Shavuot and the First Fruits
Shavuot, along with being a celebration commemorating the Giving of the Torah, is also celebrated as the harvest festival, especially the wheat harvest. The special offering for Shavuot in the Temple consisted of two loaves of bread baked from the newly harvested wheat. Shavuot also marks the beginning of the season to bring one’s first fruits to the Temple, as described in the Torah: “It will be when you enter the land that God, your God, gives you as an inheritance… that you shall take of the first of every fruit… and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that God, your God, will choose” (Deuteronomy 26:1). After bringing the first fruits in what is described in the Mishnah as an incredibly joyous procession to the Temple and reciting words of thanks and praise to God, the Torah states: “You shall be glad with all the goodness that God, your God, has given you” (Bikkurim 3:2-4; Deuteronomy 26:11).
In the same portion (Ki Tavo) in Deuteronomy where the ceremony of the first fruits is described, the Torah discusses the consequences the Jewish people will face if they do or do not listen to God and follow His commandments. This section is referred to as “the blessings and the curses.” Near the end of the “curses” the Torah provides a reason for why this sorry state may come to pass: “Because you did not serve God, your God, with joy and goodness of heart” (Deuteronomy 28:47).
A story to illustrate: A man once came to his Rebbe and complained how sad and depressed he was because of a whole series of setbacks. The Rebbe, who knew him well, explained to him that the opposite was true: it was because he was sad and depressed all the time that these setbacks were happening!
Serving God with joy and always looking on the bright side of life is crucial in Jewish thought to maintaining proper observance and a spiritually vibrant and meaningful existence. When we harvest the fruits of our labors, we can relate to our success in one of two ways — by attributing it solely to our own talents and efforts, or by thanking God for blessing us with the wisdom and abilities to achieve our goals. The secret of happiness lies in nullifying the ego’s natural tendency to lay claim to all the credit. For when the ego is given free reign it knows no limit to the glory it feels it is due, and because of this it is in essence never satisfied. Instead we must learn to rejoice in the blessings that God gives us. Truly, the rewards of gratitude are priceless. As it says in Pirkei Avot: “Who is rich? One who is happy with their lot.”
The commandment of taking the first fruits to the Temple contains a beautiful allusion to the work of achieving a joyous frame of mind. In the verse, “and you shall put it [the first fruits] in a basket,” the Hebrew word used for basket is “tene.” This word has a numerical value of sixty. According to the rules of gematria (Kabbalistic numerology), the number “one” may be added to the sum of a word’s letters to represent the entire word. When we combine sixty, the value of the Hebrew word for basket, with one, we find an allusion to the Jewish law of Butel b’Shishim, which dictates that if one substance is accidentally mixed with another substance, it becomes null and void if the ratio between them is 60:1 or greater.
The “basket,” equaling sixty, represents a person’s ability to nullify his or her own lust for honor by bringing their first fruits to God. This notion is also hinted at by the fact that the Hebrew word for “I” (ani) has the numerical value of sixty-one. These same Hebrew letters, when interchanged, also spell the Hebrew word for “nothingness” (ayin). Thus, the one (1) who puts his first fruits in a basket (60), is in effect nullifying his ego (ani in a ratio of 1:60) and reaching the level of selflessness (ayin), the secret of true joy.
