To wait fourteen years to celebrate is quite a long time. Imagine waiting fourteen years before celebrating a wedding anniversary.

The Jewish people were given a similar type of restraint.

Every year there was a celebration and joy that took place in Jerusalem. It’s called “Bikurim”.

It is the Mitzvah to bring the first harvest of the seven special species of fruit and grain, to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Upon arrival one would then express gratitude for nature’s bounty to G-d.

It’s a joyous ceremony that involves prayers, blessings, singing and dancing.

But here’s the thing, even if one worked hard to grow these fruits, and are now ready to celebrate that success and bring it to Jerusalem, you couldn’t do it for the first 14 years of the Jewish people’s arrival in Israel.

While many people were already settled during those first 14 years, many were still waiting for a plot of land to live on and settle.

It took 14 years to get everyone residing in their new home.

So even if one was ready, full of joy and contentment in their life’s journey, they had to wait until the others also had that opportunity as well.

Why the wait?
One of the essential parts of the “Bikurim” process  is joy.
In the eyes of Judaism, we cannot go ahead and express our joy if others are left behind. The joy wont be complete, it wont be real.

If you have ever experienced pain in your toe, you would notice that it takes a lot of your attention and mind space. We don’t separate the two and say “the pain is in the foot why should that effect the head?”

But because it’s all part of one body, what happens to a certain part effects the other.

The Jewish people are all one body. We feel each others pain and conversely we celebrate another’s success.

This is why many of us feel real pain, with the devastating outcome of the 6 hostages, just a few weeks ago.

That feeling of pain is coming from a good place. A place of unity and connection.

And conversely, when we see our recent successes and miracles we turn to heaven and thank G-d for those moments as well.

We pray to continue seeing the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness.

As we get ready to show up and pray on Rosh Hashana lets do it as feeling a part of the collective body of the whole Jewish nation.