Aug 29, 2026 – Ki Tavo

Sermon Suspended: Bring Your Story to Services!

You shall take some of every first fruit of the soil, which you harvest from the land that God is giving you, put it in a basket and go to the place where the ETERNAL your God will choose. You shall go to the priest and say, “I acknowledge this day before the ETERNAL your God that I have entered the land that GOD swore to our ancestors.” The priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down in front of the altar. You shall then recite as follows before your God: “My ancestors were Arameans. We went down to Egypt with meager numbers and sojourned there; but there we became a great and very populous nation. The Egyptians dealt harshly with us and oppressed us; they imposed heavy labor upon us. We cried to God who heard our plea and saw our plight, our misery and our oppression. God freed us from Egypt by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm and awesome power, and by signs and portents, bringing us to this place and giving us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And so, I now bring the first fruits of the soil that You, O God, have given me.”

You shall leave the basket and bow low before your God.
(Deuteronomy 26:2-10)

Technically speaking, you could have a baby-naming ceremony but never ask the parents to speak about the names they have chosen for their child. It is possible to have a wedding without sharing what the couple loves about each other. You could hold a funeral without the eulogies and still fulfill the commandments pertaining to burial. But why on earth would you? The stories are the best part, says the 50-something rabbi who loved storytime as a kid and still does as an adult.

This week’s Torah portion, Ki Tavo, understands that storytelling is what makes ritual personal. If the above verses were only about the Temple collecting its due, then there would be no need for contributors to share their narrative. Storytelling is what keeps something wonderfully relational when it could have lapsed into something purely transactional.

So rather than a sermon, a Torah commentary or a series of poems coming from me, the storytellers will be you. Please come to services tonight ready to tell a story about what brought you to where you are now. What have you been through to get here? What are you grateful for, and what do you want to bring to this place? You need not have any fruit. You need not have a basket. You need not have a document to read from. All I’m asking for is a story no longer than the one shared above that comes from the heart.

May our Shabbat prayers and rituals be enhanced by your stories and may your stories enhance our Shabbat.

Kol Tuv (Goodness in All Things),
Rabbi David Wirtschafter