The mitzvot of Ki Tavo

The commandment of recital over the first fruits

Positive · Deuteronomy 26:5

A person awakens his thoughts and pictures the truth in his heart through the power of the words of his mouth. So one whose land God has blessed and who merits to bring its first fruits to God's House should awaken his heart with words, acknowledge that everything came to him from the Master of the world, and recount God's kindness to all Israel, from Yaakov our father rescued from Lavan to the redemption from Egypt. Through his soul being stirred in praise of God, he earns merit and his land is blessed.

The commandment of declaration of tithes

Positive · Deuteronomy 26:13

Man's great distinction is speech, by which he rises above all other creatures, and many people take more care not to taint their speech than not to sin in deed. The tithes and the terumot are a great matter, and the livelihood of God's servants depends on them. So it was part of God's kindness that we testify about ourselves with our own mouths in the Temple that we did not deceive with them or hold anything back, so that we would be very careful with them.

To not eat the second tithe in bereavement

Negative · Deuteronomy 26:14

Holy food is the table of the supreme King, and it is not fitting for one whose heart is aching and deeply troubled to approach the King's table, as it is said, none may enter the king's gate clothed in sackcloth. Moreover, eating holy food brings atonement, so it must be eaten with intention and a settled mind. A person whose relative died that day is distraught and shaken, and his mind is not free for it.

To not eat the second tithe in impurity

Negative · Deuteronomy 26:14

Impurity weakens the intellectual power of the soul and confuses it, separating it from the higher holiness until it is purified. Therefore it is not fitting for an impure person to eat the tithe, which is holy, just as anyone whose body or clothes are soiled is kept away from the king's table.

To only expend monies of the second tithe for eating and drinking

Negative · Deuteronomy 26:14

God wished all of Israel to be occupied with His Torah, but most people are drawn after material things and do not persevere in study. So He commanded that the second tithe be brought up to Jerusalem, the seat of Torah and of the Sanhedrin, so that its owner himself would stay there and learn, or send one of his sons to study there and be sustained by the produce. That is why the tithe money is meant only for food and drink, for its purpose is to sustain whoever stays in the holy city in order to learn.

The commandment to walk in the ways of God

Positive · Deuteronomy 28:9

The reason for this mitzvah and its root are one and the same - God delights in kindness and wants His creatures to walk in His ways so that they may merit His goodness. Just as He is called merciful and gracious, righteous and holy, so we must be merciful, gracious and righteous, and deal with others in kindness and mercy. These attributes are said of God only by way of metaphor, so that we learn from them which traits we ought to acquire.