Every year in the weeks leading up to Rosh Hashanah we read Parshat Ki Tavo. In this portion, we find a brief description of the blessings that Klal Yisrael will experience if they follow in God’s ways. This is followed by a rather lengthy description of the curses that will befall the Jewish people if they do not follow the Torah. Chazal explain that we read these curses just before we embark on the new year – as if to rid ourselves of the curses and start the year fresh and pure.
Surely reading the curses could not be enough to purify us and save us from the various curses the Torah speaks of in the parsha. We must try to understand the lessons of the parsha in order that we will merit that the next year is one of blessing and not of curse. The Torah tells us that the reason the Jewish people will suffer the terrible curses is as follows:
lo avaddeta et Hashem Elochecha be’simcha ubetuv levav merav kol
You did not serve Hashem your Gd with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart when you had an abundance of everything (28:47)
One might ask how we can be punished so severely for not having a certain emotion - as we know, our emotions are not always easy for us to control!
In order to answer this question, we must understand the Torah perspective on happiness, which is highlighted in our parsha.The first of several times we find the concept of simcha, happiness, in the parsha is at the end of the section that deals with the laws of Bikkurim - the dedication of the first fruits of our crops to Hashem. Before laying down the basket of fruit before Hashem, one is required to retell the story of the bitter enslavement of Egypt and the miraculous redemption we experienced when Hashem took us out.After the process is completed, the Torah tells us:
Ve’samachta bekol hatov asher natan lecha Hashem Elokecha
Rejoice with all the good that Hashem, your Gd, has granted you (26:10).
There are several puzzling questions that we might ask in trying to understand this process. Firstly, why is it necessary to recount the bitter details of our past before dedicating the fruits of Israel to Hashem? And, why do we mention these dreadful details at all if we are recounting all the good that Hashem has granted us?
Additionally, it would seem that if Hashem gave us these fruits, He would want us to eat them and enjoy them! Why is that giving a portion of the fruits back to Hashem functions as our way of showing him how happy we are to have the fruit in the first place?
Human nature is such that we only realize what we have to be thankful for when those things are lost or taken from us. Therefore, it is only in giving away a portion of the fruits that the Jewish people suddenly realize how lucky they are to have crops - enough to offer to Gd and to still be able to sustain their families.
In a similar vein, the Jewish people only appreciate the freedom and pleasures of living in the land of Israel after recalling the bitterness and the hardships we faced in Egypt.In this way, the Jews were able to understand that the hardships they faced in Egypt were actually the first steps towards becoming a nation and ultimately entering and settling in the land of Israel. This is perhaps what the verse in our parsha means when it writes:
Gd has not given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, until this very day (Devarim 29:3)
As Rashi explains, it was only on this very day - as the Jews entered the land of Israel -that they finally recognized the kindness Hashem had shown them over the last 40 years.
Many commentaries asked what was it about this day that the Jewish people suddenly felt the need to cling to Hashem?
When the Jewish people entered the land of Israel, all the wonders and miracles that they had experienced in the desert suddenly came to an abrupt end. There was no longer an endless supply of food, water, or shelter. The Jewish people suddenly had to open their eyes and their ears and perhaps most of all their hearts in order to see, hear, and feel Gd in their lives.
As Rav Dovid Tzvi Hoffman notes, so many of us ask for miracles to inspire us and reveal Gd’s presence in the world we live in - but in reality the inspiration from such miraculous signs and wonders is only temporary. The Jewish people saw unbelievable sights when they left Egypt and even heard the voice of Hashem at Har Sinai (and still they continued to sin against Gd throughout their journey in the desert).
When they entered Israel they suddenly had to search to try to see, hear, and feel Hashem in their lives. It was on this very day that the Jewish people finally understood what it meant to be the Jewish people – to struggle to feel Hashem in their lives. When one searches and then finds Hashem, the relationship is much stronger and longer lasting than the fleeting moments of miraculous revelation.
This is one of the manifold lessons that the shofar calls out to us if we listen closely. The predictable pattern of the shofar is the straight tone, followed by the broken notes, and then concluding with the straight sound once more. Rabbi Tendler notes that this is the pattern of our lives – each broken note, each struggle and challenge, only brings us to the next phase of our life in which we are strong and solid once more.
With this understanding we can better explain the verse in Tehilim: ashrei haam yodeah teruah – Happy is the People that know the teruah (Ps. 89:16). What does it mean to know the teruah, and how does this knowledge bring the Jewish people eternal happiness?
To answer this, we must understand the meaning of the word teruah. One definition of the word, from the root roah, means brokenness. The verse, therefore, is telling us that the Jewish people find happiness in knowing that the moments of brokenness are ultimately for our good and for our growth. We understand that the moments of pain are only temporary – they only bring us to moments of greater strength and harmony.
Shira Smiles notes that there is a second definition of the word, which stems from the word reut, companionship. Perhaps there is also a deeper meaning of the above verse in Tehilim. It is through the broken moments that we feel distanced and even abandoned by Hashem, that we are then forced to seek Him out – and when we do, we find true and lasting companionship with Hashem.
When our faith in Hashem is dependent on grand miracles and inspiring revelations, our moments of closeness to Hashem are passing, our moments of clarity and bliss are fleeting. When we live in constant search of Gd in our lives, there are sure to be moments of struggle and even pain – but these will be only temporary - while the connection we create with Hashem will be everlasting. When we can see the moments of hardship, toil, and pain as part of our lifelong struggle to see, hear, and feel Gd in our lives, then even in such bitter moments we are able to thank Hashem for what we have, always trusting that we will be stronger because of it all.
May we all rejoice in knowing that we do have struggles and let us this bring a year of searching, finding, and letting Gd into our lives - and may this lead to true and eternal simcha!
SHABBAT SHALOM, Taly
