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Parashat Ki Tavo: The Parade of First Fruits

The ceremony for bringing the first fruits to Jerusalem in the days of the Holy Temple was quite elaborate.  First they would identify the first fruits to blossom, and would designate some of them, as much as 1\60^th or the field as ‘first fruits’. Then when they would ripen they would put them in baskets and decorate the baskets with doves. The whole town camped out on the street. In the morning they would say ‘Let us rise up and go to Zion, to the L-d our G-d.’ A cow with golden horns and a crown of olive branches would lead the processional and the flutists led the way  When they got close to the city, they would decorate their fruits. When they entered the city they would say ‘our feet stand on the gates of Jerusalem.’ All the workers in the city would stand as they passed and would say, ‘our brothers of such and such a place, ‘Bo-achem le’Shalom.’ As the parade approached the Temple Mount, they put the baskets on their shoulders and praise G-d with a psalm. As they approached the courtyard of the Temple, the Levites sang “I will lift You up since you raised me O’ L-d.’ 

Then he recites the passage from today’s Torah reading thanking G-d for Israel while the fruits are on his shoulder. He holds the sides of the bag, and lets the Cohen hold it too from below and they wave it together. He leaves the basket at the foot of the altar, bows down, and goes. Then the farmer was obligated to sleep over in Jerusalem for the night. If only we could again live on our land and celebrate this grand ceremony.