A newlywed couple sat at a sushi place, with the wife looking through the menu while her husband looked through his phone. Eventually, she too took out her phone and began scrolling. Their sushi was served, and they both ate, looking at their phones the entire time instead of at each other.
By Rabbi Mordechai Lipskier – The Beis Medrash
“Rebbe!” the chossid cried to Reb Dovid of Tulna. “When I paid rent to the poretz yesterday I miscalculated and underpaid him. I’m afraid to admit it but I’m also afraid of him realizing on his own!”
“When did you realize your mistake?”
“This morning.”
“When this morning?”
Embarrassed, the chossid responded, “During davening.”
“When exactly?”
Looking down, the chossid cried, “Rebbe! I admit, it was in middle of shemoneh esrei!”
Reb Dovid, known to perform miracles through wit and humor, smiled and said: “You have nothing to worry about, the poretz doesn’t daven shemoneh esrei.”
*
The medrash writes that when Hashem gave the mitzvah of bikurim, in this week’s sedra, Moshe Rabbeinu asked what will happen when there’s no Beis Hamikdash. Hashem responded that we would have davening in place of bikurim.
What’s the connection between bringing the first and best fruit to Hashem and davening?
Yidden are Hashem’s first fruit, we’re the ones whom Hashem created before anything else. Davening is our chance to bring ourselves close to Hashem and connect with him.[1]
The Yidden were not commanded to bring bikurim until they were fully settled in Eretz Yisroel. How is this reflected in our davening?
The best way to daven is through being settled. In fact, there are many halachos designed to keep us from being distracted: not having anything in front of us, not davening facing a window, etc.
Yet, the most difficult distractions are probably the ones we create for ourselves.
The holy Berditchiver once greeted a few people in shul after davening with a shalom aleichim as if they had just arrived. The Berditchiver explained: “You were in Leipzig, he was in Moscow, and he was in Lublin. Welcome back to Berditchev!”
If feeling settled and focused during davening was always a challenge, with technology this challenge is infinitely greater. We can literally book a flight to Leipzig on our smartphone between Baruch She’amar and Yishtabach! But even if we don’t, the phone possesses us and pulls us to many different places.
Davening, especially in the morning when our minds are fresh and clear, is the time that Hashem wants us to bring ourselves as bikurim. He wants us to be settled and spend time with Him.
What can we do to maximize this opportunity?
On a behavioral level, using an actual siddur or Tehillim instead of a digital device is a practical way of retaining focus. And on a deeper level, spending a few moments before davening to learn some Chassidus and reflect on Whom we’re davening to, and the fact that He wants us to connect with Him, can drastically improve the experience.
And just as it was in the Beis Hamikdash, after a Yid brings bikurim, Hashem blesses this person that they should have even more goodness in their life; bringing the current-day bikurim can directly bring blessings and improve our relationship with Hashem and with others.
Someone just described a scene they witnessed of a newlywed couple at a sushi place. The wife looked through the menu while her husband looked through his phone. He glanced up long enough to give her his order. As they waited for their sushi, the wife sat and looked at her husband, he sat and looked at his phone. Eventually, she too took out her phone and began scrolling. Their sushi was served, and they both ate, looking at their phones the entire time instead of at each other.
We’re lucky to have the Torah which gives us mitzvos like bikurim that engrain within us such valuable lessons for life.
[1] Sefer Hamaamarim 5743, Ki Savo
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