Parshat Ki Tavo: From Wandering to Unified – the Timeless Message of Bikkurim

As we get closer to October 7th, the eternal wisdom of the Torah on unity and national resilience resonates with renewed urgency and offers timely guidance for navigating our present challenges.

This timeless wisdom on the importance of unity is beautifully encapsulated in the Bikkurim ceremony, a practice from the era of the Beit Hamikdash. As the rainy winter gave way to the summer harvest, Jewish farmers would celebrate the year’s bounty by offering Bikkurim, their first fruits of the shiv’at haminim (the seven species) to Hashem.

In a festive atmosphere, they would carry their produce (either fresh or dried fruit) to Yerushalayim and ceremonially present them to the Kohanim. At this sacred, joyous moment, the farmer would recite a prayer, one of the few tefillot formally written into the Torah, recalling the history of the Jewish people, tracing back to our earliest ancestors:

אֲרַמִּי אֹבֵד אָבִי וַיֵּרֶד מִצְרַיְמָה וַיָּגָר שָׁם בִּמְתֵי מְעָט
וַיְהִי שָׁם לְגוֹי גָּדוֹל עָצוּם וָרָב…

“Arami Oved Avi, and he went down to Egypt and sojourned there in a small group, and he became there a great, multitudinous, populous nation…” (Devarim 26:5)

The meaning of the opening phrase, “Arami Oved Avi,” is ambiguous, lending itself to diverging directions of interpretations.

Some of the traditional commentators consider ‘oved’ a verb, such that the phrase means: ‘an Aramean wished to destroy my forefather.’ In this interpretation, first appearing in Sifrei Devarim (#301) and adopted by Rashi and the Maharal in his commentary on the Haggadah, the “Aramean” refers to Lavan’s attempts to stymie the development of the Jewish people already at its inception.

The episode is recalled by Jewish farmers living centuries later in order to celebrate the immortality of the Jewish people. Despite the attempts of all those who have tried to destroy us, from Lavan to Pharaoh and all those who would follow, we give thanks to Hashem for our people’s providential continuity, ensured by the stability of living in our own land and being sustained by its bounty.

Yet there is an alternative interpretation, suggested by Ibn Ezra (ad loc.) and others, that “oved” is an adjective meaning wandering or nomadic, thus rendering the opening phrase as “My forefather [Yaakov] was a wandering Aramean.”

According to this reading, the backdrop of the farmer’s recounting of the servitude in Egypt is not the desire to destroy the Jewish people, but Yaakov’s experience of wandering. The instability of Yaakov’s home, riddled with family strife among his children, becomes the direct cause for the descent to Egypt, paving the way for the Jewish people’s subjugation under Pharaoh’s rule.

Going with the Ibn Ezra’s reading of the phrase, as the farmer recites these words over the Bikkurim basket, what comes to mind are not external enemies, but rather our own internal familial conflicts. Distrust, breakdowns in communication, resentment towards our fellow Jews; these are the sins which led not only to our original exile to Egypt, but also to the destruction of the second Beit Hamikdash and the exile that followed, which perpetuates today through our continued exile experience.

Recalling these familial conflicts during Bikkurim, which celebrates both the personal and national celebration of the bounty of the land, reminds us of the essential role of unity. It is for this reason that the Mishna (Bikkurim 3:3) describes the leadership and citizens of Jerusalem warmly greeting the Bikkurim pilgrims as an essential part of the mitzvah itself. Hashem has brought us from being “wandering Arameans” to become a nation living in the promised land of Israel in order for us to live in harmony, a challenge we still face today.

Especially as we approach the anniversary of October 7, marking a year since the massacre of nearly 1,200 in southern Israel, and the capture of the hostages, the alarming infighting and disunity is disturbing. Our inability to bridge gaps, to see the best in others, and to make space for those with whom we fervently disagree is a threat to our morale and to our national security. We must not forget that unity is one of our foundational goals and responsibilities. We must continually strive towards it! It is the only way we will truly have bounty and blessings in our promised land.