Roger Froikin @rlefraim wrote, "SHABBAT SHALOM/
Parshat Ki Tavo
Deuteronomy 26:1–29:8
PARSHAT KI TAVO, like much of Torah, operates on several levels.
1)
Parshat Ki Tavo
Deuteronomy 26:1–29:8
PARSHAT KI TAVO, like much of Torah, operates on several levels.
1)
On one level, the literal surface, it gives instructions, but then looks deeper and communicates how the performance of Mitzvot creates sociological and psychological civilizing and
2)
2)
humanizing consequences in the creation and continuation of a moral nation.
Moses instructs the people of Israel: When you enter the land that G‑d is giving to you as your eternal heritage, and
3)
Moses instructs the people of Israel: When you enter the land that G‑d is giving to you as your eternal heritage, and
3)
you settle it and cultivate it, bring the first-ripened fruits (bikkurim) of your orchard, and declare your gratitude for all that G‑d has done for you.
What does this mean below the surface?
4)
What does this mean below the surface?
4)
It means the creation of a society that understands deferred gratification, which is a key element in building a future-oriented and moral nation, in contrast to a people that is narcissistic and cares only about instant gratification today.
5)
5)
Parshat Ki Tavo shows the choices the people have—between complying with the teachings of Torah, which lead to a positive, high quality of life in society, and ignoring them, which leads to illness, famine, poverty, and exile.
6)
6)
Notice, it is not that HaShem will punish anyone. Rather, it is a prediction that if you do not do the right thing, that lapse will have negative consequences all by itself. If you do not follow traffic laws and you have an accident, damage your car, or someone dies,
7)
7)
it is not HaShem doing something to you—it is the natural result of your choices.
Finally, Moses tells the people that only today, forty years after their birth as a people, have they attained “a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear.”
8)
Finally, Moses tells the people that only today, forty years after their birth as a people, have they attained “a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear.”
8)
What does that mean? It means that after 40 years of isolation, education, and a change of generational leadership, the people could finally think, act, and be a mature nation that does not look over its shoulder at Egypt or any other nation for approval or validation.
9)
9)
Can we really say we are anywhere near that state of cultural maturity and confidence today? I don’t think so.
Instead, I see our people too often looking at Torah through a lens of other cultures, as if Torah and its lessons are on trial,
10)
Instead, I see our people too often looking at Torah through a lens of other cultures, as if Torah and its lessons are on trial,
10)
through a lens shaped by 2000 years of persecution and adaptation to survive, all producing contradictions to the purpose of Torah.
It’s as if we are still the generation that has just left Egypt—unready to think and act as a free nation,
11)
It’s as if we are still the generation that has just left Egypt—unready to think and act as a free nation,
11)
not yet having our 40 years of learning and adjustment to think like a proud and free people. Our institutions and politics, our rates of loss through assimilation, and debates over law in Israel,
12)
12)
all demonstrate that we are still at the level of our people when they just left Egypt—not thinking as a free people, vulnerable to the arguments of Korach.
It is time to move forward and change that."
13)
It is time to move forward and change that."
13)
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