Ki Tavo: Sure, bless; but, when??

I get it. This ritual that our Torah portion ordains at the start of the reading makes a lot of sense, and I'm on board. I just have one, little question. The text instructs our 

ancestors, "When you enter the land that Adonai, your God, is giving you as a heritage, and you possess it and settle in it, you shall take some of every first fruit of the soil, which you harvest from the land..." (Deut. 26:1-2), and the Torah then essentially lays out a lengthy, scripted, demonstrative ceremony. The person is supposed to recount our people's history of wandering, then oppression, wandering some more, and eventually entering this land, cultivating the fruits of the earth - truly a gift directly from God - and now expressing gratitude and mindfulness for receiving God's Favor. Again, it makes perfect sense. I'm all for it. I'm just wondering, when exactly should this ritual be performed?

You see, if you think about it, Deuteronomy is giving us *at least* three possible options. When you enter the land; meaning that as soon as you've crossed the border, give thanks to God. Or when you possess it; in other words,

when you've subdued your enemies and have declared victory, stop and give thanks. Or when you settle it; which is later still, after the dust has settled, peace is in place, and you've had enough time to really set up your farm and grow an apple or two. And even then, the individual Israelite might respond that at any one of those moments, s/he'd be too busy, too stressed, too preoccupied to stop and go through a lengthy, scripted, ritualized ceremony of thanksgiving. "Can't this wait until... well, I don't know... LATER??!?!" A fair question, right? Well, to me, this is both the loophole *and* the brilliance of our text.

You (stressed-out Israelite) could always say "later, later, later." "I will definitely, definitely get to this at some point... WHEN I have time. I mean, this ritual makes total sense, and I will 100% get to it... just after we enter/possess/settle/cultivate/increase/organize/incorporate/and then publicly trade the land and its fruits..." Do you see my point? We put it off and put it off, always telling

ourselves that there will be some OTHER opportunity when we'll have endless free time, and that mythical moment will be the perfect time to stop, appreciate, practice mindfulness, and give thanks. One of our greatest sages, Hillel, famously stated in Pirkei Avot, the Ethics of the Fathers: "Do not say: 'When I have time I will study, because you may never have the time.'" (2:4) This was later echoed by a student of his, John Lennon, who wrote: "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." So when does the Torah want you to conduct this ritual at the Temple? Well, right now, of course!

I mean that only somewhat facetiously. Obviously, we have no Temple, and most of us don't grow our own produce (and the majority of my readers don't live in the Biblical Promised Land...). But the point of this whole passage is more than a reminder about one particular ceremony in one specific location

at one exact moment in time. It's about mindfulness and appreciation. Even today (maybe *especially* today!), we wait and wait and wait for the perfect opportunity. That precise instant to tell someone how we feel, to express our gratitude in general, to attend a service, try our hand at something totally new and unfamiliar, or set out on an adventure that has ALWAYS been on our "bucket list." What are you waiting for? A sign from God? Someone else to tap you on the shoulder and say, "Now! This is the moment! GO FOR IT!!" We're in the Season of Repentance, folks. Rosh Hashanah is ten (gulp!) days away. You're waiting for a better moment than this?? Consider this your tap on the shoulder...


CC images in this blog post courtesy of:
1. PeakPX
2. Marines on Wikimedia Commons
3. AhmadArdity on Wikimedia Commons
4. rgaudet17 on Pixabay