The First - Parshat  Ki Tavo

There is something special about the first. Whether it is being the first or having the first, there is something different about 'the first'. The Americans and Russians spent millions of dollars on a race to be the first in space and then the first on the moon. Sports competitions are mostly about who is in first place. Firstborns around the world are viewed differently than subsequent offspring (I confess to being a non-firstborn). Even our first produce of flora or fauna seems different. 

This very human excitement about 'the first' is acknowledged by the Torah in this week's parsha, Parshat Ki Tavo. The Torah discusses the bringing of the first fruit, the Bikkurim, to the temple.1 It is quite a ceremony with prescribed reading, music and decorations.2 This hullaballoo points to the natural human excitement surrounding 'the first'.

We find over and over again that even the Torah notes the first. It starts from the first mitzvah given to the Jews as a people, the new moon and Nissan being the first of months, to the firstborn children, the firstborn animals, and more. Even the Torah itself starts off with the word 'Bereishit' denoting3 beginnings and firsts.

Yet even the first comes within a context. In fact it is not always possible to assume that there will be a first. Just ask a farmer and he will certainly tell of some of the hardships he had been through until that first fruit came - whether natural or human. Drought or flood. Tractors breaking down or workers who are unreliable. Similarly, Rabbi Wein points out that the firstborn fruit in the land of Israel comes within a context4. We retell the story of the exodus from Egypt after which God brought us to the land of milk and honey. We must have context.5

Every first of ours, as exciting as it may be, comes within a certain context. It can be a baseball team's annual run to be in first place or that of a dark horse taking part in the pennant race. It can be the firstborn of a couple who had a child shortly after they decided it was time to start a family or the firstborn of a couple struggling to have children. The first pomegranate grown on a tree by someone who grew up a city-dweller and all of a sudden has his own tree, or that of a seasoned fruit grower.

The first is different, it is special.

It also has a context. Having the first or being the first came from somewhere - it did not emerge from a vacuum. We appreciate its newness. We love knowing what it's like to hold the first child. It is special. We glory at the new, bright red flowers of the pomegranate and then at the fruit as it starts to take shape. The first brings with it that excitement, that specialness, a 'first-time-ness'. It is especially so when we recognize and truly appreciate the context. 

To celebrate our firsts, after all, is human.

 Notes

  1. Devarim 26:2
  2. Mishna Bikkurim 1-3
  3. The actual translation of the first word appearing in Bereishit 1:1 is a much-discussed topic with many opinions.
  4. Rabbi Wein on the parsha.
  5. This is a concept borrowed from the logotherapy of Viktor Frankl.

 

Have A Great Shabbat!laughing

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