Ki Tavo: The Torah's Harsh Rebuke Leads to Good Things

by Rav Dov Lior, former Chief Rabbi of Kiryat Arba and Hevron, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.

The central theme of this week's Torah portion of Ki Tavo (D'varim 26,1-29,8) is the blessings and curses that Israel took upon themselves just days before the passing of Moshe Rabbeinu. This is the covenant made in the plains of Moav, since the covenant made at Horeb (Mount Sinai) nearly 40 years earlier had been broken by them.

The main point of the covenant is the belief in Divine Reward and Punishment. This is one of the foundational principles of faith, as Maimonides enumerates in his Thirteen Principles of Faith. What this requires of us is to observe what is happening around us – that which happens to myself as an individual, and even more so, what happens to our community and nation. We do not have the luxury of thinking that everything is mere coincidence. There are no coincidences, neither for the individual nor for the community; everything that happens is the result of our actions, for better or worse.

Moshe Rabbeinu, as he winds up his parting speech to the Israelites, is very harsh here in Chapter 28. Though he begins with words of blessing, most of it is what is known as tokhe'ha, sharp rebuke and threat of dire punishment if Israel does not adhere to the commandments of the Torah. In verse 59, he uses an unfamiliar term in his depiction of the plagues that could come upon us: "V'hifla [from the root meaning 'wondrous'] your punishments, terrible and relentless…"

The Medrash states: "V'hifla – I do not know what that is. But when the Prophet states, 'I will continue to mafli this nation hafle vafele, and the wisdom of its sages will be lost and the understanding of its wise men will be hidden' [Yeshayahu 29,14, using three different forms of the word in question], we see that it means the loss of tzaddikim."

That is, if Divine Providence brings upon us a plague or punishment of any kind, and there are those in our midst who know how to understand and explain to the public why and because of whom and what the punishment came, this means that the blow achieved its goal, the public will repent, and the punishment will end and disappear.

However, if the righteous have departed us, and there is no one to open the people's eyes to what is happening, then the sins, and the consequent punishments and suffering will continue to exist among us. This is what the Torah refers to here as "relentless plagues" (ne'emanot, literally meaning "faithful" and consistent); the punishments do not end but rather continue indefinitely.

We live in a period in which we cannot easily point to specific people who have the ability to open our eyes, to teach the community why and wherefore various difficulties come upon us. There is no other country in the world that is threatened by its enemies near and far with destruction simply because it exists. Our security inside and outside our homes throughout the country is not guaranteed. Any day that goes by without a terrorist attack or attempted attack is a type of miracle; regarding this, we say in our prayers, "regarding all Your miracles that are with us every day."

Sadly, however, if someone wants to comment on something having to do with the difficulties that we are experiencing, he is immediately labeled an extremist whose words should be ignored. And so we continue to tread water, with no clear path out of the international entanglement, politically and militarily. This, of course, in addition to sociological problems such as increased violence among the youth, a decline in morality, and more.

However: At this difficult time, we have the holy opportunity and mission to rise to the occasion, and redouble our efforts. We must not give in to despair or to weakness. We must rather continue even more strongly to teach and exhibit the ideals of Torah and sanctity of life, to increase our commitment one to another and to our society, and to strengthen the Jewish presence in every part of the Land of Israel. I have no doubt that if we do what we must do, there will be great Heavenly help, siyata dishmaya, and our nation will return to itself and to G-d, and we will merit to see the Redemption of our Nation and Land.