Ki Thavo: are we there yet?

Ki Thavo: are we there yet?

The parsha opens with instructions to be carried out Ki Thavo, when you arrive. 

The first fruits are delivered to the Kohen 

 וּבָאתָ, אֶל-הַכֹּהֵן, אֲשֶׁר יִהְיֶה, בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם

And thou shalt come unto the priest that shall be in those days

 וְאָמַרְתָּ אֵלָיו

and say unto him:

כִּי-בָאתִי אֶל-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּ

that I am come unto the land 

There is a declaration of arrival.  There is a recognition that the supplicant has arrived in the promised land. The flaws that accompany and actual life in an actual land do not negate the arrival. 

This is followed by the declaration that we make annually in the Hagadah: 

 אֲרַמִּי אֹבֵד אָבִי

An Aryam destroyed my ancestor

The end of the parsha is a long litany of horrors that approach the actual holocaust.

This is the evidence that we have arrived.  The prophecy is fulfilled forward and backward.

Yes, Virginia, the State of Israel is the promised land.