everything. I have who to go to. I have a kohen that will accept. Hashem, I thank You for every step, for everything that happens, for every little piece. Rashi brings down on the pasuk, what do we say? Arami oved avi. What's Arami? Arami is Lavan. Oved avi, right? He tried to destroy Yaakov. He tried to kill Yaakov. So agav, I always say a beautiful pshat. How did Lavan bekesh la'akor es hakol? It says that Lavan tried to uproot everything. Interesting wording, la'akor. You say in the Haggadah, this pasuk. What is la'akor es hakol? He wanted to uproot. It's interesting words. It didn't say he wanted to lechalot, to destroy, la'akor, to uproot. How did he want to uproot? I think Lavan understood. That Klal Yisrael and its hatzlacha is achdus. Why did Lavan care so much, Leah with Rachel and Zilpah and Bilhah? What was all this about? And could be he wanted that there should be inner fighting within the family. He wanted—I think it's a very true vort, it's a beautiful vort, I always say this vort—he wanted that there should be fighting. And the truth is, it did cause fighting, because there was sinah between Yosef, the children of Rachel, and the children of Leah. He wanted the home and the shvatim should fight, because he knew that that's the way, la'akor, to uproot es hakol. Lavan bikesh. Lavan wanted—pashut means he wanted to kill Yaakov, but it's more. He wanted to uproot the destiny of Yaakov and his children and Klal Yisrael by causing pirudim. And Baruch Hashem, maskir chasdei HaMakom that it didn't work. It didn't work. What's chasdei HaMakom? And we say this in the Haggadah, says Reb Yerucham, because today you're bringing bikurim, right? A person is usually makir tov. What's in front of him? I thank You, Hashem, my car, my house, my job. My children, how many people start thinking back, well, one minute. This is not from today. This is my parents and my grandparents and my great-grandparents, and all the miracles that happened to them. Hakaras hatov is not just to look at the present, what's in front of you today at the thank, but to see the bigger picture. Rabbi Yerucham calls it hishtalshlus hadvarim, how everything came to be, how everything came to happen. Hakaras hatov. A narrow-minded person talks about what's here today in front of him. A real makir tov starts to learn, Ribono Shel Olam, look back. I might not have a Beis Hamikdash today, but I thank You for the Beis Hamikdash that once was, because today I could have korbanos in the tefillah. I could daven korbanos. Mazkir chasdei hamakom. We began the shiur by saying, Bikurim, it doesn't apply today. Or maybe it does apply today, because it's about hakaras hatov. It's about hakaras hatov.

And hakaras hatov means that I look back and I look at the lineage, the history behind, the years and years that led up to this year and this moment in front of me. And we have a beautiful lineage, Matan Torah, which came after Yetzias Mitzrayim, avos. We're so lucky to be the children of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. There's so much in bikurim, and it doesn't take much. It's about appreciation. Bikurim applies today, maybe not in maaseh, but in machshavah, in what bikurim stands for, it definitely applies today. I think we could say a very nice pshat. After the parsha of bikurim begins the parsha of maaser and vidui maaser. What do we say by vidui maaser? We say like this: V'amarta lifnei Hashem Elokecha, bi'arti hakodesh min habayis. I took out all the trumos, the maasros. I did everything I was supposed to do. Hashkifah. Hashem, look down from Shamayim, mime'on kodshecha, from Your dwelling, Your holy dwelling, min hashamayim, uvarech es amcha es Yisrael, and bless and bench Klal Yisrael. Do you know what this proclamation, when I come and I say, I gave, I did. Pasuk says, he proclaims, Shamati b'kol Hashem Elokai, asisi k'chol asher tzivani. I did everything You told me to do, yeah? Rashi explains, what does it mean? Hevi'eisi l'beis habechirah. I did exactly what You told me, and that was hashkifah. I asked Hashem, like Rashi says, asinu ma shegazarta aleinu. I did exactly what You told me to do. Hashem, I kept the mitzvahs. Do you know what this is called in Gemara, in halacha? This proclamation when he comes and he says to Hashem, I gave all the terumos and maasros, I gave my bikurim, I did everything I had to do, k'chol asher tzivani. It's called vidui maaser. Vidui maaser. Vidui. Of course, that's the question. Normally, you know what vidui is? Al chet shechatasi, I didn't do. How could a person come and say vidui about something that he did do, that he did right? Unbelievable. Imagine a person comes Yom Kippur, lo dibarti lashon hara, lo gazalti. He said, I should say vidui. Okay, I'm saying vidui. Baati l'tefillah, lamadti tov. That's what you're saying. You're saying, I did everything, Hashem, what You told me to do. So why is it called vidui? All the mefarshim ask this for a question. And there's many answers, because you have to know what the word vidui means. Vidui means... A open discussion with Hashem. And we're going to talk about this as we get closer to Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur we say vidui. What is vidui? L'hisvadot, to connect with Hashem in an open dialogue, open conversation. Abba, this is what I did. This is why I did it. I'm sorry. But I would give you a very nice teretz, and I think it's very, in Yiddish say, tzugepasst. It's perfect for this year. I say to Hashem, I did everything You told me to do. Is that enough? Is that enough? Imagine a person comes and tells his father, You gave me a list of a few things to buy from the store. I did it, okay, I did my errands, that's all, done. What does the father say? You owe me so much. That's, to you, a big thing, that you did exactly what I told you to do. There's a point of vidui that we come humbly to Hashem and we say, Ribono Shel Olam, You told us to do this. We did it. But we know how much more we really should do, how much more we owe You. That's also vidui.

Vidui is that a person recognizes kama hu mechuyav, how much he still owes. How far is he from being complete in what he owes and supposed to do for Hashem. It's also vidui. We tell Hashem, asisa, I did exactly what You told me to do. I wish I could have done more. I really should have done more. I owe You so much more. Like the person in the story with Rabbi Yerucham, Ani nish'ar mechuyav, Hashem. That's also vidui. It's also part of the yesod of vidui. Rosh Hashanah. We come Rosh Hashanah, it's a time where we have machshava, thought. We make cheshbon. We're honest in the cheshbonot. Hashem, what You did for me this past year, and what did I do for You? Ha'im mishulamti lichovoti, did I repay what I owe You? And of course, like I tell you, nobody, nobody comes up clean in this area, because we come short compared to what we really owe Hashem. But we come to tell this to Hashem, that we're makir tov. We're makir tov, we're makir tov. Hashkifah mima'on kodshecha min hashamayim uvarech. You know when Hashem gives bracha? If we're makir tov. Brought down in all the Chazalim and all the Rishonim that Hashem just says, Appreciate. If you appreciate, I'll give you. If you don't appreciate, not going to give you. Hashkifah mima'on kodshecha. Look down mima'on kodshecha min hashamayim uvarech es amcha Yisrael, and bless Klal Yisrael. Why? Because even though we bring little, but at least we appreciate, and we're makir tov to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. This, I believe, would be a tremendous lesson and a tremendous advice on how to come Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Hashem, if you're going to keep the cheshbonos, mi yitzdak lefanecha? You're right. We have nothing, lo b'chesed v'lo b'ma'asim banu lefanecha. How do we say in Selichos, we come with nothing. It's embarrassing what we come with, what we paid You. But at least what do we say? We say, Einenu lechatluyos. We know that everything comes from You. And the little bit that we do is just to show that we appreciate, and that You are the, ki lecha Hashem hatzedakah v'hachesed. You're the one who's giving more than we're the ones who are giving back. Then Hashem says, Ashkif, I'll give you, I'll give you u'varech, and Hashem gives bracha. Learn to, come Rosh Hashanah, to be open with HaKadosh Baruch Hu. If you're going to come and say, Hashem, give me the—say, Ribono Shel Olam, give me because you are baal chesed. Give me because I at least appreciate and understand. I appreciate and I understand, and I owe you, and that I appreciate what you give me. And with this, we'll be zoche that Hashem gives, im ein katchecha, u'varech es ami Yisrael, tashishbatel. You've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.