JOY's JOY: G*D's FIG TREE

G*D's FIG TREE

- Joy Krauthammer ©

Parshat Ki Tavo

Moses instructs the people of Israel: When you enter the land that G‑d is giving to you as your eternal heritage, and you settle it and cultivate it, bring the first-ripened fruits (bikkurim) of your orchard to the Holy Temple, and declare your gratitude for all that G‑d has done for you.

Today I have great gratitude and I have picked not the 'first' but probably the last of this season's FIG crop in my garden which I tend for G*d. The figs are not the 'first-ripened fruits' but good to the last drop.

Maybe there's a few figs left for upcoming days. It is important to me to share and give away in joy the greatest joy-- fantastic figs from my tree. I hire the gardener to bring a ladder and climb it to higher branches to pick figs for me to give away. Even a golf club tip pulling on branches does not work on the earlier heavily pruned shorter branches than prior years. In order to save my 32 year old fig tree, I had to deeply prune and cut the trunk which gave me great trepidation, yet faith. I had even purchased pruning tar for the major cuts to prevent problems. G*d didn't let me down.

This last Shabbat I brought a fig leaf huge decorated tray of delicious figs to a shul, Lev Eisha, and they were devoured. I deliver figs to friends and family, and I bring the fresh sweet plump figs to the Apple store to the Apple trainers and Apple Geniuses where I spend time learning. Sometimes I make dozens of individual packages for each favorite trainer but yesterday I brought a big bucket of them for all the many store staff to share; The last they will see of them for another year. People love eating the fresh figs. I bring the fresh picked figs to the local Fire Station # 70. Sometimes someone has never even seen figs before, and ask what they are. They are G*d's sweet gift to us.