פרשת ראה תשי"ב - שלושת הרגלים

שמור את חדש האביב WATCH THE MONTH OF ABIB — This means: Before it comes watch whether it will be capable of producing ripe ears (אביב), so that one may offer the Omer meal-offering during it, and if not (i.e. if you observe that the ears will not be ripe by the 16th of Nisan), then intercalate the year (i.e. add a month to the winter-period, so that the month Abib falls later than it otherwise would, by which time the ears will be ripened) (cf. Sanhedrin 11b and Note 4 on p. 191 of Leviticus in the Silbermann edition of the Pentateuch).

And thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, and the Levite that is within they gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are in the midst of thee, in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to cause His name to dwell there.

And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.

Seven days shalt thou keep a feast unto the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD shall choose; because the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the work of thy hands, and thou shalt be altogether joyful.

And ye shall take you on the first day the fruit of goodly trees, branches of palm-trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook, and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.

לוי גר יתום ואלמנה THE LEVITE THE STRANGER, THE FATHERLESS, THE WIDOW — these four are Mine, corresponding to four that are yours, viz., בנך ובתך ועבדך ואמתך THY SON, THY DAUGHTER, THY MAN-SERVANT AND THY MAID-SERVANT; if you gladden Mine, I will gladden yours (Midrash Tanchuma, Re'eh 18).

וזכרת כי עבד היית וגו׳ AND THOU SHALT REMEMBER THAT THOU WAST A SERVANT [IN EGYPT] — Only on this condition did I deliver you from Egypt: that you keep and do these statutes.

Seven days shalt thou keep a feast unto the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD shall choose; because the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the work of thy hands, and thou shalt be altogether joyful.

you [singular] shall celebrate i.e., you shall perform the sacrifice. This either denotes the community collectively, or it refers to the individual, who may offer burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. The word He blesses you [singular] provides evidence for the latter interpretation, as if to say: You shall do this, because God has blessed you. Scripture adds all your crops , to specify that the blessing refers to the crops that the land has produced,

only i.e., you may not experience any other feelings.