A Thought on Parshas Ki Tavo

"...Ki Tavo el ha'aretz..." "...when you come to the Land..." (26:1) Every year we close the Pesach Seder and proclaim "L'shana ha'baa b'Yerushalayim!" Next year in Jerusalem! Jews around the world use this expression during times of joy, during times of hopefulness, and as an almost generic salutation upon ending an event. Ever wonder what people used to say when we were in Jerusalem? Ever wonder what people would use as a general proclamation of joy and hopefulness when our greatest joy and hope were already actualized? Rabbeinu Avigdor cites a midrashic elucidation of the Bringing of the First Fruits - Bikurim - as introduced in our parsha. The midrash explains that a person would bring those First Fruits up to Jerusalem into the Mikdash. Then, before bowing to HaShem and leaving, he would pray for Divine compassion for himself, for the Jewish people, and for the Land of Israel. Then, the person would declare "I shall not budge from here until You announce to me that You shall fulfill all that I ask today, and attend to all of my needs." The midrash then says in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish that a bas kol, an echo, would resound from Above as if in response to those who brought their First Fruits, "May it be His will that you return and offer your first fruits next year! Yehi ratzon sh'tisha'neh v'titen l'shanna ha'baa." It would seem to me that Rabbeinu Avigdor is reminding us that "the Hope" - HaTikva - is not time limited. It does not terminate in getting back to Israel and Jerusalem. The hope lives on, and shall live on even when we are escorted b'chesed Elyon back from galus. No person should ever dream of complacency and expect all of the avodas HaShem to somehow end once we achieve Shivas Tzion.This was an error of some of the early pioneers who felt that the mitzvos could be set aside once we had a homeland to preserve us, as if we no longer required a faith system. Chas v'Shalom! Rabbeinu Avigdor actually contends that when the verse says (26:14) v'lo sasur mi'kol ha'devarim - you must not stray from any of these conditions - it means that one should never think "I have labored most of my life to fulfill HaShem's commandments; my past deeds will all suffice henceforth." Not straying means not concluding that there is ever an end to our role and mission in HaShem's world. So - we now say "Next year in Jerusalem!" In the times to come when we are in fact living our lives in Jerusalem, when shall then proclaim "Next year may we still be here, and still be serving HaShem!" "Next year in Jersualem" will become "Next year may we still deserve to be in Jerusalem". Good Shabbos. D Fox