Ki Tavo 5768

Parshat Ki Tavoh teaches us some practical principles of life and gives us much food for thought. 

 

First, there is the principle of gratitude.  We are to bring first fruits of the land of Israel to God because it is God who gave us this land as an inheritance and as a place to live.  And it is required that we describe what we are doing and why we are doing it.  This too is extremely important: we must be fully aware of our actions and of the consequences of our actions.

As an aside, and in tune with agriculture, the beautiful description of Eretz Yisroel as a land of milk and honey is repeated 3 times (26: 9,15; 27:3.)

 

Another principle of life:  Determine the rules of the place in which you find yourself.  The rules of living in Eretz Yisroel are the laws of the Torah.  Therefore we are commanded to write the laws very legibly. The commentators say “legibly” means “in many languages, so that everyone can understand.”

 

Next there is another important rule of life:  A Declaration.

We have seen this already when we have to declare why we are bringing the first fruits.  Now we are told that when we enter Eretz Yisroel we are declared a nation. (27:9 this day you have become a nation)  We can learn from this that we should announce and declare important events in our life; that we should consider our lives worthy of announcing and declaring and rejoicing.

 

We then have the separate enumeration of the curses which will result if we do the wrong thing.  Although the curses are enumerated, they were preceded by a blessing, which was the opposite of the curse.  And each item had to receive Amen from the entire nation, thus making sure that the item had been heard.  It is interesting that the Torah wants the Leviim to speak loudly (you would think public speakers would know this, but as usual, the Torah assumes nothing!) The speaker’s duty, as we were told earlier (27:8), is to write the Torah clearly.  Thus we not only get laws from the Torah – we also get job descriptions – all quite helpful in our everyday lives.

 

Next we have the blessings which will come to us if we obey the laws – one of the nicest being:  Blessed are you when you come, and blessed are you when you leave.  One explanation is that just as you entered the world without blemish, so it will be a blessing if you can leave the earth unblemished (Rabbi Yohanan in Talmud Bava Metzia).  But there is another very lovely explanation by Astruc in Midresheth Torah: that this shows God’s mercy, that we are blessed when we enter the land, and we are also blessed when we are forced to leave the land.  God will not forsake us even in exile (Leviticus 26:44 “…even though Israel may forsake me; yet when Israel will be in exile I will not forsake them, because I am their God”).

 

And finally– “the heart to know”.  Now, only as we enter Eretz Yisroel do we attain “the heart to know” all that has been given to us by God.  It’s interesting to note that the same words “on this day” is used in sentence 9 of Chapter 27 when Moses tells the people “on this day you have become a nation” and in sentence 3 of  Chapter 29 “on this day” (“God has given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear”), from which we might learn that only when we enter the land of Israel and become a nation, can we  really begin to understand the unbelievable marvels that God has done for us.  Also very beautiful is the idea that we only know, when we know with the heart.