This weeks Parsha starts with the mitzvah of Bikurim (the obligation to take the first fruits up to Yerushalayim). In Breishis Rabbah it says that it was for Bikkurim that the world was created. The Nesivos Sholom asks what is so significant about the mitzvah of Bikkurim as opposed to other mitzvos that the world should be created for it?
He answers that the concept is emphasised in many sources (Midrash and Zohar) that Hashem most desires when man in the lower world serves him. Thus all the other worlds were created in the merit of man. What happens when a person does the mitzvah of Bikkurim. He has toiled all year on the field by the sweat of his brow to produce this fruit. The culmination of hours of time and effort, he has finally reached the time when he can enjoy the results of his labour,the moment he has been waiting for all year and of course he has a tremendous desire to pick it and swallow it there and then. What is the first thing he does? He immediatly designates it to G-d. Even though this fruit does not have much intrinsic worth since it is highly valued in the eyes of man G-d wants us to give it to him. This is the ultimate in self- sacrafice and the greatest elevation of the lower world and that is why in the merit of Bikurim the world was created.
