Bikkurim Sanctifies The Beginning

במדרש זה שמביא ביכורים עומד ומבקש בעד כל ישראל השקיפה כו'

In the Midrash we find that one who brings the bikkurim, the first fruits, stands and prays on behalf of all of Bnei Yisrael with the words "Look down from Your holy dwelling" (Devarim 26:15) and so forth.

The Sfas Emes opens with the Midrash that the one bringing his first fruits does not pray only for himself, but stands and davens on behalf of all Bnei Yisrael.

הגם שזה נכתב במצות ביעור בפ' כי תכלה לעשר

Even though this prayer is written in the context of the mitzvah of bi'ur, the removal of the tithes, in the passage of "When you have finished tithing" (Devarim 26:12),

He raises a difficulty: this prayer of "Look down" actually appears in the Torah within the passage dealing with the removal of the tithes, not within the passage of bikkurim itself.

אבל נראה כי כל המצות תרומות ומעשרות עד סוף הביעור הכל תלוי במצות ביכורים שהיא מצוה ראשונה

nevertheless it appears that all the mitzvos of terumos and ma'asros, the priestly portions and the tithes, up through the final bi'ur, all depend upon the mitzvah of bikkurim, which is the first mitzvah of them all.

He resolves this by explaining that the entire chain of agricultural mitzvos, from terumah and ma'aser through the final clearing out of the tithes, all hangs upon and flows from the mitzvah of bikkurim, since bringing the first fruits is the first mitzvah in the sequence.

לכן סמכן הכ' כי תכלה לעשר אחר מצות ביכורים כי הכל תלוי בהראשית:

This is why the verse placed "When you have finished tithing" immediately after the mitzvah of bikkurim, for everything depends upon the reishis, the very first and beginning portion.

Therefore the Torah deliberately set the tithing passage right after bikkurim, teaching that the whole structure rests upon the reishis, the beginning, which sanctifies all that follows.

Summary: The Sfas Emes examines the Midrash that one who brings bikkurim stands and prays for all of Bnei Yisrael with the words "Look down from Your holy dwelling." He notes the difficulty that this prayer is recorded within the passage of bi'ur, the removal of the tithes, rather than within the passage of the first fruits themselves. He answers that all the mitzvos of terumos and ma'asros, up through the final bi'ur, are rooted in and dependent upon the mitzvah of bikkurim, the first of them all. For this reason the Torah placed "When you have finished tithing" directly after bikkurim, to teach that the entire avodah depends upon the reishis, the first and beginning portion, which draws kedushah into everything that comes after it.