I just finished reading Lev Golinkin's memoir A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka. It is Golinkin's story of his family's journey in 1989-90 from Kharkov to West Lafayette, Indiana, with an extended "stop" in Austria. Golinkin, a nine year old at the beginning of his travels, describes the challenges, the difficulties, and the triumphs along the way, with the humor that reveals the absurdities and strength of human spirit he encountered. This major exodus of the twentieth century is part of the ongoing Jewish story, a story with its roots in Torah.

In this week's parashah, Ki Tavo, the Jewish people are ever closer to entering their new home. They are instructed on the offering of the first fruits when they are settled, a passage we read each year at our Passover Seders. They are giving thanks, as the Haggadah instructs us to do, for "The Lord freed us from Egypt by a mighty hand." But, we know from our reading of Torah that there was much suffering and discontent along the way. On a human scale, isn't this understandable? The Hebrews' lives were disrupted and they had virtually no time to prepare. It is not always easy to be thankful, particularly when you are in the midst of the hardship of the journey.

And yet, we are given the words to use when we can taste the sweetness of the first fruits and recognize the value of the experience. It took Lev Golinkin until he was a college student and beyond to appreciate the efforts of those who helped to bring his family to freedom, the "thousands of individuals across the globe, praying, debating, marching, lighting candles, and holding vigils. People ...grappling with the most powerful dictatorship in history because they believed in my cause. Because they believed I was worth it." P. 371. This more recent Exodus sounds familiar. That is worth an offering of first fruits.

Shabbat Shalom and a peaceful Labor Day.