Portion 50 of 54 · Deuteronomy
כִּי־תָבוֹא
Ki Tavo
A farmer brings his first fruit in a basket and has to say out loud where he came from.
Start by reading it
Deuteronomy 26:1–29:8
4 chapters. About 16 minutes at an unhurried pace.
Paired reading from the prophets: Isaiah 60:1–22
What happens
- 01
Bring the first of your produce and recite: a wandering Aramean was my father.
- 02
Declare that you have given the tithe to the Levite, the stranger, the orphan and the widow.
- 03
Blessings and curses called out from two mountains, tribe facing tribe.
- 04
A long, unflinching description of what national collapse looks like.
The thing most people walk past
Gratitude is scripted
The farmer is given words to say. He does not have to find his own. The Torah understands that thankfulness is easier to feel when there is something to say, and it puts slavery and rescue in the middle of a harvest festival.
One verse to carry
A wandering Aramean was my father.
This sentence is read aloud at the Passover table every year. A nation's founding statement about itself begins with someone with nothing.
A question to sit with
The declaration starts with 'my father was a wandering Aramean' — a refugee. Why start there when your hands are full of your own crop?
There is no answer key. This is the part you take with you.