Ki Tavo begins with the commandment to bring the first fruits of one’s produce to the Holy Temple: “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).
Later in the portion, 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).
We will take the liberty of including a story here related in a previous portion due to its relevance to the subject at hand. 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: since he was sad and depressed all the time, 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; instead we must learn to rejoice in the blessings that God gives us. For in truth, when the ego is given free reign it knows no limit to the glory it feels is its due, and because of this it is in essence never satisfied.
The commandment of taking the first fruits to the Temple contains a beautiful allusion teaching us how to achieve 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. Since by the rules of gematria (Kabbalistic numerology), the number “one” may be added to the sum to represent the entire word, we find an allusion to the Jewish law dictating that if one substance is accidentally mixed with another one, it becomes null and void if the ratio between them is 60:1.
The “basket” equaling sixty represents a person’s ability to nullify his or her own lust for honor by bringing the 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 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.
