Sept. 20, 2024

Parshas Ki Savo: The First Fruits of Gratitude and the TYH Nation Movement

Can expressing gratitude transform your spiritual life? Discover the uplifting world of the TYH Nation movement, a heartwarming community where Jews come together to thank Hashem for His countless blessings. This episode takes you on a vibrant journey, delving into the ancient mitzvah of Bikurim from Parshas Ki Savo. Picture communities marking their first fruits with ribbons and making joyous pilgrimages to Jerusalem, all while singing Psalms and bringing their precious gifts to the Kohanim. We explore the rich symbolism behind TYH Nation's iconic blue and yellow logo and discuss how collective thanksgiving can deepen our spiritual connection to Hashem.

Immerse yourself in the profound teachings of the Ramban and Medrash Rabba as we examine the foundational role of Bikurim in Jewish tradition. Learn why the world was created for Israel, the Torah, and the mitzvah of Bikurim, emphasizing the importance of articulating gratitude. We highlight the power of audible expressions of thanks, such as benching out loud, and how these practices reinforce our daily acknowledgment of Hashem's blessings. Join this heartfelt conversation to embrace Hakaras Hatov and understand how audible gratitude forms one of the three pillars upholding the world.

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Questions or Comments? Please email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

Chapters

00:00 - The Gratitude of Bikurim

15:48 - The Power of Gratitude in Torah

30:42 - The Power of Audible Gratitude

Transcript
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00:00:00.261 --> 00:00:06.349
They call themselves Thank you Hashem, the movement TYH Nation.

00:00:06.349 --> 00:00:26.917
It's a famous, very popular unit of people, a new movement, that is a bunch of Jews joining together in the service and the performance of taking joy and thanking the Almighty for the blessings that he bestows upon the Jewish people.

00:00:26.917 --> 00:00:40.115
You've probably seen this movement, this famous blue and yellow T-Y-H thank you Hashem logo, plastered upon the chests of hooded sweatshirts of your fellow Jews.

00:00:40.115 --> 00:00:57.826
You've probably seen it on the back plastic bumper, bumper stickered magnetically Proclaiming that they are a part of this holy movement of TYH Nation, the Thank you Hashem group.

00:00:57.826 --> 00:01:03.688
It's a bandwagon and it's on the way to the promised land.

00:01:03.688 --> 00:01:27.069
I was never sure what to make of the movement, never knew why exactly it became a movement, but I'm here to tell you loud, audibly, to roar, that I'm jumping on the bandwagon of the T-Y-H movement.

00:01:27.069 --> 00:01:29.168
I'm all in on Thank you Hashem Nation.

00:01:29.168 --> 00:01:31.504
And let me tell you why.

00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:40.379
Parshas Kisovo contains in it one of the most incredible mitzvah da'oraisas known to mankind.

00:01:40.379 --> 00:01:53.209
It is truthfully actually two of the mitzvos number 606 and mitzvah number 91, all included in the first 10 psukum of our Parsha, parsha's Kisava.

00:01:53.209 --> 00:01:54.581
What is this mitzvah, you ask?

00:01:54.581 --> 00:01:59.408
It is the mitzvah of bikurim, first fruits.

00:01:59.408 --> 00:02:01.992
Surely you've heard of it.

00:02:01.992 --> 00:02:07.240
It's when a man, surely you've heard of it.

00:02:07.240 --> 00:02:27.493
It's when a man shall go down into his field and see the very first budding green, showing of all of his hard work and effort he seeded, plowed, organized all of these different services to get some parnasa, some food and now, finally, the very first fruits of his labor.

00:02:27.493 --> 00:02:31.668
Quite literally, this mitzvah is a tithe.

00:02:31.668 --> 00:02:38.780
It's also one of the 24 gifts that we're obligated to give to the Kohanim, and this service is so fantastic.

00:02:38.780 --> 00:02:49.146
Let me set the scene so you understand just how remarkable this iconic sight was.

00:02:49.748 --> 00:03:03.620
To simply marvel at the way that Bikurim works is that when a fellow would go down into his field, he would tie a little ribbon around that first fruit and then place it inside of this basket.

00:03:03.620 --> 00:03:22.280
And it wasn't any fruit, it was only the shivas, haminim, so it was the most special fruits and he came together, put it inside of either if he was from the middle class, more of a wicker basket from the high class, the affluent fellows, they would put it inside of a gold basket, each fruit having its own separate compartment.

00:03:22.280 --> 00:03:38.989
These are certain halachos codified for eternity by Maimonides All the barley, wheat, dates, figs, grapes all put into separate parts of this basket or its own basket, the whole basket, the whole santo batena.

00:03:38.989 --> 00:03:43.651
It should all be bursting and being crowned with grapes coming out of the top.

00:03:43.651 --> 00:04:01.526
And you're not allowed to travel up with this basket to its destination, which is the holy, holy plateau that is above Jerusalem, that Mount Moriah area where we have the holy domicile, the house of Hashem, the place that Hashem dwells with us, the holy base I made us.

00:04:01.526 --> 00:04:04.550
You're not allowed to travel with your holy bikurim by yourself.

00:04:04.550 --> 00:04:07.876
You must travel together with your entire community.

00:04:07.876 --> 00:04:12.766
It's to be an entire service, a procession, a Thanksgiving day parade.

00:04:12.766 --> 00:04:18.461
You have floats of Snoopy up above for those that get that reference.

00:04:20.783 --> 00:04:24.365
Everyone together on a 54-seated coach bus.

00:04:24.365 --> 00:04:30.531
There's supposed to be an ox in the front adorned with someone playing a flute.

00:04:30.531 --> 00:04:42.499
Everyone together, the more people, the more merrier and the more honor it brings to the king.

00:04:42.499 --> 00:04:52.235
The halacha is codified and medrash teaches that everyone together sings while the flute plays a specific and unique song.

00:04:52.235 --> 00:05:11.725
They sing, they sing Over and over, a song of a sense of David that I rejoiced when they said to me that we're going to the house of the lord over and over.

00:05:11.725 --> 00:05:14.130
We are going to the house of the lord.

00:05:14.130 --> 00:05:17.968
I rejoice when they told me that we're going to the house of the lord.

00:05:17.968 --> 00:05:22.812
So, over and over and over.

00:05:22.812 --> 00:05:38.867
Even if they lived in the outskirts of Qaisari or the outskirts of Tel Aviv, even though that's not in the biblically ordained part of Israel, but the farthest, most multi-day journey away from Jerusalem, and they need to travel with a bikurim, certain halachas, for those are given too.

00:05:39.519 --> 00:05:44.166
You're still supposed to make that trek with friends and family, and this whole event should go on.

00:05:44.166 --> 00:05:59.045
And still you sing the same song over and over, thousands of thousands of times, drilling it into your soul, a whole party, as you travel from town to town, making your way up, and you should ask what's with the bikur and the fruits?

00:05:59.045 --> 00:06:00.168
They're going to get stale.

00:06:00.168 --> 00:06:03.966
They will perish, not to be worried, though.

00:06:03.966 --> 00:06:15.048
You dry them dry them before, says the Holy Torah and you bring them up and you place them in this basket next to the Holy Mizbeach, the Holy Altar, and you give it as a gift to the Kohen.

00:06:15.048 --> 00:06:19.449
You should bring with this extra gifts for the Kohen, maybe a bird or two.

00:06:21.321 --> 00:06:30.810
And as soon as you cross over into the gates of Yerushalayim, the song changes for those that sit in the back of the bus and are finally waiting for the song to end and move on to the next song.

00:06:30.810 --> 00:06:32.607
Can we please hit fast forward?

00:06:32.607 --> 00:06:44.846
They get their wish and the tune changes to the very original Pesach Bez of this Tehillim, chapter 122 of Psalms.

00:06:44.846 --> 00:06:55.230
It moves on, they cross over into the gate and they say Our feet stood inside your gates, o Jerusalem.

00:06:57.399 --> 00:07:02.290
The Evanesra actually I made some quick research to this Pasek, to the significance.

00:07:02.290 --> 00:07:05.326
The Evanesra says Stand.

00:07:05.326 --> 00:07:08.788
It seems to give the drift to lean towards that.

00:07:08.788 --> 00:07:23.386
Standing while moving omdos means in a very stationary way, because it was so crowded, there was so much traffic on the way to Yerushalayim that omdos hayiraglenu, they were stuck in traffic, their feet in a standstill.

00:07:23.386 --> 00:07:26.826
That is bikurim.

00:07:26.826 --> 00:07:36.115
Along with this gift that you finally place in this beautiful basket, samta batena, place it down.

00:07:36.115 --> 00:07:41.946
And one last halacha, to make note of Lina, is required.

00:07:41.946 --> 00:07:45.589
Lina, the Hebrew word meaning you must stay over the night.

00:07:45.589 --> 00:07:50.800
You cannot skedaddle, you cannot hightail it out of Jerusalem and just quickly fulfill your obligation.

00:07:50.800 --> 00:07:53.160
But no, you need that whole experience.

00:07:53.160 --> 00:08:05.625
You got to stay over one more night, lina, and get the full experience in a nearby Airbnb in Jerusalem Bikurim, an incredible mitzvah.

00:08:08.682 --> 00:08:09.285
What is the point?

00:08:09.285 --> 00:08:12.367
What is the significance?

00:08:12.367 --> 00:08:14.540
What is it about?

00:08:14.540 --> 00:08:25.023
And you know, let's be quite deliberate here and let's assault the topic with five separate questions.

00:08:25.023 --> 00:08:57.330
Deliver a theme based on the great Torah of the great mirror mashkiach, the spiritual dean of yeshivas mir during the roaring 20s, rabbi Yerucham Levovitz, go about answering the five questions and tie it all together with a practical takeaway that we should commit to going forward, especially at this month of Elul for the upcoming year.

00:08:57.330 --> 00:09:20.727
I hope we haven't bitten off too much, but let's give it our best shot and we don't need to imagine, as we begin to answer this, what Bikurim is about, before we assault it with questions, that the immediate takeaway and what floats to mind is Bikurim is all about taking your first fruits and having gratitude to Hashem.

00:09:22.822 --> 00:09:23.524
Thank you, hashem.

00:09:23.524 --> 00:09:26.714
Here is like business owners do.

00:09:26.714 --> 00:09:28.942
They place the first dollar on the wall.

00:09:28.942 --> 00:09:30.826
That's bikurim.

00:09:30.826 --> 00:09:34.833
You see George Washington's face plastered upon the cleaners.

00:09:34.833 --> 00:09:37.445
That's because that was their first dollar they made.

00:09:37.445 --> 00:09:42.501
This is our bikurim, they got it from us and Rashi makes note of that.

00:09:42.501 --> 00:09:47.230
Says Rashi, when you bring the Bikurim, why are you doing this?

00:09:48.754 --> 00:10:04.528
Quote She'eincha kafuy tova, to declare that you are not an ingrate, you are not ungrateful, but rather you recognize where all of the goodness comes from.

00:10:04.528 --> 00:10:23.888
That is Bikurim, the fundamental principle that goodness comes from somewhere, and gratitude must be bestowed to that source of goodness, of goodness.

00:10:23.888 --> 00:10:42.842
And God forbid should one ever fall, lapse into the coma of ungrateful, of self-centered, and fail to properly voice and declare his gratitude.

00:10:42.842 --> 00:10:44.486
There is no greater evil than that.

00:10:44.486 --> 00:10:46.269
That is Bikurim.

00:10:46.269 --> 00:10:56.610
And so here let's pepper a salt and declare war upon this topic, before we piece it back together with question number one of five questions on the topic of Bikurim.

00:10:58.361 --> 00:11:25.186
After this whole fanfare that we've described and hopefully you can picture, described and hopefully you can picture, it is interesting to note that after all that has gone on Of the traveling up to Eretz, yisrael, all the importance given to the actual fruit, that when you finally get there and you have this declaration, the Torah says he gadati hayim.

00:11:25.186 --> 00:11:29.306
I profess, I declare.

00:11:29.306 --> 00:11:54.274
The Torah says he should open his mouth, this congregant who has gotten off his coach bus and placed the basket down, but on Niso ve'omarta, he must declare and say this whole following composition of psukkim, about how you came to be in this position and why you are so grateful.

00:11:54.274 --> 00:12:03.394
And question number one is isn't it clear from this spectacle that it's obvious why we're here?

00:12:03.394 --> 00:12:08.639
I need to open my mouth and say something to the Kohen.

00:12:08.639 --> 00:12:09.903
The Kohen knows why I'm here.

00:12:09.903 --> 00:12:12.749
Everyone has traveled together.

00:12:12.749 --> 00:12:21.124
There was an emissary, even, according to Halacha, that was sent ahead of the coach bus, the Macher, who would travel in and say by the way, there's a group coming up to bring Bikurim.

00:12:21.124 --> 00:12:24.250
Why does it need to be audible?

00:12:24.250 --> 00:12:34.011
Why does there need to be the opening up and audibly declaring your gratitude?

00:12:35.894 --> 00:12:53.369
Question number two when the person finally arrives at the Beis Hamikdash and needs to fulfill his next mitzvah, part two of the mitzvah of Bikurim, he must declare a special declaration, a constitution of thanks, to which he says the words should sound familiar.

00:12:53.369 --> 00:13:01.734
He goes into the entire backstory of the Jewish people.

00:13:01.734 --> 00:13:21.647
He says, over that famous paragraph that comes from the Haggadah, or that the Haggadah takes from the Torah, from his announcement and declaration of Bikurim, and they oppressed us and eventually God took us out with an outstretched hand and it was miraculous.

00:13:21.647 --> 00:13:39.601
It's very interesting to note that the Torah here, unlike everywhere else, writes the text of what he is to say All the Pesukim, six, seven Pesukim.

00:13:39.601 --> 00:13:44.927
And the Torah does not waste words, does not mince words.

00:13:44.927 --> 00:13:52.342
It does not waste words and every other time that we're commanded to say something, we get maybe a hint to it, a one letter.

00:13:52.342 --> 00:14:04.780
The Torah doesn't then go and say and you should say, you should say Yeru.

00:14:04.780 --> 00:14:05.643
It doesn't say any of that.

00:14:05.643 --> 00:14:12.143
It is there, set forth, and now the men of the Great Assembly tell us what's the text we're supposed to say.

00:14:12.143 --> 00:14:21.684
But here the Torah, line by line, tells us what is the script to this song of gratitude.

00:14:23.052 --> 00:14:30.633
Question number three this specific song, unlike all other prayers, cannot be said in any other language.

00:14:30.633 --> 00:14:32.354
It must be in Hebrew.

00:14:32.354 --> 00:14:39.899
Why is God so specific in how this passage must be read, as opposed to all the other ones?

00:14:39.899 --> 00:14:46.582
That if you understand Aramaic better, just like Kaddish, it's in Aramaic.

00:14:46.582 --> 00:14:48.884
Then that's the choice, lashon.

00:14:48.884 --> 00:14:52.126
If that's what makes sense to you, it works.

00:14:52.126 --> 00:14:54.148
But it doesn't work here.

00:14:54.148 --> 00:14:59.225
Bikurim must be on Lashon HaKodesh.

00:14:59.225 --> 00:15:01.721
The next question.

00:15:02.809 --> 00:15:10.375
It is incredibly puzzling that one of the very first Midrashim in all of Torah says the following Bereshiz Bar Elokim in the very beginning.

00:15:10.375 --> 00:15:17.153
God says the following Beratius bar Elohim in the very beginning God created the world, says.

00:15:17.153 --> 00:15:32.910
The Medrash beratius in the beginning is alluding to some very important reasons why God created the world Because God created it for things that are called racist.

00:15:32.910 --> 00:15:34.614
What is called racist?

00:15:34.614 --> 00:15:39.243
The first, the Jewish people, are called racist.

00:15:39.243 --> 00:15:42.759
The Medrash cites the source we are the racist.

00:15:42.759 --> 00:15:43.341
We are first.

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So the Torah, the world all created for the Jewish people.

00:15:48.173 --> 00:15:48.835
But what else?

00:15:48.835 --> 00:15:56.859
What is one of the lone entities that the world was created for?

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You guessed it the rachis, the gancha, the rachis bikuri ad mosecha, your very first fruits.

00:16:07.315 --> 00:16:10.918
The world was created, says the medrash rabba, parshas, brachis.

00:16:10.918 --> 00:16:12.105
The bik was created, says the Medrash Rabba.

00:16:12.105 --> 00:16:26.837
Parshas, brashas, the Bikurim are called Rashas, and the entire world was created for the sake of Israel, for the sake of Tyro, which in Mishle is called Rashas, and for the sake of Bikurim, and one of those three does not belong.

00:16:26.837 --> 00:16:51.458
So let me tell you, friends, what Bikurim is about, tell you why the world is created for the sake of Bikurim, why our job in the world is Bikurim and why I'm also jumping on the bandwagon of TYH, the Thank you Hashem Nation.

00:16:53.331 --> 00:17:05.156
And it all begins from the most important essay treatise of the great Nachmanides, the great Ramban, his very last essay of Parsha's Bo.

00:17:05.156 --> 00:17:09.136
It is required reading at least a hundred times.

00:17:09.136 --> 00:17:13.596
Word Vulva would say and the Ramban writes like this and it holds our answer.

00:17:13.596 --> 00:17:58.680
When a person will buy a mezuzah and he places it on his doorpost and he has in mind what is written inside of the mezuzah, he has now recognized the creation of the world and then he has the knowledge of Hashem and God is in charge of the world and his divine providence, v'gam ben Evua, the He'emen, and he believes in all parts of Torah.

00:17:58.680 --> 00:18:05.757
This is part of the Ramban's essay about why we do mitzvos which makes it required reading.

00:18:06.990 --> 00:18:21.806
But the way that we learn Rishonim and Yeshiva, and the way that I believe should be the way that anyone learns a Rishon, is to give tremendous gravity and weight to every single word of the Holy Rishonim.

00:18:21.806 --> 00:18:40.452
And right here, in this next line, the Ramban tells us something that the whole world hinges upon, something that the whole world hinges upon Milvad shehoida shechesed habore gadol ma'od al'oso ritzono.

00:18:40.452 --> 00:19:13.517
Not only that, you have given gratitude, shehoda, that you are thanking God for the kindness that he did, that he took us out of that slavery to freedom and to all the other good things that he merited, that we merited to get from Hashem.

00:19:13.517 --> 00:19:33.074
All of that, the hoda'ah to Hashem is all declared, it is all present when you do a mitzvah, when you buy one mezuzah and place it upon your door Mitzvos belief in God.

00:19:33.074 --> 00:19:34.617
Why do you do them?

00:19:34.617 --> 00:19:38.349
What stands as the linchpin and crux of all of Torah?

00:19:38.349 --> 00:19:39.392
And belief in Hashem.

00:19:39.392 --> 00:20:00.708
With a debt of gratitude to God, we perform the services that Hashem commands.

00:20:00.708 --> 00:20:23.375
Because the thanking of Hashem that we'd be dead without you, that we were in the belly of the iron crucible of Egypt, just a small family of people, that the boys were being thrown into the Nile, there was no hope left.

00:20:23.375 --> 00:20:34.630
But Hashem turned over the entire world for us and now we live on with a point to our lives and therefore God took us out and to do his mitzvos.

00:20:35.009 --> 00:20:36.068
Why, why, why?

00:20:36.068 --> 00:20:46.676
Why are we doing the mitzvos, says Hashem, says the Ramban, because we're indebted with a debt of gratitude.

00:20:46.676 --> 00:20:48.876
And how do we pay that back?

00:20:48.876 --> 00:20:51.176
How are we makir tov?

00:20:51.176 --> 00:20:53.037
How do we say thank you hashem?

00:20:53.037 --> 00:20:56.601
By doing the mitzvahs.

00:20:56.601 --> 00:20:59.834
Laramban continues.

00:20:59.834 --> 00:21:16.455
But one more line must be stated out loud and read inside vilafikach and therefore, because of this new understanding of why we do mitzvahs, which is because we are indebted with the debt of gratitude to Hashem, to be makir tov to Hashem.

00:21:16.455 --> 00:21:18.942
That's why it says in Pirkei Avos.

00:21:18.942 --> 00:21:31.990
That's why we are scrupulous about small mitzvos, putting your right shoe on first before the left, and showing away the mother bird, the easy ones.

00:21:31.990 --> 00:21:37.041
We are just as scrupulous with those as we are to any of the 10 commandments.

00:21:37.041 --> 00:21:38.893
Now, what is the understanding to that?

00:21:38.893 --> 00:21:51.343
But from the drift of the Ramban it's clear, because it is all paying back that same debt of gratitude that, hashem, we owe you our lives and this is what you ask of us.

00:21:51.343 --> 00:21:56.157
So each mitzvah is part of the paying back of the Hakara Satov.

00:21:56.157 --> 00:21:59.584
Hashem tells us.

00:22:04.174 --> 00:22:08.001
Torah tshuva depends on how you learn Ramban or Rashi.

00:22:08.001 --> 00:22:16.396
But let's just take the basic understanding that this thing called Torah is very close to you, your obligations in life.

00:22:16.396 --> 00:22:21.589
It is very near to you, says the Torah.

00:22:21.589 --> 00:22:32.818
Every word gold in your mouth, in your heart, to do it.

00:22:32.818 --> 00:22:44.365
And and this is a goldmine because there's multiple, multiple layers, some real, magical, mystical things going on, but there are layers.

00:22:44.365 --> 00:22:49.701
There's a whole world of in your mouth, a whole different world of service.

00:22:49.701 --> 00:22:51.203
That's in your heart.

00:22:51.203 --> 00:22:58.003
There are certain mitzvahs that are just in your heart and there's a whole different world of Torah that's actually in actions, easy to understand.

00:22:58.003 --> 00:23:02.525
That's actually in actions, easy to understand.

00:23:02.525 --> 00:23:09.304
But there's only one creature in the whole wide world that's able to serve God with b'ficha, with his mouth.

00:23:11.192 --> 00:23:16.135
Right at the beginning, we're told Unkelis he'd translate the pasuk when God created man.

00:23:16.135 --> 00:23:43.606
When God created man, he gave him a living spirit into our noses, into our nostrils, it says and man became a living, speaking soul.

00:23:43.606 --> 00:23:53.502
We are the only creatures created by God that can bestow and express their gratitude with their mouths.

00:23:53.502 --> 00:24:21.558
We are the only ones that can declare our Hakaras, hatov Bikurim, which is the mitzvah of not falling back into the haphazard, lackadaisical approach to life, of accepting everything as coming your way and taking life for granted, but rather expressing your gratitude.

00:24:21.558 --> 00:24:25.584
That must be the Anissa, the Amarta.

00:24:25.584 --> 00:24:28.527
It must be done the human way.

00:24:28.527 --> 00:24:49.276
It must be done the way that all the fanfare cannot even suffice, because the human has the opportunity to repay with his mouth, with his living, breathing, speaking, audibly soul, his debt of gratitude to Hashem.

00:24:52.192 --> 00:25:00.714
It isn't the slightest wonder why the Torah goes into such detail about what the expression is that we asked why here do we get the whole parasha?

00:25:00.714 --> 00:25:06.305
It's obvious.

00:25:06.305 --> 00:25:26.284
This is the main point of why man was created To be able to be to thank you, hashem is the essence of everything, every single jot and tittle needs to be masterfully declared.

00:25:26.284 --> 00:25:30.259
Of course Bikurim needs to be said in Hebrew.

00:25:30.259 --> 00:25:40.676
Of course it needs to be done the best possible, most luxurious type of declaration of only in Lashonot Kodesh and nothing else will suffice.

00:25:40.676 --> 00:25:47.342
Hakaras Hatov is why everything is here.

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But the hardest question to answer is why does Bikurim find itself to be the basis of the Haggadah?

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We're all sitting around the table giving over the Masorah, the tradition that God took us out of Egypt, and it is a twin uttering of the man standing with a wicker basket in his hands, altar side, when he brings his first fruits up.

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What's the sheiches?

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What's the connection?

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And people say well, pesach, it's all about Emunah, bikurim, it's not about Emunah.

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But again, this answer it's things like a song.

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Because of this Ramban, because even Emunah, even Emunah, on the night of Pesach.

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Emunah is also based, says Rabbi Yeruchim, on Hakaras HaTov, because it was personal that we receive something that's my Hashem and I love him because he saved my life.

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And Muna itself is also.

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The whole Pesach night is based on Bikurim, on Hakaras HaTov.

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The Mesorah that we give over to our children is a rami oyved avi, but God saved us.

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So, children and grandchildren, you have to be and feel so lucky that you were saved and let us come together and sing thank you, hashem, got to do it audibly.

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And on Seder night there are many halachos, all about how to give over the story properly.

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It has to be the Gemara Pesachim.

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I believe it's 116.

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Kofta Zion Pesachim, you have to start with the Ginos, start with the bad and end with the good.

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All these different parts to the telling of the story of Higatatel Levincha.

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It's hard to imagine why it all needs to be done if it's just about solidifying faith in the children's hearts.

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But again, once we keep in mind that we are saying thank you, hashem, and there are certain laws of how to give proper thanks and that is by beginning with how bad things were before someone came, something came, an entity came and made things better.

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That is part of the thank you.

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It is Megalit reveals and deepens the Hakara Satov, the gratitude that we feel.

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It's truly a law in Hakara Satov.

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When you say thank you, you have to go back to the beginning.

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Rabbi Rahim says you want to give someone a proper thank you?

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Well then, you are able to fully, audibly declare this.

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You must be doing it out loud when someone does something for you, even as small as opening up of the door for you.

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As you walk into the office, you turn around and you have given me something.

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Thank you for giving this to me.

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You have made my life better and I am forever indebted to you.

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You go back to the beginning.

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Rabbi Recham points out that the Hakara Satov should be that.

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It's remarkable that in saying thank you to Hashem, you must begin all the way back with Laban.

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You must begin to where things were so bad.

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It sounds like in Halachos of Hakara Satov.

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You should turn to your friend and say, oh, I was having such a bad day and before this you don't even know what happened.

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But because you did this, you have now changed my life.

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It's all part of the building up of the thank you.

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Just look at the bracha of no delacha when we say thank you to Hashem.

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Thank you to Hashem for this piece of bread that I hold in my hand.

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It's a kazay, it's a vachalta, it's a vissavata, it's a vayrachta.

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But listen to how far you go back.

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You tell the story of thank you in the same way that God thank you for this bread.

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But not only this, but it started with so much pain.

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I used to be a slave in Egypt and now it all led to this bread.

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It's all building up of just how much we have received from Hashem, our thankfulness, our appreciativeness.

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Bikurim is a mitzvah of audibly declaring in Hebrew thank you, hashem.

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Everything is from you.

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As you keep this in mind throughout the whole reading of Bikurim, every line.

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They're all laws of thankfulness, of gratitude, of intense, heartfelt appreciation.

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The Pasuk says you must rejoice Because when you show happiness in the presents that you've got from grandma on Hanukkah night and you play with them right away and you don't just say thank you and put them down and run and do something else, but instead you stay and put a smile on your face, even though you weren't interested in those bunny slippers that's part of the Hakara Satov because you are avowing your debt of gratitude in a distinct, deliberate and definable way.

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That is bikurim, that is the haggadah, that is rations.

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That is why the three most important things and why the world was created, for Torah, for the Jewish people and for Bikurim Because Torah we study and we can know Jewish people were brought into existence.

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We've done that check and check, we're trying on the Torah.

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But Bikurim is that last part of the three-legged table, the very sturdy three-legged table that you recognize and you give gratitude and you perform all the mitzvot because you are so thankful for everything Hashem gives you A practical takeaway.

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What I hope and would like to begin to start doing and I hope you'll join in this commitment with me is to do the no delacha out loud in benching.

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It's possible that the anisa va'amarta, the haramas kol, the ficha u'bil'vavcha lasoso, that level of gratitude that only we as humans can do, should be done in benching.

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Bench out loud, bench out loud to show your part of the thank you Hashem nation.

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If you can do the whole benching, all the better, but at least that you gave me this bread, you have given me lungs out loud, audibly, that a mere tip of the cap will never suffice.

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Bikurim is about heeding the call to recognize the good that Hashem constantly does for us.

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When someone else does something good, you recognize it and you bring it out.

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Every part of the Bikurim is to bring out in a unique way of Hakara Satov, in the most incredible way that is far from lackluster.

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A mere Shekoyach will never suffice.

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We should eradicate it from our dictionaries.

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Bench out loud with me, declare thank you, hashem.

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Audibly and discernibly, with deep gratefulness, that you are She'incha kafo'i tova.

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You are not an angry and discernibly, with deep gratefulness that you are she'incha kafo'i tova.

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You are not an ingrate and do the mitzvos Because you just can't stop saying thank you, hashem.

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That everything my freedom, my life, my lungs, my eyes, my kids, my family, everything it's all from you, hashem.

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So thank you, hashem.