Share! Share! Share!
Parshat Ki Tavo – Rabbi Joshua Hoffman
As parents, we try to learn from the vast wisdom of others and to teach our children to behave with care and compassion. A recent example in our family has been the effort to help our two year old daughter learn the word ‘share.’ Fearing that her developing maturity would prompt long, scream-filled battles with her older siblings while claiming, “Mine!” we thought “Share” would be the best response. Much to our surprise, she took to the word beautifully, but now uses “Share” every time she really wants to say, “Mine!”
“Share! Share! Share!” Has a whole new ring to it in our house these days.
Learning to share is the great challenge of two year olds and sometimes even carries forward into adulthood. To share with others is a blessing. That is why this week’s Torah portion offers generous reminders to share our blessings wherever we find them. We are taught, “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.” (26:11)
Read in conclusion to the moving ritual of bringing first fruits to the Temple, two distinct features of this mitzvah emerge. First is the commandment to simply enjoy the fruit. Bringing offerings to God is not a matter of self-deprivation. We are blessed in our lives, often with more than we need and deserve. Our command is to enjoy these blessings as they are given to us. Don’t minimize this. Enjoy your blessings – God knows they are precious.
Second, and perhaps more important is that we must enjoy the fruits with the priest and the stranger. Sharing with the priest offers us an opportunity to enjoy our blessings in community. The priest is a conduit and mirror for God’s presence in our lives. The priest symbolizes the communal vision of sharing our bounty with God. The priest is familiar – he’s mishpacha.
The greater challenge is in sharing with the stranger. You can feel the tension between “Share!” and “Mine!” throbbing. Which stranger? What for? Who invited them? We’re reminded that the stranger is also the mirror and conduit for God’s blessings. Traditional commentators point out that our gesture to the stranger is the compassionate response to being strangers in Egypt. Today, sharing our bounty with strangers can mean anyone from the newcomer to our synagogue community, to the needy on the streets outside our homes, even strangers in the land of Israel. Enjoying your blessings with the stranger is enjoying your blessings with God as well.
Admittedly, our daughter understands sharing pretty well, even if it takes a few times to correct her definition from time to time. Our Torah guides us well, reminding us that even we can use a correction of definitions when we find more blessings than we deserve in our midst.
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