{"id":51689,"date":"2019-03-20T06:22:56","date_gmt":"2019-03-20T04:22:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=51689"},"modified":"2022-10-11T15:31:56","modified_gmt":"2022-10-11T12:31:56","slug":"transcending-covenantal-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/transcending-covenantal-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Transcending Covenantal Community"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/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":[464,395,415,712,453],"acf":{"old_id":"51689","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":51422,"related_cahpter":"179","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Including native and foreign, landed and landless","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAnd you shall enjoy, together with the Levite and the stranger in your midst, all the bounty that the Lord your God has bestowed upon you and your household.\u201d (Deut 26:11)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In his parting words to the Israelites, Moses repeatedly invokes the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ger<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, or stranger, as an object of the Israelites\u2019 empathy and as a reminder of the need to look out for society\u2019s vulnerable since they too were once strangers in a strange land. \u00a0In the <em>bikkurim<\/em>, first fruits offering discussed in today\u2019s chapter, the stranger emerges not as an object of the Israelites\u2019 social justice but as a subject and participant in the rite of gratitude and rejoicing in the first fruits of the harvest. \u00a0According to Rashi, Israelites, strangers and Levites (Israelites without tribal lands) are all on an even playing field in bringing the first fruits of the harvest and recognizing the good bestowed upon them by God when entering the Land of Israel. (Rashi specifies that this is for Levites who planted in their designated cities.) \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This inclusivity is in contrast to the mitzvah of <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>ma\u2019aser<\/em> <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(tithing) in our chapter, in which the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>ger<\/em> <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is once again an object of charity through which the Israelite farmer fulfills his mitzvah to tithe and share his produce with the needy and landless (widow, orphan, stranger, and Levite). \u00a0After faithfully fulfilling God\u2019s commandments regarding the laws of tithing, the farmer then asks God to rain down His blessing to nourish the earth. While the community of tithers is a covenantal community bound by Torah, the community of celebrants in the <em>bikkurim<\/em> ritual is broader\u2014it is for all households who reach the promised land and embark on independent lives grounded in material concerns and labor but cognizant of the source of all blessing. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The inclusive participation in the <em>bikkurim<\/em> ritual, of the landed and landless, is mirrored in the farmer\u2019s prayer recited before the priest in which the farmer reflects on the miraculous historical trajectory of going from slavery to freedom in the promised land. \u00a0Significantly, the farmer narrates the exodus history but skips over revelation and the covenant at Sinai. In pairing this prayer of gratitude to the <em>bikkurim<\/em> rite, the Torah is speaking to a broader community here bound up in the fate of the Israelites but not necessarily in its laws. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This <em>bikkurim<\/em> community can enjoy and rejoice in land, labor, and first fruits which transcend tribe and ancestry. \u00a0Rashi does delimit the stranger\u2019s participation, though, stating that a <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ger <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">can bring first fruits but cannot recite the prayer which refers to the God of \u201cour forefathers.\u201d\u00a0 That being said, the farmer\u2019s prayer seems to purposely transcend covenantal community and focus on the blessing of free labor and the ability to reap the fruits of one\u2019s labor, a message with universal resonance.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image: http:\/\/clipart-library.com\/clipart\/kTKopBnBc.htm<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":51690,"id":51690,"title":"dt26-cornucopia","filename":"dt26-cornucopia.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-cornucopia.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/transcending-covenantal-community\/dt26-cornucopia\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"dt26-cornucopia","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":51689,"date":"2019-03-20 04:22:43","modified":"2022-05-24 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