One of the things I find meaningful and valuable in the Torah text from this week are the commandments that give the Israelites guidance about what to do when harvesting their produce to make sure there is an opportunity for the sojourner, widow and orphan to gather food for themselves.
In Vayikra (Leviticus), the Torah teaches that one should not reap all the way to the edges of the field, but rather to leave those for the needy.
In D'varim, the Torah teaches (24:19-21) that "When you reap the harvest in your field and overlook a sheaf in the field, do not turn back to get it...," "When you beat down the fruit of your olive trees, do not go over them again...," and "When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not pick it over again...."
This teaching expands from just the field to fruit of the tree (here it's olive tree specifically, but the rabbis expand on that too) and the grapevine. I find it meaningful that the central text of Judaism makes sure to point out that we need to not only look out for ourselves, but for others too. We can't be greedy and selfish and make sure we get every last morsel, but rather we take our first pass and leave the rest.
Now, it's an interesting compare and contrast to discuss the intentional leaving of the edges vs. remnants of the harvest and that sounds like a *great* topic for the Shabbat table. To help get to that discussion, here's some menu items to bring this all to mind:
Olive Chicken (from Kosher By Design)
Salad with grapes (lots of options here, choose your favorite: https://thishealthytable.com/blog/salads-with-grapes/)
Pound Cake with berries or whole wheat applesauce cake (representing wheat...basically any cake that feels closely connected to the grain would work)
B'tayavon and Shabbat Shalom!
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