The seventh section of Deuteronomy, concludes Moses’ second farewell address to the Jewish People.

Moses taught the Jewish people that the first specimens of their wheat, barley, grape, fig, pomegranate, olive and date harvests had to be brought to the Temple and given to the priests.

Moses told the Jewish people, “when you enter the Land of Israel, you must take the fruit of the earth…. and go to the place on which G-d will choose to rest His Name, (ie. The holy Temple).

This commandment came into effect only after the Jewish people were settled in their land. The book of Joshua describes this process of 14 years. Nonetheless, until the conquest and settlement was complete, no one was obligated to bring their first fruits to the Temple.

The reason for this is, because the ritual of the first fruits express our thankfulness for G-d’s goodness, and as long as there remained even one Jew who had not yet received his portion in the Land of Israel, the people as a whole could not experience real joy and thanksgiving.

The same should apply to ourselves today: As long as there is even a single Jew who is materially or spiritually deprived, the rest of us cannot experience true joy. The material or spiritual plight of our fellow Jews – and through them, the plight of all humanity and creation in general – should inspire us to action designed to remedy this situation.

Have a wonderful week and peaceful Shabbat to follow.