“When
you have come – ki tavo – into the land…” informs us that “living in
Israel land
of Yisrael
“And the priest shall take the
basket out of your hand and place it before the altar of YHVH your Elohim. And
you shall speak and say before YHVH your Elohim…” (26: 4). Now the Israelite is
bidden to recount before YHVH some of the history of his people (v. 5ff), which
of course highlights YHVH’s indispensable role, leading the said Israelite
worshipper to thanksgiving, as well as to a greater sense of oneness with his
ancestors and with the future generations. As we have seen many times before,
place, time and people all come together under the sovereign rule of YHVH.
However, the declaration: “… And you shall place it before YHVH your Elohim, and bow
yourself before YHVH your Elohim” (26:2), along with the presentation of
the fruit in the basket, does not end this
particular activity. In verse 11 we read: “… and
rejoice in all the good which YHVH your Elohim has given to you, and to your
house, you, and the Levite, and the alien who is in your midst,” immediately
leading to: “When you have made an end of tithing all the tithes of your
increase the third year, the year of tithing, and have given it to the Levite,
the alien, the orphan, and the widow, that they may eat inside your gates, and
be filled…” (v.12). Thus the individual Israelite, who is responsible before
his Elohim for handing over the initial yield of his land, for thanking Elohim
and rejoicing before Him, is at the same time also to encompass the needy ones
within his gates, since rendering to them their dues is as good as “lending to
YHVH” Himself (ref. Prov.19:17).
The afore-mentioned address made to the Israelites (in chapter 26)
is in the second person singular, which constitutes, as noted before, a means
to emphasize the individual responsibility to be borne by each person. The
confession, however, that the Israelite worshipper is to make is in first
person plural, denoting the collective national identity in relationship
to YHVH (vs. 6-9). In verse 10 there is an immediate change, again to first
person, as the focus shifts back to the individual’s responsibility and
relationship with his Elohim. Verses 17-19 sum up the ‘transaction’ which will take
place: “You have today declared YHVH to be your Elohim, and to walk in
His ways, and to keep His statutes and His commands, and His judgments, and to
pay attention to His voice. And YHVH has declared you today to be His
people, a special treasure as He has spoken to you, and to keep all His
commands. And He will make you high above all nations that He has made, in
praise, and in name, and in glory; and that you may be a holy people to YHVH
your Elohim, as He has spoken” (italics added). The verb “declared” in
both instances is “he’emir,” of the root a.m.r (alef, mem, resh),
meaning to “say, utter, declare, speak.” However, because “he’emir” is
an unusual conjugation, rather than the regular “amar,” some translate it
“elevate,” from the root word “a’mir,” which is “top or summit” (for example,
“uppermost branch” in Isaiah 17:6). The wilderness journey had seen many
incidents of rebellion, as Moshe states in Dvarim (Deuteronomy) 9:24: “You have
been rebels against YHVH from the day that I knew you.” There, as in many of
the other references to the Israelites’ rebelliousness, the word used is
“ma’mrim,” of the root m.r.h. Thus, this sad fact, stated in alliteration form
in Tehilim (Psalms) 107:11: “They defied Elohim’s words” – “himru ee’mrey El,”
finds its ‘remedy’ in our present alliteration - “he’emiru” - that is in the action of “saying and
declaring” YHVH’s words, deeds and goodness toward His people.
The
rest of the Parasha is mostly devoted to the blessings and the curses (chapter
28). Even the undertaking in the future, of writing the Torah on “large stones”
after crossing the Yarden and reading it to the people, is intended to
illustrate vividly the extant dichotomy of “blessings” and “curses,” as this
event was to take place between the “Mountain of Blessing” and the “Mountain of
Curse.” And, as if to make sure that the
people will understand the simple equation of ‘obedience equals blessings -
rebellion equals curses,’ it says: “And you shall write on the stones all the
words of the law very plainly” (27:8). “Very plainly” is “ba’er
heytev,” and while we have already examined once the verb “ba’er” (and its
connection to “be’er,” “well” – in Deut. Ch. 1), here we encounter the
additional “heytev,” of the root “tov” - well, good,
pleasant.” “Ba’er hey’tev,” then, is plainly “do a good job of explaining
and making the meaning clear and simple.”
Moving
now to the blessings versus the curses, we take a look at 28:1 (regarding the
blessings) and at verse 15 (the opening verse of the passage enumerating the
curses) and read the following commentary: “Particularly remarkable is the
difference between the emphatic double phrase of obedience used in the positive
passage: ‘If thou shalt diligently hearken (shamo’a tishma)’ and the
bare: ‘if thou shalt not hearken’ in the negative one. … Rashi, following
Talmudic exegesis interprets the idiomatic doubling of the verb in a
conditional sense: ‘And it shall be,’ im shamoa, ‘if thou shalt hearken,’
tishma, ‘then thou shalt continue to hearken.’ Though grammatically this
is not the implication of the verb doubling, it nevertheless expresses a deep
psychological truth that once man has started on the right path, his progress
becomes easier, gathering momentum with each fresh good deed. Maimonides also observed:
‘The more man is drawn after the paths of wisdom and justice, the more he longs
for them and desires them’”. [1]
The
blessings and the curses are set side by side in chapter 28, and are parallel
in content. But whereas it takes 14 verses to spell out the blessings, it takes
almost four times that to go through all the curses. It appears that both
blessings and curses are all-encompassing. Being blessed, one is blessed
everywhere one goes or happens to be, and likewise when one is cursed. The
blessings and the curses are therefore all-pervasive. The more the blessings
sound pleasant and appealing, the more horrendous and appalling are the curses,
and using some of the same words in both underscores this fact all the more.
The word fruit, for example, is used this way. In 28:4 and 11 we read:
“The fruit of your body shall be blessed, and the fruit of your
ground, and the fruit of your livestock, the offspring of your oxen, and
the young ones of your flock. (italics added).” “And YHVH shall prosper you in
goods, and in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your
livestock, and in the fruit of your ground in the land which YHVH swore
to your fathers to give it to you” (italics added). In the next section we read
about a fierce nation, which “shall eat the fruit of your livestock, and
the fruit of your land, until you are destroyed” (v. 51, italics added. In
the English translation “increase” and “produce” replace “fruit”). But what
renders “fruit” and its usage much more macabre is verse 53: “And you shall eat
the fruit of your body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters whom
YHVH your Elohim has given to you… “ (italics added).
Let us review several
other similar examples (where the same term or root is used in widely differing
contexts, highlighting the severity of the message). In 28:11 it says: “And YHVH will
grant you plenty of goods…” (emphasis added), which is “ve’hotircha”
from the root y.t.r -“that which surpasses”
and is therefore a “surplus.” But y.t.r (yod, tav, resh) is also the
root for “that which remains.” And so in 28:54 the root y.t.r is
employed once more, though with a very different message: “The sensitive and
very refined man among you will be hostile toward his brother, toward the wife
of his bosom, and toward the rest – “yeter” - of his children
whom he leaves behind – “yotir” - so that he will not give any of
them the flesh of his children whom he will eat…” (emphasis added). These
words, aside from highlighting the horrid situation, especially as juxtaposed
against the blessings of y.t.r., also echo the same morbidity which
characterized the passage we just read above (having had to do with
“fruitfulness”). “Avod” - “work, labor,
worship, serve” is another term which is used in this manner.
“Because you did not serve/worship YHVH your Elohim with joyfulness and
with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things, you shall serve
your enemies whom YHVH shall send on you, in hunger, and in thirst, and in
nakedness, and in lack of all things. And he shall put an iron yoke on your neck
until he has destroyed you” (vs. 47-48 italics added). Verse 64 takes us even
further: “And YHVH shall scatter you among all people, from one end of the
earth even to the other, and you shall serve [of the root a.v.d again] other
gods there, wood and stone, which you have not known, nor your fathers”
(italics added).
Becoming “a proverb and
a byword – ma’shal u’shneena - among all the peoples” (28:37) is
another outcome of not heeding YHVH’s voice, as opposed to “all the peoples of
the earth shall see that you are called by the name of YHVH, and they shall
fear you” (v. 10). In Parashat Chayey Sarah (Gen. 23-25:18, in reference to
24:2), we examined the noun “ma’shal” extensively. We found that one of the
verbs for “to rule” – mashol – shares its root (m.sh.l) with words such as
“proverb, parable and example.” Thus, a ruler who represents his higher
authority, as he is meant to do in YHVH’s kingdom, becomes a fit example
of the latter. Here Yisrael is warned against misrepresenting YHVH and becoming
an object lesson exemplifying what happens to those who betray trust. In Yoel
(Joel) 2:17 the prophet laments: “And do not give Your heritage to reproach, that the
nations should rule (“lim’shol”) over them. Why should they say among the
peoples, 'Where is their Elohim?'" The second term used in the
above “proverb and byword” - “sh’neena” - stems
from the root sh.n.n. (shin, noon, noon) and means to “sharpen, whet,”
and by implication “repeat.” Thus, if Yisrael should set a negative
example, that fact will be told repeatedly, over and over and in every place.
However, if they obey the word, “vesheenantam… “teach repeatedly” YHVH’s
Word to their children (Deut. 6:7), not only will they not become a “sh’neena”
- “a byword”- among the nations,
rather they will be at the “head” of all
the nations (ref. 28:13).
The last phase of the
fulfillment of the curses is a scattering among the nations. This entails
unbearable conditions: “And among these nations you shall find no ease, nor
shall the sole of your foot have rest – ma’no’ach…” (28:65). In Parashat
No’ach we read: “The dove was sent to see if the water had abated and, found no resting
place – again ma’no’ach - for the sole of her foot….” (Gen. 8:8-9). But the
suffering, anguish and dread only continue: “And your
life shall hang in doubt before you, and you shall fear day and night, and
shall have no assurance of your life. In the morning you shall say, Oh that it
were evening! And in the evening you shall say, Oh that it were morning! For
the fear of your heart with which you fear, and for the sight of your eyes
which you shall see” (28:66-67). Indeed, one Holocaust survivor chose to name
the book he wrote about his experiences, Oh That It Were Evening. “Evening”
as we noted several times already is “erev” of the root e.r.v (ayin, resh,
bet/vet), with its numerous derivations such as, mix, pleasant, raven and guarantee
(the end of the day, “erev,” is a guarantee of the coming of the morning). In the present case, the Guarantor of the ‘coming day’ is involved
(‘mixed in’) with the circumstances of those to whom He has pledged His
guarantee. Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah) chapter 30, for example, contains tremendous
(and guaranteed) promises to Yisrael. In verse 21 we read the following: “Their
leader [“moshel” which we just encountered above] shall be one of them and
their ruler shall come forth from their midst [remember Parashat Shoftim and
the leader who was to be raised from “among their brethren”?]. And I will bring
him near and he shall approach Me; For who would dare to risk his life to
approach Me?”. “Dare to risk (his life)” is once again from the same familiar
e.r.v - “a’ra’v.” The answer to the question is quite clear, as no one else but
the Son could risk His life, as indeed He has, by “sacrificing” (which is identical
to “approach”) Himself!
Finally (in 28:68), “And
YHVH shall bring you into Egypt Egypt Egypt
Verses
1-9 of chapter 29, which form the epilogue of our Parasha, serve to remind the future
Israelites, once again, of the miracles that they had experienced in this Egypt,
which just a moment ago was presented before them as a potential place of
untold future sufferings. They are called to remember in the future the extent
of YHVH’s past goodness toward them and His great mercy, love and power; a remembrance
which will be essential for their conduct and wellbeing, hence the exhortation:
“Pay attention to the words of this covenant, and do them, that you may act
wisely in all that you do”! (29:9)
[1] New Studies in
Devarim, Nechama Leibowitz, trans. Aryeh Newman, Eliner Library, Department for
Torah Education and Culture in the Diaspora, Hemed books Inc., Brooklyn , N.Y.
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