Imagine now you tell the lady, “Oh, by the way, that first tomato—you see that blossom?” There was a city in like Germany. Now, I don’t know how to pronounce it, but it’s like B-U-Z-C-A-C-Z. You know how to pronounce it? Buzkowski or something like that. I don’t know. In any case, there was a Nazi general, and he was in charge of going through every mikveh (ritual bath), every lady’s mikveh, and closing it down for the Jews. Closing it down, everyone: boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. There was one place in Germany where he did not close the mikveh, and that was this place, Buzkowski. So when, over the years, they eventually asked him, “I don’t understand. You destroyed every single mikveh except the one in Buzkowski. Why did you leave it?” he said, “Because I’m a contractor, and before the war, they needed help. They needed me to dig out a hole. They needed me to dig out something, and I went ahead and built it, basically. I built this. I built the surrounding. I built the housing. I built everything.” He said, “I couldn’t see my handiwork being destroyed. I couldn’t see my own labor being thrown. I couldn’t destroy what I made. I couldn’t destroy what I made. I couldn’t do it.”
You know what this lesson is? This lesson is one we learn from Bikurim (the new fruit). What is Bikurim? Now you’re going to look at me like Chinese. What’s Bikurim? Everybody knows now: it’s the new fruit. A person, again, a pomegranate in a day, the fig—these things are the seven species, olives. If they grow, the second they blossom, you have to put a rubber band around it, and you have to wait until it blossoms. That’s the one you’re going to give away to the Kohen (priest) and the Beit HaMikdash (the Temple).
Now think about it. Imagine you’re a farmer. You’re working the soil every day. Think about you. Think about the grandmothers or the mothers, how they build a—you know, they want to make tomatoes, and all day they make tomatoes. Finally, every single day, you look in the backyard, where you have a small garden. “Look, I got my first tomato. I’m so excited. I’m going to make a pizza with this tomato. I’m going to make tomato sauce. I’m going to make tomato sauce.” And what happens all of a sudden? “That’s for me.” What? What do you mean? “I’ve been waiting for six months for one to come up. I finally saw a blossom. Now I have to give it away?”
You know what the Torah is teaching us with this? The Torah is teaching us that you have to understand that it’s all HaKadosh Baruch Hu (the Holy One, blessed be He) giving us the gift. That means that when the first fruits come out, the pomegranate that comes out, you’re anticipating it: “Wow, wow, wow.” Hashem says, “No, no, no, no, no. One second, one second, one second. That’s Mine.” What do you mean? Oh, you have to train yourself. One second, one second. Is anything in life yours? It’s all Hashem giving it to you as a gift. You have to remember that what God gives you is a gift, and everything you have is a gift. Even the human body, the fact that you’re healthy, is a gift.
You know, scientists medically did a science experiment. They said medically, it’s impossible for a person ever to stay healthy. It’s impossible. The body is so complicated that everything should go wrong. The chances of you coming out healthy every day—it’s impossible. That itself is a gift. The fact that you could see vision—how does it even work? You can see with your eyes something very far away, then something very close. You know, night vision—you have everything. You have night vision. You could see in the night. You could see; it’s a wild thing. Your pupil gets bigger, your pupil gets smaller. It’s wild. The whole thing is miracles. Therefore, by giving the Bikurim, we’re showing G-d, we’re saying, “G-d, everything belongs to you, G-d. Everything belongs to you, and anything that I have, G-d, is all a gift.” And you have to remember that.
You’re married; your wife is a gift. Your wife is the best gift, by the way. Yeah, maybe some people don’t agree with me on this one, but at the end of the day, it’s a fact. She’s your lifetime partner. She’s your lifetime partner, and it’s a gift that G-d gave you. Deal with the gift that G-d gave you; it’s a beautiful gift. Everything that we have in life—children are a gift. Some people don’t have. G-d gives us gifts, and everybody should have children, b'ezrat G-d (with God’s help). But at the end of the day, everything is a gift from G-d. Everything is a gift from G-d. That’s what it is. Our whole being is a gift. The fact that we’re alive—you know, Allah is a gift from G-d. You know that? G-d is a gift from G-d.
Think about it. Technically, after 20 years—but technically speaking, why does after G-d have to give you the greatest reward? After 120 years, the greatest reward awaits. And therefore, you’re not allowed to test G-d in this world. You know why you’re not allowed to test G-d? There’s only one thing you’re allowed to test G-d with. That’s Ma'aser (10% giving). The only one thing you can test G-d with is with 10% giving, that you can guarantee, rest assured, that your reward will come in this world. But everything else, you’re not allowed. You’re not going to get the reward in this world. But you’re going to get Beracha (blessing) of the reward to come—whatever, I’m not going into that now. But at the end of the day, why are you not allowed to test G-d? Because the reward is so great. The reward is so great that G-d—even if, I told you this once—a guy came in today to a new state, right? He came in, and he’s buying a taffy. How much is a taffy? Five cents.
The kid comes in with a hundred-dollar bill. He wants a, he wants to buy that, a hundred dollar, well, five cents, you know what I’m saying? I could give you the change, but, you know, this is two. Then the next day, he comes in with a check—a hundred-thousand-dollar check. “Where’d you get this?” “I found it on my father’s desk, this, that. I want to buy one taffy with it.” He’s going to be able to buy one taffy with a hundred thousand dollars? Rip-off. There’s no way. There’s no way. There’s no way. The owner will never do that. Well, I’ll never do it, because it’s overpay.
Same thing over here. By G-d, there’s no reward that could ever pay for one mitzvah (commandment) in this world. So therefore, he has to wait. It’s all in the next world, because it’s overpay; it’s underpay. A reward for a mitzvah in this world is not. Why is it not? Because it’s underpay. It’s underpay. You can live 120 years happy and healthy, and with all the money in the world, and it’s still underpay for one mitzvah. And that’s why you have to understand: even Olam Haba (the next world) and G-d is a gift from G-d that He gave us. It’s a gift that He gave the Jewish people. It’s a gift that He gave us, that the reward is tremendous. And that’s why we have to always thank Hashem, and we have to embrace and have that kindness. And the Bikurim, the first fruit, is teaching us that lesson. You’re finally anticipating, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, very good. My fruits are finally coming back.” Oh, wait—give that to the Beit HaMikdash now. Give that to Hashem, because you have to remember: everything G-d gives us is a big gift from Hashem.