First Fruits: Full Moon of Sivan 5785

Created for MyJewishLearning’s Chodesh Circle, 5785-2025. Contemporary ‘first fruits’ rituals celebrating our recent personal growth and accomplishments; and Jeremiah’s idea of a new Torah written upon the heart.

(ב) בְּאַרְבָּעָה פְרָקִים הָעוֹלָם נִדּוֹן, בְּפֶסַח עַל הַתְּבוּאָה, בַּעֲצֶרֶת עַל פֵּרוֹת הָאִילָן, בְּרֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה כָּל בָּאֵי הָעוֹלָם עוֹבְרִין לְפָנָיו כִּבְנֵי מָרוֹן, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (תהלים לג) הַיּוֹצֵר יַחַד לִבָּם, הַמֵּבִין אֶל כָּל מַעֲשֵׂיהֶם. וּבֶחָג נִדּוֹנִין עַל הַמָּיִם:

Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:2

(2)At four times of the year the world is judged: On Passover judgment is passed concerning grain; on Atzeret [i.e. Shavuot] concerning fruits that grow on a tree; on Rosh HaShana, all creatures pass before Him like sheep [benei maron], as it is stated: “He Who fashions their hearts alike, Who considers all their deeds” (Psalms 33:15); and on the festival of Sukkot they are judged concerning water, i.e., the rainfall of the coming year.

Rabbi Jill Hammer: Jewish Book of Days - 10 Sivan

On Shavuot the gate of the sky opens, and holiness is primarily experienced through the heavens and through prayer. The sky gate will remain open until Sukkot, when the gate of the earth will open once more.

שמות כ״ג:י״ד-י״ז

(יד) שָׁלֹ֣שׁ רְגָלִ֔ים תָּחֹ֥ג לִ֖י בַּשָּׁנָֽה׃ (טו) אֶת־חַ֣ג הַמַּצּוֹת֮ תִּשְׁמֹר֒ שִׁבְעַ֣ת יָמִים֩ תֹּאכַ֨ל מַצּ֜וֹת כַּֽאֲשֶׁ֣ר צִוִּיתִ֗ךָ לְמוֹעֵד֙ חֹ֣דֶשׁ הָֽאָבִ֔יב כִּי־ב֖וֹ יָצָ֣אתָ מִמִּצְרָ֑יִם וְלֹא־יֵרָא֥וּ פָנַ֖י רֵיקָֽם׃ (טז) וְחַ֤ג הַקָּצִיר֙ בִּכּוּרֵ֣י מַעֲשֶׂ֔יךָ אֲשֶׁ֥ר תִּזְרַ֖ע בַּשָּׂדֶ֑ה וְחַ֤ג הָֽאָסִף֙ בְּצֵ֣את הַשָּׁנָ֔ה בְּאׇסְפְּךָ֥ אֶֽת־מַעֲשֶׂ֖יךָ מִן־הַשָּׂדֶֽה׃ (יז) שָׁלֹ֥שׁ פְּעָמִ֖ים בַּשָּׁנָ֑ה יֵרָאֶה֙ כׇּל־זְכ֣וּרְךָ֔ אֶל־פְּנֵ֖י הָאָדֹ֥ן ׀ ה׳׃

Exodus 23:14-17

(14) Three times a year you shall hold a festival for Me: (15) You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread—eating unleavened bread for seven days as I have commanded you—at the set time in the month of Aviv, for in it you went forth from Egypt; and none shall appear before Me empty-handed; (16)and the Feast of the Harvest, of the first fruits of your work, of what you sow in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in the results of your work from the field. (17) Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Sovereign, ה׳.

משנה ביכורים א׳:י׳

וְאֵלּוּ מְבִיאִין וְקוֹרִין, מִן הָעֲצֶרֶת וְעַד הֶחָג, מִשִּׁבְעַת הַמִּינִים, מִפֵּרוֹת שֶׁבֶּהָרִים, מִתְּמָרוֹת שֶׁבָּעֲמָקִים, וּמִזֵּיתֵי שֶׁמֶן, מֵעֵבֶר הַיַּרְדֵּן. רַבִּי יוֹסֵי הַגְּלִילִי אוֹמֵר, אֵין מְבִיאִין בִּכּוּרִים מֵעֵבֶר הַיַּרְדֵּן, שֶׁאֵינָהּ אֶרֶץ זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבָשׁ:

Mishnah Bikkurim 1:10

These ones bring bikkurim and recite [the formula of dedication when they do so]:
from Atzeret [Shavuot] until the Festival [of Sukkot]; from the seven species, from fruit grown on the mountains, or dates grown in the valleys, from oil-olives, and from [produce] from the other side of the Jordan.

Rabbi Jill Hammer: Jewish Book of Days - 15 Sivan

According to Midrash Tadshe, this day is the birthday of Judah.

בראשית כ״ט:ל״ה

(לה) וַתַּ֨הַר ע֜וֹד וַתֵּ֣לֶד בֵּ֗ן וַתֹּ֙אמֶר֙ הַפַּ֙עַם֙ אוֹדֶ֣ה אֶת־ה׳ עַל־כֵּ֛ן קָרְאָ֥ה שְׁמ֖וֹ יְהוּדָ֑ה וַֽתַּעֲמֹ֖ד מִלֶּֽדֶת׃

Genesis 29:35

(35) She [Leah] conceived again and bore a son, and declared, “This time I will praise ה׳.” Therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing.

Genesis Rabbah 71:5
“Leah grasped the spindle of praise, and from her were born masters of praise: Judah, David and Daniel.”

Rabbi Jill Hammer:
Judah himself becomes gifted at praise. In Hebrew, the word praise (hodaya) also has a sense of acknowledgment. When Judah’s daughter-in-law Tamar accuses him of wrongdoing, he admits to his faults. When speaking before the grand vizier of Egypt (who is really Judah’s brother Joseph), Judah is able to acknowledge how much his father, Jacob, has suffered from losing Joseph. Because of his gift of self-awareness, Judah becomes the ancestor of King David.

In Sivan, surrounded by the growing light of the sun, we emulate the overflowing praise of Leah, who found reason for joy even though she lived a difficult life. As we praise, we may find our hearts more open, so that we are more able to look inward as Judah did. This full moon of the month of Sivan brings us the gifts of inner and outer sight.

Rabbi Peleh Ezrahi: Chagigah - Sivan - First Fruits
Every one of us has things which have ripened and matured in our lives in the past year, and these are our version of ‘first fruits.’ It seemed to me that it would be fitting if we could relate to these conceptual fruits of our labors like actual fruits, and bring of them to make an offering at the altar on Shavuot, in order to offer thanks and recognition to existence itself for all the goodness we find in our lives….

Each year at Shavuot, people would approach the altar and give thanks for the inner growth that had occurred in their lives: the birth of a child, the beginning - or the end - of a relationship, the development of some social cause, the building of a house, the creation of a piece of art, a new book that had seen the light of day, and so forth … Members of the community would bear witness to this great gratitude. Many tears, tears of emotion, of thanksgiving and of the love of friends would dampen the earth beneath our Shavuot first-fruits ritual.

A New Torah

ירמיהו ל״א:ל״א-ל״ד

(לא) הִנֵּ֛ה יָמִ֥ים בָּאִ֖ים נְאֻם־ה׳ וְכָרַתִּ֗י אֶת־בֵּ֧ית יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל וְאֶת־בֵּ֥ית יְהוּדָ֖ה בְּרִ֥ית חֲדָשָֽׁה׃ (לב) לֹ֣א כַבְּרִ֗ית אֲשֶׁ֤ר כָּרַ֙תִּי֙ אֶת־אֲבוֹתָ֔ם בְּיוֹם֙ הֶחֱזִיקִ֣י בְיָדָ֔ם לְהוֹצִיאָ֖ם מֵאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרָ֑יִם אֲשֶׁר־הֵ֜מָּה הֵפֵ֣רוּ אֶת־בְּרִיתִ֗י וְאָנֹכִ֛י בָּעַ֥לְתִּי בָ֖ם נְאֻם־ה׳׃ (לג) כִּ֣י זֹ֣את הַבְּרִ֡ית אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֶכְרֹת֩ אֶת־בֵּ֨ית יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל אַחֲרֵ֨י הַיָּמִ֤ים הָהֵם֙ נְאֻם־ה׳ נָתַ֤תִּי אֶת־תּֽוֹרָתִי֙ בְּקִרְבָּ֔ם וְעַל־לִבָּ֖ם אֶכְתְּבֶ֑נָּה וְהָיִ֤יתִי לָהֶם֙ לֵֽאלֹקִ֔ים וְהֵ֖מָּה יִֽהְיוּ־לִ֥י לְעָֽם׃ (לד) וְלֹ֧א יְלַמְּד֣וּ ע֗וֹד אִ֣ישׁ אֶת־רֵעֵ֜הוּ וְאִ֤ישׁ אֶת־אָחִיו֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר דְּע֖וּ אֶת־ה׳ כִּֽי־כוּלָּם֩ יֵדְע֨וּ אוֹתִ֜י לְמִקְּטַנָּ֤ם וְעַד־גְּדוֹלָם֙ נְאֻם־ה׳ כִּ֤י אֶסְלַח֙ לַֽעֲוֺנָ֔ם וּלְחַטָּאתָ֖ם לֹ֥א אֶזְכָּר־עֽוֹד׃ {ס}

Jeremiah 31:31-34

(31) “Behold, days are coming,” says the Lord, “Where I shall cut a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. (32) Not like the covenant I cut with their ancestors in the time when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt… (33) For this is the covenant which I shall cut with the house of Israel in the future: I shall place my Torah within them, and I shall write it on their hearts, and I shall be for them as divinity, and they shall be for me as a people. (34) A person shall no longer teach their fellow, nor shall a person say to their brother: ‘Do you know God?’ For all of them shall know me, from their littlest people to their greatest,” says the Lord. …

Rabbi Peleh Ezrahi: Chagigah - Sivan - New Torah

The prophet Jeremiah prophesied that a day would come when a new kind of connection would be formed between God and humanity. A new covenant would be created, quite different in essence from the covenant created at the time of the exodus from Egypt and the giving of Torah.

The things which Jeremiah is discussing are extremely radical: a new kind of connection being created between Godliness and humanity. This Torah will be written on people’s hearts, and as a result, when one needs to know, ‘What is written in the Torah?’ where must one look? In one’s own heart! That’s where these things are written, not in any book. It is clear that such a Torah as this, which is written in the heart, isn’t going to be explicated into a million restrictions and provisos. A Torah that comes to us externally is somewhat forced on us, as in the rabbis’ image of the ‘mountain like a barrel’ [suspended over the Israelites’ heads at Sinai], and so needs all sorts of fences and boundaries. But when it is written on the heart, there is no need for this. This is Torah that emerges from within us, which we understand and explicate through completely voluntary means. We uphold it because that’s what our hearts feel in a most personal and intimate fashion.

Jeremiah goes on to say that in this era the hierarchies associated with Torah will be nullified. In the old covenant there were the people who were deeply versed in Torah, and they taught the people. But in this new covenant there would no longer be space for one person to teach another the words of Torah, since everyone knows Existence in a direct and personal manner. I feel that Jeremiah’s words are coming to pass in our own days. I see the connection with divinity that is being woven really looking like a completely new paradigm. We find ourselves at the cutting edge that is both post-religious and post-secular, which continues to evolve into a real new covenant between divinity and humanity.
[We are not talking here about Christianity, and its ‘new covenant’ which is also a form of religion and external direction].

This new connection, which is being formed in our era between divinity and humanity, doesn’t actually seem to take place in the sphere we perceive as ‘religion,’ which tries with all its might to safeguard the codes of the old covenant.
The connection between humanity and God which is found in the old covenant is described by Jeremiah as being like the connection between a child and their caregiver, who takes them by the hand and helps them to overcome certain obstacles: ‘Like the covenant which I cut with their ancestors in the time when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt…’
The new connection with holiness is characterised rather by intimacy, and the union of the human soul with the Torah. The words of Torah are no longer experienced as a sort of compulsion coming from what is outside us, but rather as something imminent and intimate in the extreme: ‘I shall place my Torah within them, and I shall write it on their hearts.’
This is a spiritual paradigm which calls for other things. It doesn’t call for the learning of halacha from books, but rather a deep personal contemplation of what is within, finding the word of God within the heart.

As much of contemporary spirituality now recognizes, the true spiritual teacher doesn’t really teach the individual anything. All they do is help the person inquire so deeply within themself that they can bring out the knowledge that was already residing within them… Sometimes the teacher leads their students to go out into solo contemplation in the untamed wild places, in order to quieten their mental tumult. There, in nature, they can return perhaps to the state of natural quietude that enables us to pay attention to the voice of existence which whispers, “I am…” the voice of the giving of Torah which is never hidden away and never ceases.

Rabbi SB Gershuny

Topics

Part of Collections

Chodesh Circle