(1) When you enter the land that your God יהוה is giving you as a heritage, and you possess it and settle in it,(2) you shall take some of every first fruit of the soil, which you harvest from the land that your God יהוה is giving you, put it in a basket and go to the place where your God יהוה will choose to establish the divine name.(3) You shall go to the priest in charge at that time and say to him, “I acknowledge this day before your God יהוה that I have entered the land that יהוה swore to our fathers to assign us.”(4) The priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down in front of the altar of your God, Adonai. (5) You shall then recite as follows before your God יהוה:

“My father was a fugitive Aramean. He went down to Egypt with meager numbers and sojourned there; but there he became a great and very populous nation.(6) The Egyptians dealt harshly with us and oppressed us; they imposed heavy labor upon us.(7) We cried to יהוה, the God of our ancestors, and יהוה heard our plea and saw our plight, our misery, and our oppression.(8) יהוה freed us from Egypt by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm and awesome power, and by signs and portents,(9) bringing us to this place and giving us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.(10) Wherefore I now bring the first fruits of the soil which You, יהוה, have given me.”

You shall leave it before your God יהוה and bow low before your God, Adonai.(11) And you shall enjoy, together with the [family of the] Levite and the stranger in your midst, all the bounty that your God יהוה has bestowed upon you and your household.

(2) HIGAD’TI’ (I PROFESS) THIS DAY. “Through this fruit which I have brought I profess and give thanks to the Eternal your G-d Who brought me into the Land which He swore unto our fathers to give us. Thus G-d fulfilled His words, and I give thanks and praise to His Name.” The meaning of the word higad’ti is like “I have told.” So also ‘vayageid Mosheh’ (and Moses told) the words of the people unto the Eternal, which means communicating. Or the interpretation thereof may be as follows: “I declare to you, O priest, and to all who stand by, and this declaration is unto the Eternal thy G-d, that is to say, to His Name, that I am come into the Land which He swore unto our fathers, for it is He Who brought me [near] to Him to serve Him in the Land.”

(3) כי באתי אל הארץ, that I have come to this land from another country אשר נשבע ה' לאבותינו לתת לנו, as when G’d had said in Genesis 17,8 “I gave this land to you and to your descendants after you.” Seeing that G’d had sworn this oath at the time, I consider myself though apparently an outsider, a stranger, as if I am a permanent resident thanks to His gift, and this is why I have brought these choice fruit that it is incumbent upon anyone who has received the land as either a gift or even as a tenant to present to the real owner of the land in recognition of His largesse.

(1) ועתה, after I have become thoroughly aware how great and extensive is Your loving kindness demonstrated by how You have made us fit to take possession of the land and to take us out to freedom in a manner enabling us to accept a gift which will be legally ours, and you have given us such a choice land, הנה הבאתי את ראשית פרי האדמה אשר נתת לי ה', I herewith present as a token of my gratitude a gift of the choicest fruit of this land which the Lord has given me.

(1) [THOU, AND THE LEVITE, AND THE STRANGER.] This means you are obligated to cheer them up with the fruit of your land.

When you enter the land that your God יהוה is giving you as a heritage, and you possess it and settle in it, you shall take some of every first fruit of the soil, which you harvest from the land that your God יהוה is giving you, put it in a basket and go to the place where your God יהוה will choose to establish the divine name. You shall go to the priest in charge at that time and say to him, “I acknowledge this day before your God יהוה that I have entered the land that יהוה swore to our fathers to assign us.” The priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down in front of the altar of your God יהוה. You shall then recite as follows before your God יהוה:

“My father was a fugitive Aramean. He went down to Egypt with meager numbers and sojourned there; but there he became a great and very populous nation. The Egyptians dealt harshly with us and oppressed us; they imposed heavy labor upon us. We cried to יהוה, the God of our ancestors, and יהוה heard our plea and saw our plight, our misery, and our oppression. יהוה freed us from Egypt by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm and awesome power, and by signs and portents, bringing us to this place and giving us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Wherefore I now bring the first fruits of the soil which You, יהוה, have given me.”

You shall leave it before your God יהוה and bow low before your God יהוה. And you shall enjoy, together with the [family of the] Levite and the stranger in your midst, all the bounty that your God יהוה has bestowed upon you and your household.

(16) The ETERNAL your God commands you this day to observe these laws and rules; observe them faithfully with all your heart and soul. (17) You have affirmed this day that the ETERNAL is your God, to walk in God's ways, to keep God's laws, commandments, and rules, and to listen to God's voice. (18) And GOD has affirmed this day that you are, as promised, God’s treasured people who shall observe all God's commandments, (19) and that you will be set high above all the nations that [God] has made in praise, in name, and in glory; and you shall be, as promised, a holy people to the ETERNAL your God.

להיות לו לעם סגולה, so that He may achieve with you what He hoped to achieve with mankind when He created man, saying: “let us make man in our image, etc. (Genesis 1,26).

Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak continues: Is the Holy One, Blessed be He, glorified through the glory of Israel? Rav Ḥiyya bar Avin answered: Yes, as indicated by the juxtaposition of two verses; as it is stated: “You have affirmed, this day, that the Lord is your God, and that you will walk in His ways and keep His laws and commandments, and listen to His voice.” And the subsequent verse states: “And the Lord has affirmed, this day, that you are His treasure, as He spoke to you, to keep His commandments” (Deuteronomy 26:17–18). From these two verses it is derived that the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Israel: You have made Me a single entity [ḥativa] in the world, as you singled Me out as separate and unique. And because of this, I will make you a single entity in the world, and you will be a treasured nation, chosen by God.

AND TO MAKE THEE HIGH ABOVE ALL NATIONS THAT HE HATH MADE, IN PRAISE — that all the peoples of the earth should praise you for the fact that G-d will be near whenever you call upon Him.

ולתתך עליון על כל הגוים, in your ability to understand the meaning of life on earth and to teach it. This is the meaning of Exodus 19,6 “you shall be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

...On one occasion [the Romans] decreed a religious persecution against Israel, forbidding the study of Torah. R. Akiva and his colleagues, however, continued to study.

When Pappus ben Judah found him, he said, “See here, rabbi, you are endangering yourself, when you transgress against a decree of the king,” but Akiva replied:

"To what is the matter comparable? To a fox. As he was walking near a river, he saw [some] fish there. He said to them, ‘Get yourselves to me, and I will hide you in the clefts of the rocks. Then you shall not be afraid.’ They said to him, ‘Are you the one that they say about you that you are the most clever of the animals? You are only a fool. All our lives have been [spent] only in the water. So would you tell us to walk onto the dry land? If we are afraid in the place of our life, all the more so [will we be afraid] in the place of our death!’

Similarly all the life of Israel exists only in the Torah, of which it is written (in Deut. 30:20), ‘for that is your life and your length of days’; yet you are saying, ‘You are endangering yourself?’”

A few days later, both were arrested. Pappus said to Akiva, “Fortunate are you, since you were arrested for the words of Torah. Woe to that Pappus, who was arrested for idle things.”

When they brought out R. Akiva for execution, it was time to recite the Shema'. While they combed his flesh with combs of iron, he was calling out the recitation of the Shema'

... because [the Children of] Israel lay down their lives for the Torah and for the sanctification of the name of the Holy One, blessed be God; for that reason the Holy One made them into an entity and a blessing in the world, as stated (in Deut. 26:17), “Today you have had the Lord promise….”

And just as Israel brings the Holy One to life on Earth, so does the Holy One, bring Israel to life, as stated, “The Lord has proclaimed you today [to be for Him a treasured people…].”

R. Joshua ben Levi said, “Just as the pestle ('eli) crushes, so is Israel going to crush four empires under its feet. It is so stated (in Deut. 26:19), ‘And to set you on high ('elyon)) over all the nations that He has made in praise, in name, and in honor.’”