Ki Tavo: My Father, an Aramean?

When the first fruits, or bikkkurim in Hebrew, were brought to the Temple, the farmer who brought them was supposed to declare, “My father was destroyed by wandering Aramean….” The Talmud tells us that this phrase is so powerful and compelling that it needs to be repeated at the Passover seder.1 Why? What does the sentence mean?

One interpretation of this phrase is that it refers back to Laban who attempted to murder Jacob. The Passover Haggadda uses this interpretation to define how ruthless Laban was: While Pharaoh only wanted to murder the Israelite boys, the plot of Laban would obliterate the Jewish nation had he succeeded in murdering the patriarch Jacob!

However, there is an entirely different possibility for this text. It might also mean that Jacob – my father - was wandering while in the land of Aram. If this reading is correct, the meaning of the Torah text changes to a statement about the patriarch’s impoverishment, not that Laban was out to kill him.2 That is to say we are to be reminded of the protection of God over Jacob while he was vulnerable and in exile.

This reading is compelling because for the past two thousand years the condition of the Jew has been the same as this journey of Jacob. Dependent upon the mercy of distant rulers and the whims of local authorities, the Jew has been in a long state of exile. Imagine what this would mean to our ancient ancestors as they ate their bread of affliction in constant dread of expulsion, or worse.

Reb Tzadok Hakohen of Lublin reads this segment of the Torah with a slightly different nuance. His understanding posits that Laban sought to take away from Jacob his father-hood. That is to say, Laban was jealous that Jacob was wealthy and destined to be the progenitor of the nascent Jewish people. Laban hoped to supplant young Jacob and become the patriarch in his stead. It was not his physical life that Laban wanted to end but his spiritual legacy.

The passage arises at the Passover Seder at the time of the second cup of wine. At that moment that participant is consumed with the idea that the Lord God took us from the depths of despair and raised us to a covenanted nation at Sinai. If this is the real intent of the text in Deuteronomy then, in its context, the humble farmer who brings his first fruits to the Temple is expressing the single notion of Deliverance. This farmer acknowledges through these words his moral an, spiritual and physical impoverishment. It is only through the great gift of God that he is able to present his first fruits to the Kohen at the Temple. It is as if he is saying, “If not for You, God, I would have nothing.”

One more idea. The phrase- a wandering Aramean – was only to be recited after the Jews had entered the Land of Israel. Until that time they were not to use those words. The graduation of the Israelites from desert nomads to inhabitants of the land made it imperative to never forget their roots. In much the same way, we who live in freedom repeat those ancient words to recall our humble beginnings.

Musar: The seeds of prayer are placed into the earth with the ever-resent thought that everything belongs to God. I am only here because He wills it.



1 Pesachim 116a
2 See Rashbam


Haftara Insight:
The series of prophetic readings that align with the topical thread of consolation reaches its apogee this week. Isaiah calls to the survivors of devastation to arise and allow their soulful self to shine outward. That inner luster will act as a beacon to the nations of the world. They will all witness the grandeur of the people of Jacob. The time for tears is over. The time of jubilation has begun....

A Matter of Law:
The parsha makes special mention of the widow, the orphan and the stranger. In Jewish society if any of these people are marginalized it is wicked. Our responsibility is to make sure there are no needy among these three groups. Accursed is the person who allows the Torah to be abrogated in his community. J.Sotah 7:4