Ki Tavo

(21)And your people, all of them righteous, shall possess the land for all time; they are the shoot that I planted, my handiwork in which I glory.(22) The smallest shall become a clan; the least, a mighty nation. I the LORD will speed it in due time.

All of the Jewish people, even sinners and those who are liable to be executed with a court-imposed death penalty, have a share in the World-to-Come, as it is stated: “And your people also shall be all righteous, they shall inherit the land forever; the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, for My name to be glorified” (Isaiah 60:21).

... I the LORD will speed it in due time. When the designated time arrives, I will do it quickly (hence the verb "speed") and will fulfill my promise.

§ Rabbi Alexandri says: Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi raises a contradiction in the verse: “I the Lord in its time I will hasten it” (Isaiah 60:22), it is written: “In its time,” indicating that there is a designated time for the redemption, and it is written: “I will hasten it,” indicating that there is no set time for the redemption. Rabbi Alexandri explains: If they merit redemption through repentance and good deeds I will hasten the coming of the Messiah. If they do not merit redemption, the coming of the Messiah will be in its designated time.

(1) When you enter the land that your God ה׳ 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 ה׳ is giving you, put it in a basket and go to the place where your God ה׳ 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 ה׳ that I have entered the land that ה׳ 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 ה׳.(5) You shall then recite as follows before your God ה׳: “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 ה׳, the God of our ancestors, and ה׳ heard our plea and saw our plight, our misery, and our oppression.(8) ה׳ 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, ה׳, have given me.” You shall leave it before your God ה׳ and bow low before your God ה׳.(11) And you shall enjoy, together with the [family of the] Levite and the stranger in your midst, all the bounty that your God ה׳ has bestowed upon you and your household.

12) When you have set aside in full the tenth part of your yield—in the third year, the year of the tithe —and have given it to the [family of the] Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat their fill in your settlements,(13) you shall declare before your God ה׳: “I have cleared out the consecrated portion from the house; and I have given it to the [family of the] Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, just as You commanded me; I have neither transgressed nor neglected any of Your commandments:(14) I have not eaten of it while in mourning, I have not cleared out any of it while I was impure, and I have not deposited any of it with the dead. I have obeyed my God ה׳; I have done just as You commanded me.(15)Look down from Your holy abode, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the soil You have given us, a land flowing with milk and honey, as You swore to our fathers.”

.When you enter the land... After inheriting and settling in the land, their heart will make then say that the land is theirs, and that they conquered it with the sword, and so they will forget God. As it is written: "When you enter the land that your God is giving you". For the truth is that you are not inheriting the land because it belonged to your ancestors. The land is given to you as a gift by God, and in return you should repay Him by keeping His commandments...

(2) How were the bikkurim taken up [to Jerusalem]? All [the inhabitants of] the cities of the maamad would assemble in the city of the maamad, and they would spend the night in the open street and they would not entering any of the houses. Early in the morning the officer would say: “Let us arise and go up to Zion, into the house of the Lord our God” (Jeremiah 31:5).

(3) Those who lived near [Jerusalem] would bring fresh figs and grapes, while those who lived far away would bring dried figs and raisins. An ox would go in front of them, his horns bedecked with gold and with an olive-crown on its head. The flute would play before them until they would draw close to Jerusalem. When they drew close to Jerusalem they would send messengers in advance, and they would adorn their bikkurim. The governors and chiefs and treasurers [of the Temple] would go out to greet them, and according to the rank of the entrants they would go forth. All the skilled artisans of Jerusalem would stand up before them and greet them saying, “Our brothers, men of such and such a place, we welcome you in peace.”

(1) Having, in the previous treatises, expounded the obligation of wholeheartedly acknowledging the unity of G-d and the obligation of examining the various modes of His benefits to mankind, we have next to indicate what a human being's conduct should be, once the foregoing has become clear to him - and that is to assume the obligation of the service of G-d, as reason would require from a beneficiary to his benefactor.

(2) It is proper to open this treatise with an exposition of the various kinds of benefits human beings render each other, and the corresponding obligations of gratitude. We shall then ascend to the consideration of what we owe to the exalted Creator in praise and thanksgiving for His abounding kindness and great goodness to us.

(9) Moses and the levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying: Silence! Hear, O Israel! Today you have become the people of your God ה׳:(10) Heed your God ה׳ and observe the divine commandments and laws, which I enjoin upon you this day.

(1) Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: You have seen all that ה׳ did before your very eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his courtiers and to his whole country:(2) the wondrous feats that you saw with your own eyes, those prodigious signs and marvels.(3) Yet to this day ה׳ has not given you a mind to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.

And Rabbi Yehuda again began to speak in honor of Torah and taught: When Moses took leave of Israel on his last day in this world, he said: “Keep silence [hasket] and hear, Israel; this day you have become a people unto the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 27:9). This is surprising: Was the Torah given to Israel on that day? Wasn’t that day at the end of forty years since the Torah was given? Rather, it comes to teach that each and every day the Torah is as dear to those who study it, as it was on the day it was given from Mount Sinai.

עד היום הזה UNTO THIS DAY — I have heard that on the day when Moses gave the Book of the Law to the sons of Levi, as it is written, (Deuteronomy 31:9) “And he gave it to the priests the sons of Levi”, all Israel came before Moses and said to him: Teacher Moses, we, too, stood at Sinai and accepted the Torah, and it was given to us; why, then, do you give the people of your tribe control over it, that they may tomorrow say to us, “Not to you was it given, but to us was it given”? Moses rejoiced at this matter and in reference to this he said to them, (Deuteronomy 27:9) “This day have you become the people [of the Lord thy God]”, meaning, Only this day have I come to understand that you are attached to and have a desire for the Omnipresent.

(1) Now, if you obey your God ה׳, to observe faithfully all the divine commandments which I enjoin upon you this day, your God ה׳ will set you high above all the nations of the earth.(2) All these blessings shall come upon you and reach you, if you will but heed the word of your God ה׳:

And you shall be joyful, together with the [family of the] Levite and the stranger in your midst, all the bounty that your God ה׳ has bestowed upon you and your household.

(45) All these curses shall befall you; they shall pursue you and overtake you, until you are wiped out, because you did not heed your God ה׳ and keep the commandments and laws that were enjoined upon you.(46) They shall serve as signs and proofs against you and your offspring for all time.(47) Because you would not serve your God ה׳ in joy and gladness over the abundance of everything,

(5) When a man has newly taken a woman [into his household as his wife], he shall not go out with the army or be assigned to it for any purpose; he shall be exempt one year for the sake of his household, to give joy to the woman he has taken.

(6) and there you are to bring your burnt offerings and other sacrifices, your tithes and contributions, your votive and freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and flocks.(7) Together with your households, you shall be joyful there before your God ה׳, happy in all the undertakings in which your God ה׳ has blessed you.

(14) You shall rejoice in your festival, with your son and daughter, your male and female slave, the [family of the] Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow in your communities.

(1)Happy is the man who has not followed the counsel of the wicked, or taken the path of sinners, or joined the company of the insolent;(2) rather, the teaching of the LORD is his delight, and he studies that teaching day and night.(3) He is like a tree planted beside streams of water, which yields its fruit in season, whose foliage never fades, and whatever it produces thrives.

Taste and see how good the LORD is;
happy the man who takes refuge in Him!

Happy is the man who finds wisdom,
The man who attains understanding.