Ki Tavo

You come into the land, you plant, and when the first figs ripen the Torah asks you to carry them up to Yerushalayim.

"V'samta Ba'teneh" - "וְשַׂמְתָּ בַטֶּנֶא" - you put the fruit in the basket, and you hand it to the Kohen.

The Mei HaShiloach investigates this basket further. A teneh, he says, is not just a regular basket... it's a sal she-hi nakuv - a perforated WOVEN basket, loose enough that the fruit inside shows through the gaps.

"She-yehei tocho k'varo" - the inside should be like the outside.

'But I don't need to bother you, no I won't play that part I just want access to the inside of your heart Access to your thoughts on the way that I should be So I could start to change and maybe you could access me'

When you come to the Beit HaMikdash , when you approach the Kohen and present your ביכורים, you do so honestly. You bring the very best of you, the real deep best parts of you, and you make sure they can be seen through the weaves in the basket.

That doesn't mean the PERFECT you... it means the REAL best version of you that plays out when no one is really watching.

→ Whether that's strapping on tefilin and saying a quick 10-minute shacharit because that's all the time you have!

→ Or helping your mom renew her auto-insurance because she doesn't speak Hebrew.

→ Or giving someone an extra 30 seconds of your time when you're in a rush... because you know deep down they need to be seen and feel connected...

THIS is what the Kohen accepts. THIS is the fruit Hashem requests and reaps - the purity and honesty He planted in you when He created you.

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Now open your hearts, phriends...

It's Elul.

So think about what you're carrying up this week when we read כי תבוא.

We're all bringing our baskets.

This year's fruit is what goes in the woven basket. We'd all rather hand that over in something solid, maybe even something pretty and shiny. The polished version of the year that's safe to post to Instagram or WhatsApp.

But Hashem... He 'see[s] you when you're all alone' - Hashem has been looking inside this year's basket the entire time.

There are nights when a band stops performing and plays what's actually inside them, nothing held back, and everybody feels that.... 'This isn't who it would be, If it wasn't who it is'.

And what's our response when that happens?

"Man, the band really BROUGHT IT tonight!" - what did they bring??? ביכורים בטנא - fruits in the basket.

So bring the year you actually had, figs showing through the gaps. Hashem is waiting for you to stop covering the fruit, because the closeness starts the moment we get those חסימות and מכסות - blockages and coverings - out of the way.

May we carry up what we really grew this year, hiding none of it, with 'these friends of mine I can see right through.' ... and feel how intimate Hashem truly wants to be with us... then allow ourselves to let Him in.

Good Shabbos, phriends.