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0:00 Dear friends, welcome to this week's virtual dasha. This week we have the incredible privilege para kis. The para begins with the magnificent and holy mitzvah of bikurim. The farmer works hard to plant his vegetation, his fruits. And the Torah tells us that when those first fruits begin to blossom, not every first fruit, only the Shiva, the seven species indigenous, the farmer is obligated to go ahead and 0:24 bring his first fruits up to the Biktod. And of course is fascinating because it doesn't have a particular shear. There's not a particular amount that you have to bring, but you have to bring of your first fruits. And of course, the commentaries explain that this mitzvah was really an exercise in profound amuna. You know, normally one would have thought that the farmer puts in all of this work to grow his crops, to grow his fruits. And when the first fruits come 0:48 to blossom, they literally come to fruition. One would have thought that the farmer gathers his family, he sets the table so beautifully. He brings in the vegetation, the fruit, and they have a beautiful suda celebrating the bounty. But yet, what does the Jewish farmer do? He takes literally the first fruits of his labor, puts it in a basket, goes up to the ba mikdosh, gives it to the cohen, engages in an entire recitation 1:11 of Jewish history, essentially saying, "I recognize that everything we have from the biggest to the smallest, from the fact that Hashem created the world and took us out of the fact that I have this basket of fruit here, all of it comes from Hashem." It was an incredible exercise in amuna to be able to recognize that although the farmer put in so much effort, so much literally again the sweat of it was the sweat of 1:34 his brow, but in that profound and holy moment, the farmer recognizes and states unequivocally that everything comes from I'm sharing because this Monday is the 18th of the the birthday of the birthday also of course And the says something so beautiful and such an interesting and novel 2:00 interpretation. He quotes the opening from the parish and you will come to the land. It will be when you come to the land that Hashem your God has given you as an inheritance. You'll settle it. You'll take control of it. You'll take possession of it. And then the Torah launches into the of which of course the justosition of makes a lot of sense because there is no 2:29 mitzvah of bikurim outside of the land of Israel. But listen what the says he says something so beautiful. He says listen to this. So again a seemingly straightforward it will be when you come to says Reb says of course means land but he says it's also of 2:59 means to be content to be satisfied that is giving us that you should come to the land to the place to the moment of contentment that you should feel content in life. 3:22 The telling us that we live with this incredible tension that on one hand as Jews it's always about more. In fact, again just a little couple of later the Torah says this is speaking today is telling you to perform these. 3:45 You shall guard them. You shall perform them with all of your heart and all of your soul. And comments he says quoting from the is still in the in section of after the farmer brings the heavenly voice comes out and says you should be to do this again. In other words, it's fascinating. How does aid how does a Jew celebrate the performance 4:11 of a mitzvah? Do it again. In other words, there's never like sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. Whatever we do in life, there's always more. Whatever we accomplish in life, there's always more. So, is there of course a moment to reflect on your accomplishments? Of course. You know, it's interesting because we see this in gimar all the time. So, what happens? 4:31 You finish a parak in gim, right? We should return to you. And it's amazing the way the type setting of the pages is. I don't know if this is by design or just how it was done. You would have thought just kind of like like often you'll find it in regular printed books. A book finishes a chapter. What happens? The rest of the p page is blank. The next chapter begins on the following page because there's a recognition. This chapter is done. New chapter. If you look at how the type 4:55 setting on or how does it work? A parak ends, right? The chapter in ends. We shall return to you. Where does the new peric start? The new peric starts literally a line or two. There's a little space, a little something, right? And then ultimately the new park right there. 5:11 Why? Cuz that's the that's the life of a Jew. The life of a Jew is perpetual motion. The life of a Jew is perpetual accomplishment. So the farmer brings the bikur which as we mentioned before is such an overwhelming dramatic feat of spiritual heroism. Can you imagine? 5:29 Again, I would imagine most of us are not into farming. And if we do it, you know, your little vegetable garden in in the back of your house doesn't count, right? Because if that flops there's a supermarket nearby. I'm talking about a farmer whose sustenance, his life, his family is dependent on the success of his planting this first fruits and he take it to it's incredible. It's incredible a feat of 5:52 spiritual heroism. So I would have thought okay just give him a and that's it. No. What does the basal say? The basal says yes you did great right? You did great. You should do it next year. That's how a Jew wrote. That's how Jew operates. That's that's how a Jew lives. 6:11 It's always constant movement, constant motion. What are we going to accomplish this? And even we accomplish accomplish move on. The new Mishna is not on the next page. There's no blank space in between the end of one chapter in the beginning of the next. You end big words. We shall return to you. 6:31 Rejoice in the accomplishment. Let's go. Let's go. And I think what is is highlighting over here is there does have to be another dynamic that we kind of put in between the lines which is the dynamic of contentment. The dynamic ultimately is giving us a and it's we should come to the not just of course we should to 6:56 that but should be come to we should come to the mut to a sense of contentment to a feeling of being sated satiated with the bras of life and there's this incredible balance I want more I need more I have to accomplish more. I have 7:18 to do more. But also taking the time to celebrate the accomplishments we have to celebrating the beautiful winds that we have to celebrating the brahas that we have. I want more brahas but I also need vayaki mara contentment with what I have. I want more accomplishment but I also have to celebrate 7:43 to the accomplishment that I have. that I've been teaching us this incredibly profound and delicate and I think difficult balance in life. Always want more but also find contentment in the arets that you have find contentment in the life you have in the blessings you have in the accomplishments you have and 8:08 in fact I think it's always incredible because remember these parials are always the parish of right they're always the parish leading up to and I think sometimes one of the traps that we fall into when it comes into the high holidays and is we're so future focused which which makes sense because there's so much being decided 8:35 right so remember we're we're in this mode of hashem I need I need I need I need I need life I need a I need health I need paros I need children all all I need right all all of the things that we legitimately need but there's A and now there's a profoundity in that. There's a profoundity because I recognize that all comes from God. All comes from. So by 8:59 definition, I am petitioning at the source. I'm coming at you, right? I am coming at you. I I I need this. I need these things. I need another year of life to accomplish great things, to do great things. I need more. I need children. All of the beautiful bras that we need. I need it. And so I'm going to come at you, Hashem, and I'm going to come at you relentlessly. I'm not going to stop. But we also have to remember to 9:23 take stock and to also express our gratitude for the things that we have. You know yesterday's kind of just become today's commonplace things that we take for granted. You know it's the same way when a person is looking for a okay you know I think to myself finding a life partner is the most incredible thing in the world. Then once I have her, it's so easy to take 9:47 her for granted, right? The person yearns and dabbins for children and then once I have them, you know, they can get annoying. Not my kids, but other kids, other people's kids could get annoying, right? It it could happen. So it's incredible the things that like I yearned for and I pined for once upon a time once I have them. Okay, I got them. 10:08 I got them. Let's go. What else? What else? I need more. And the Reb is teaching us is teaching us that yes, life always has to be of this forward momentum. This forward momentum moving forward in our moving forward in our gashmos, moving forward with our life aspirations. But there also has to be a certain amount of make sure you spend time in the yes but 10:35 more not more importantly but just as importantly spend time in a life of contentment in the land of contentment take stock of what you have celebrate what you have and in fact even if you look at the you know it's fascinating the says back to The says you should take your first fruit and what do you do? 11:00 So what do you do? Take the first fruit, take the put them in the basket. Put them in and then a basket is a collection point. So it's almost like what the Torah itself is saying is take all of your braas. Put it in a basket. Look at it. Examine it. Have gratitude for it. Say thank you Hashem. Okay, it's as much as you wanted. It's not the same braha. You've got put it in the basket. 11:22 And when in that moment the mask remains stationary remain in the land of contentment. Focus on what you have and then then okay then move forward. Life is this incredible balance between gratitude and reflection on what you have. Living in the land of present contentment while at 11:45 the same time surging forward for more to accomplish more to want more to desire more. This is the great balance we have to strike. It's the balance of paraso and it's the balance of this month of Abu. This is a time to think about yes where we want to go and who we want to be and what we want to accomplish and where do we want to take our basket of blessings and go to next in life. But it's also a time to stop 12:10 for a moment and look what's in the basket. What's in the basket? How many brahos do we take for granted? How many beautiful blessings we just assume are part of the tapestry and landscape of our lives without realizing that my gosh, it's like I won the lottery in so many different ways. Take the time to live in the land of contentment. 12:35 Take the time to look in the basket of bras and reflect and find a profound sense and express that gratitude to Hashem. And then and then take the basket. Move forward in life. The Reb teaching us such a profound lesson for Ella, such a profound lesson for life. 12:56 Make sure to spend ample time in the land of contentment. Take the time to reflect, to appreciate, and to express gratitude for the brahos that we have. And then after you finish looking in your beautiful basket of brahas after that then take those braas and get a little impatient because there's more to 13:19 accomplish there's more to do there's more to be spend your time in the land of contentment and then take your braas and move it forward in yiddish kite the end of a chapter doesn't leave the rest of the page blank celebrate the accomplishments reflect live life in the land of contentment and then 13:42 move yourself forward for a remaining el and a year year ahead and years ahead of beautiful holy accomplishment. Wishing everyone a good night of Shabas and a beautiful Shabas Kesh.
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