“והיה כי תבוא אל הארץ אשר ד' אלקיך נתן לך נחלה, 26:1וירשתה וישבת בה”
“And it will be when you enter the Land that Hashem, your G-d, gives you as an inheritance, and you possess it and dwell in it.” The previous Parsha ends with the Mitzvah of Mechiyas Amalek. The Posuk here by Bikkurim begins, “והיה” – with a “ו'” which connects this Parsha with the previous one. What is the connection between Mechiyas Amalek and Bikkurim?
The Alshich Hakodosh says that the Mitzvah of Bikkurim alludes to the Midah of Hachna’ah, of one being exceedingly humble and subservient. Just as a servant is obligated to give his master the first fruits of the field, so too one must give them to the true Master of the world. The Avos were the paradigm of the Midah of Hachna’ah. Avrohom Avinu said, “ואנכי עפר ואפר” – I am but dust and ashes. Moshe and Aharon said, “ונחנו מה” – what are we – we are nothing.
The Ba’al Haturim says that the word, “תבוא” can be rearranged to spell “אבות” – which is for us to learn that we must always act like them, with great Hachna’ah. We can also explain that from the Mitzvah of Bikkurim, we are to learn how to squelch our Yetzer, as it says in the Rambam. Hashem commanded us to take from the first fruits of the ground, for one has a great desire for those fruits, and it is those fruits which one must not take for himself, but rather give it to Hashem. We see this Midah by the Avos, of completely subjugating their own personal desires for the desire of Hashem. Avrohom superseded his great desire for Rachamim, and was prepared to slaughter his son for Hashem. Yitzchak went against the grain of any human being, and stretched out his neck in anticipation of being slaughtered for Hashem. Yaakov learned Torah day and night, for that is what brings one to be Machnia himself in front of Hashem. This causes his own desires to be pushed away for the desire of Hashem. As it says in Sukkah 52b – If you meet that disgusting one (the Yetzer Hara) drag him to the Bais Hamedrash, and you will conquer him. The purpose of Bikkurim is to be Mesaken the Machshavah, thoughts, of a person. Machshavah is called, “אבות” and Ma’aseh, action, is called, “בנים.” The previous Parsha spoke about eradicating Amalek, that is Ma’aseh, action. By performing the action which brings Kedusha, destroying Amalek, it then brings the Kedusha of Machshavah, which one can accomplish by bringing Bikkurim. Bringing Bikkurim helps one create Kedusha with his Machshavah, which is referred to as, “אבות(.“ אך פרי תבואה)
Amalek exhibited the Midah of arrogance. They had no fear and came to attack Klal Yisroel. We must eradicate that Midah, for in order to serve Hashem properly, we must do so with great Hachna’ah and humility. We need to connect ourselves to the Torah Hakdosha. How does one connect himself to the Torah? We must do so with great humility, and by conquering our Yetzer Hara. We must not let the Yetzer Hara convince us that Gashmiyos is more important – for we know that Ruchniyos is what really matters. As we prepare for the Yemei Hadin, we must strengthen ourselves in our humility and in our Limud HaTorah. May we Zoche to a כתיבה וחתימה טובה, and to the rebuilding of the Bais Hamikdash, במהרה בימינו אמן.
