D'var Torah

One could say that this week’s portion, Ki Tavo, is a study in biblical behavior management. As Moses nears the end of his Herculean effort to prepare the Israelites to be faithful to their covenant with God, he seems to try every way he knows to encourage, entice, guilt and threaten them into doing what they have been commanded.  He describes wonderful rewards for living righteously, from prosperity in crops, to military superiority, to blessed offspring. He makes promises like, “Blessed shall you be in your comings and blessed shall you be in your goings,” and, “The Eternal will make you the head, not the tail; you will always be at the top and never at the bottom.” On the other hand, much longer than the list of blessings for following the covenant is the list of curses for failing to do so, predicting a horrifying future.

For many of us, these promises and threats feel less real or less relevant than they may have felt for the Israelites in biblical times. At the beginning of the portion, however, the Israelite farmer is commanded to play out a ritual that does seem relevant for us, especially now, as we prepare to enter the Days of Awe. The farmer is to take his first fruits to the priest and give a tenth of his yield to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow. Then he retells his own story and the story of his people up until this point, beginning, “My father was a wandering Aramean.” He recalls how his people went down into Egypt, was enslaved by the Egyptians and then brought out by God, taken into this land, and, finally, given these fruits of the soil. Then, he makes the following statement:

“I have cleared out the consecrated portion from the house; and I have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, just as You commanded me; I have neither transgressed nor neglected any of Your commandments: I have not eaten of it while in mourning, I have not cleared out any of it while I was unclean, and I have not deposited any of it with the dead. I have obeyed the Lord my God; I have done just as You commanded me. Look down from Your holy abode, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the soil You have given us, a land flowing with milk and honey, as You swore to our fathers.”

This declaration is beautiful in the simplicity of its message and the work required to get ready to say it. The Israelite reflects aloud on the events that have led him and his people to this point in his life, and he acknowledges what blessings he has received. Then, he examines his actions, recalls them aloud before God, and asks for blessing in communion with his people.

On Rosh Hashanah next month, and then again on Yom Kippur, we too will together ask God for blessing. The month of Elul (of which we are now in the middle) is our time to engage in the kind of work we see in this biblical passage. We are not the Israelite of biblical times, and we will not open our arms and declare, “I have done just as you have commanded me!” As our liturgy reminds us, “We are not so arrogant and stiff-necked as to say before you, we are perfect and have not sinned.” But we are asked at this time to make a true assessment of our actions. In what ways do we feel ready for blessing and what could we do between now and Yom Kippur to bring us closer to that ideal? The personal reflection during these weeks, can help us to take an honest look at ourselves, how faithful we have been to our personal covenant, and how best we can use these days to prepare us to ask God for blessing.

Wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom and a good and productive month of Elul.