{"id":51663,"date":"2019-03-19T23:04:22","date_gmt":"2019-03-19T21:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=51663"},"modified":"2022-10-11T15:36:35","modified_gmt":"2022-10-11T12:36:35","slug":"how-to-face-uncertainty-and-chaos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/how-to-face-uncertainty-and-chaos\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Face Uncertainty And Chaos?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[520,444,753,470,636],"acf":{"old_id":"51663","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":49857,"related_cahpter":"179","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Celebrate the fruits of our labors, and open our hands in joy and gratitude","content":"

We\u2019ve made it.<\/span><\/p>\n

That seems to be the promise of bikkurim<\/em>, the bringing of the first fruits.<\/span><\/p>\n

When you arrive in the land–when you have made it–you will bring your first fruits to the temple, where you will offer them to God, alongside a recitation of the story of your people. You will recount how you once wandered, how you suffered, how God redeemed you and brought you to this land. You will share your abundance in joy, and give gratitude to God.<\/span><\/p>\n

The story seems clear: you once suffered, and then you were saved. In remembering our former suffering we are reminded of our current abundance and security. Reading the mitzvah of bikkurim<\/em> in this chapter, one might expect the final verse to read \u201cand you will all live happily ever after.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But we know that that is not how the story ends.<\/span><\/p>\n

The chapter itself reminds us that that apparent promise of security is unsure: we are told, in no uncertain terms, that the story is not over. A few chapters later, we encounter the kelala<\/em>, the curse, \u00a0some of the most painful verses in the Torah. We are told that there are curses, more terrible than anything we experienced before, that we will experience if we sin–which, the Torah tells us, we certainly will.<\/span><\/p>\n

Suddenly, only a few chapters later, the bikkurim<\/em> transform into something darker: no longer a symbol of a story ended, they become a momentary pause, a respite between periods of unrest. The land shifts under our feet.<\/span><\/p>\n

We are left wondering: what meaning can the bikkurim<\/em> possibly have in a world so fraught with chaos? What meaning there be in thanking God for salvation, thanking God for the land, thanking God for what we have right now when there is no promise that it will last–when we are almost sure, in fact, that it won\u2019t?<\/span><\/p>\n

And I think, strangely enough, that the answer lies in the very place the question started. In the face of chaos, in the face of an uncertain world, we bring bikkurim<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the face of an uncertain world, we watch our trees for first fruits and promises of new beginnings.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the face of an uncertain world, we mark those first fruits and we watch them grow.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the face of an uncertain world, we tell the story of what we have faced before; of who we have been; of where we are now, and thank God for every step of that journey. We celebrate what we have now in joy–not alone, but with those around us who are in need.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the face of an uncertain world, when all our instincts might tell us to hunker down, to save every scrap we have, we open our hands and hearts in joy and gratitude.<\/span><\/p>\n

image: Thank offering unto the Lord, offering of first fruits, as in Deuteronomy 26:1-11, illustration from a Bible card published by the Providence Lithograph Company between 1896 and 1913 \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":51664,"id":51664,"title":"dt26-bikkurim","filename":"dt26-bikkurim.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-bikkurim.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/how-to-face-uncertainty-and-chaos\/dt26-bikkurim\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"dt26-bikkurim","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":51663,"date":"2019-03-19 21:04:09","modified":"2019-03-19 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