Dear Friends;
This year’s Parshiyot Ki Tavo vort is being sponsored by Rabbi Eliezer and Esther Brodt of Ramat Beit Shemesh dedicated for the safety of the Chayalim and the liberation of all remaining hostages and their return home without experiencing any further harm, as well as for the good health and security of kol Am Yisrael. To the Brodt family, many thanks for your sponsorship and for your continued kindnesses.
You can celebrate a Simcha — a birth, a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, a Chassuna or other Simcha event in your life, or commemorate a Yahrtzeit of a loved one, or for whatever other reason by sponsoring a Parshat HaShevua.
Please forward to your relatives and friends and encourage them to sponsor a Parshat HaShevua. And please be in contact with me with any questions, or for further details.
Best Regards,
Moshe Burt
olehchadash@yahoo.com
Skype: mark.burt3
***************************************************
Last year’s Parshat Ki Tavo vort discussed the two approaches of Rabbinic literature regarding the final curse of the twelve curses, with the twelve blessings publicly pronounced on the mountains of Gerizim and Eival.
The Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash renders to English this last curse, Sefer Devarim, Perek 27, posuk 26:
“Accursed is the one who will not uphold the words of this Torah, to perform them…”
Rabbi Shmuel Goldin asks two questions on this final curse and provides commentary in his sefer “Unlocking The Torah Text,” Sefer Davarim (page 284 – 288) :
What specific sin is reflected in a failure to “uphold the words of this Torah, to perform them”? After delineating a litany of clear, detailed sins, why does the Torah… [end] the list with such a vague, general statement?
Two very different approaches emerge in Rabbinic literature as the scholars struggle to understand this final curse in the litany at Gerizim and Eival. …They interpret it in ways that are uncannily relevant [adjective: bearing upon or connected with the matter in hand; pertinent] to the challenges of our time.
At one end of the spectrum lie those authorities who attempt to identify a specific act or omission that would fall under the… [heading] of failing to uphold the Torah.
At the other end of the spectrum lie those scholars who see no need to redefine the last curse… in specific terms. These scholars are… willing to accept the broad, general tone of the declaration, “Accursed is he who will not uphold the words of this Torah, to perform them,” at face value.
It is this latter approach to the last curse that we focus on in this vort.
Rabbi Goldin continues (ibid) :
Leading this group, Rashi builds on a Talmudic discussion (Rabbi Goldin citing Talmud Bavli Shavuot 36a) and insists that with this final admonition…, Hashem includes the obligation to observe the entire Torah in the pact enacted upon the Am Yisrael’s entry into the Land. With their public acceptance of this admonition, Rashi continues, the nation accepts this full obligation “with an imprecation [verb: to invoke or call down (evil or curses), as upon a person] and an oath. (Rabbi Goldin citing Sefer Devarim, Perek 27, posuk 26)
While Rashi’s approach would appear to be in line with the text of this curse, a serious problem arises. If Hashem closes the litany of curses… with an overarching warning to observe the entire Torah, why are all of the previous curses necessary? A simple issuance of this final warning should have been sufficient.
The Ramban answers… by suggesting that the last warning… does not deal with the issue of observing the Mitzvot, but with the issue of accepting them:
This verse is thus a ban on those who rebel [against Torah authority] and who deny [its legitimacy]. (Rabbi Goldin citing Ramban on Sefer Devarim, Perek 27, posuk 26)
Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch… maintains that the last curse… condemns anyone who deliberately “deprives one single word of Hashem’s Torah of its validity or binding power, who persuades himself or lets himself be persuaded that it no longer need be kept, has lost its meaning and importance.”
With powerful foresight, the Torah thus addresses a threat that will gather strength over two thousand years later, with the advent of the nontraditional denominations of Judaism.
The Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash provides further clarity in its commentary on the final curse, Sefer Devarim, Perek 27, posuk 26 (pages 1074 – 1075) :
“Who will not uphold.” The nation accepted a curse upon anyone who does not uphold all of the Torah. (Artscroll Stone Chumash citing Rashi) Ramban explains this to mean that every Jew must accept the Torah’s validity in full, and dare not claim that even one of its commandments is not relevant. However, this curse is not imposed on any Jew who commits a sin, only on the one who denies a part of the Torah is G’d given or relevant.
Ramban cites… a view in the Talmud Yerushami (Sotah 7:4) that this curse applies to anyone who can influence others to be loyal to the Torah. but does not care to do so, especially people in positions of authority, who have the power to mold the behavior of others. Even someone who studies the Torah and is rigorously observant, but is unconcerned about the shortcomings of others, even though he can help them, is included in the curse.
This verse also implies the obligation upon every individual to support Torah study, each according to his ability.
At this point, we return to another commentary from Rabbi Goldin, this one relating to “Great Stones,” coated with plaster on the day that the Jews cross the Jordan River, and later inscribed with the words of Torah and placed on an altar on Har (Mount) Eival (page 259) :
…The common practice of nations [is] to memorialize their conquests through the erection of stone monuments.
Hashem directs you to transform your natural desire for personal glory into a public acknowledgement of Hashem’s power, your dependence upon Him and your submission to His Will. The very monument that you planned to erect as a testament to your own achievements must be turned into an altar for His worship on Mount Eival, upon which you will inscribe His Law.
Specifically as they enter the Land, at a time when other nations celebrate their own glorious achievements, the Jews are commanded to publicly acknowledge that their partnership with the Divine is the source of all their past, current and future accomplishments.
But, as observant Jews of many stripes accept Torah totally and perform and support this partnership of Am Yisrael with Hashem, adherence to and performance of His Torah seems absent among Israel’s modern-day factions, politicians, governing leaders and, particularly Israel’s military high command. The actions of the military high command are more aligned with both their arrogance regarding both enhancement of their personal power and with advancing their ideologies and agendas to the peril of Israel’s security and to the exclusion of, and with nary a word of our partnership with HaKadosh Borchu or performance of Torah commandments. The weakness of governing ideologies is betrayed by their subservience to the will of a morally corrupt so-called “great ally” due to virtual addiction to American foreign aid, weaponry and the resultant strings attached.
This weakness of the political, governmental and military high command levels, noted in previous vorts, has caused a perception of Israel’s weakness and lack of military deterrence by terrorists such as Hamas, Hezbollah, terrorists in Syria, Iraq and the Houthies of Yemen and their Iranian sponsors.
This perceived weakness on the part of Israel’s governance, due to the discord among the Am, the arrogance and lust for power of Israel’s high military command and indecisiveness by the government has brought us to the state of affairs we are facing and continue to face today — the catastrophic Gaza War of Simchat Torah.
May it be that our Chayalim, regardless of the machinations of their high command, emerge totally victorious — eradicating from the face of the earth Hamas, their terrorist buddies and the so-called “innocent civilians” of Gaza who joined with Hamas in their murderous deeds, that the Chayalim return home whole — physically, mentally and spiritually and that the Chayalim Liberate and bring home all remaining hostages. And may we see the restoration of true unity within Am Yisrael.
May we, the B’nei Yisrael be zocha that our brethren — the refugee families from Gush Katif be permanently re-settled in Gush Katif, once the IDF, by the Yad Hashem, destructs and eradicates the wild beasts of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, all other terror entities, and if necessary Iran, and that our brethren be made totally whole — be totally restituted for all that was stolen from them, that the thrice expelled families of Amona be restored to their rebuilt homes and the oft-destroyed Yeshiva buildings in Homesh be rebuilt, as well as the buildings of Yishuv Elchanan, all at total government expense. May our Chayalim return from battle unharmed — physically, mentally and spiritually and may all of the remaining hostages brutally taken by the wild beasts of Hamas be liberated and brought home to their families. Baruch Hashem that our dear brother Jonathan Pollard is now in his fourth year at home in Eretz Yisrael and continues in a new chapter in his life. May Esther Yocheved bat Yechiel Avraham have an aliyah in Shemayim and may her spirit and memory continue to lift Jonathan to at least 120 years. May the MIAs be liberated alive and returned to us in ways befitting Al Kiddush Hashem — as with the return in April, 2019, via Russia, of the remains of Zachariah Baumel, as should the remains of the two chayalim from the Gaza War of ten years ago. May we have the courage and strength to stand up and physically prevent the possibility of Chas V’Challila any future eviction of Jews from their homes and prevent Chas V’Challila the handing of Jewish land over to anyone, let alone to enemies sworn to Israel’s and Judaism’s destruction and eradication. May we see, in 5784, the REAL Jews from the Ukraine and Russia as well as the US and Canada, the real Jews via matrilineal descent, make Aliyah enmass — via thorough review by Misrad HaPanim. And may we soon and finally see the total end to the Communist Chinese Wuhan Lab corona virus pandemic and all like viruses and variants. May we fulfill Hashem’s blueprint of B’nei Yisrael as a Unique people — an Am Segula, not to be reckoned with as with “the nations” and may we be zocha to see the Moshiach, the Ge’ula Shlaima, as Dov Shurin sings; “Ki Karov Yom Hashem Al’Kol HaGoyim”, the Ultimate Redemption, bimhayrah b’yamainu — speedily, in our time”, — Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad, Etmol!!!
Good Shabbos!
———————————————————
Moshe Burt, an Oleh, is a commentator on news and events in Israel and Founder and Director of The Sefer Torah Recycling Network. He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh.
*********************************************************