We will look for a moment at Parshat Ki Tetze (the portion of reading of Torah two weeks ago for Jewish communities of faith and as we come to the end of Deuteronomy in our Torah Reading cycle) and remind ourselves of the most salient lesson it presents. What was the overarching idea of the Parsha and what is the connection to the last reading about Amalek?
We begin by remembering that it is important to note that between 72 and 74 of our 613 Mitzvot are found in last week’s Parsha (depending on how one counts). These mitzvot cover a wide range of proper behaviors we as Jews are commanded to observe, including how we share our resources, how we act humanely within the inhumane framework of war, how we care for the vulnerable and so much else, many of the Mitzvot bein Adam LeChavero – those behaviors that we are commanded to uphold in creating and maintaining a proper society.
Further it is significant that these Mitzvot are for when we are not just within the comforting surroundings of our home but away from our protected base and even when we go out to fight a war. These Mitzvot are about treating all human beings who have been created by God with respect and honor regardless of our situation and regardless of any station in life, even in the most challenging of situations. IT IS THIS LINE that Amalek crossed in their treatment of the stragglers and those who were too weak to fight back. IT IS THIS that we are to remember and we are to BLOT OUT those that engage in such behaviors, including looking long and hard at ourselves.
Immediately after this reading, we begin this (past) week’s Parsha, Ki Tavo. Now, we are talking about how we act in our own land, within our comfort zone, if you will. Further, we are reminded how we are to learn the lessons of how to treat people and how to NOT treat people.
So we begin by speaking of the first fruits, such valued property as the first products we proudly produce as our work product, and about limits and boundaries regarding these prized possessions and how we mark them for God, ceremoniously giving up our possession of them and our claim to any benefit from them, fully acknowledging all of the work put into producing them as well as God’s hand in allowing us and facilitating the process by where we were able to produce them. Further, we are to observe these standards and the behaviors they inform as we present these gifts – literally, the fruits of our labor – to God with joy, as we learn in 26.8 - 11:
ח וַיּוֹצִאֵנוּ יְהוָה, מִמִּצְרַיִם, בְּיָד חֲזָקָה וּבִזְרֹעַ נְטוּיָה, וּבְמֹרָא גָּדֹל--וּבְאֹתוֹת, וּבְמֹפְתִים. 8 And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders.
ט וַיְבִאֵנוּ, אֶל-הַמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה; וַיִּתֶּן-לָנוּ אֶת-הָאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת, אֶרֶץ זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבָשׁ. 9 And God hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
י וְעַתָּה, הִנֵּה הֵבֵאתִי אֶת-רֵאשִׁית פְּרִי הָאֲדָמָה, אֲשֶׁר-נָתַתָּה לִּי, יְהוָה; וְהִנַּחְתּוֹ, לִפְנֵי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, וְהִשְׁתַּחֲוִיתָ, לִפְנֵי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ. 10 And now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruit of the land, which Thou, O LORD, hast given me.' And thou shalt set it down before the LORD thy God, and worship before the LORD thy God.
יא וְשָׂמַחְתָּ בְכָל-הַטּוֹב, אֲשֶׁר נָתַן-לְךָ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ--וּלְבֵיתֶךָ: אַתָּה, וְהַלֵּוִי, וְהַגֵּר, אֲשֶׁר בְּקִרְבֶּךָ. 11 And thou shalt rejoice in all the good which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thy house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is in the midst of thee.
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks speaks at length about this joy and how it is mentioned often in Devarim; that while in our earlier Torah readings for the bulk of the year’s cycle, the focus on our dictated practices was about learning the instructions about how we observe these required elements, here we should enjoy them. Think of one who is just learning how to play an instrument and is more focused on scales and the “rules” of how one plays that instrument and then later, once this is internalized one can begin to truly enjoy the products of their acquired skill sets.
Nehama Leibowitz teaches that Abravenel takes a different approach, explaining that the purpose of bringing the first fruits was to humble our selfish passions. Since the first-fruits were to be the most treasured possessions as Hosea and Isaiah teach, God commanded us to subdue our natural instincts and not eat them but rather dedicate these precious possessions to God. In doing so, we learn important lessons about ownership, sharing and accountability to the larger community as well as how to limit our own power.
Further , Maimonedes includes the Ger in this communal experience and reminds all that there is an eternal human background ruling to all of this ceremony, full of consideration for the feelings of the stranger and any person in the assemblage that might otherwise be ignored or excluded. In other words, immediately after we have learned about the actual wrongdoing of Amalek in not showing concern for others, we are instructed to include all and make the “other” part of us in our most celebrated moments, thus investing ourselves in the welfare and dignity of all others.
This is the exact antithesis to what happened with Amalek and further, it is formulated so that we do not ultimately repeat the misdeeds of Amalek and in a sense become Amalek – the ones who do not care about others, do not accommodate the needs of those who require our help and support, and those that are so vulnerable we may not see them if we are so wrapped up in our own hubris or our own joy.
Rabbi Professor Mark Saperstein teaches that this Parsha:
contains one of the most powerful and frightening chapters of the Torah. Fourteen verses (Deuteronomy 28:1–14) outline all the good things that will happen to the people if they obey God and faithfully observe all of the divine commandments. That’s “the good news.” Then come 54 verses (28:15–69) warning of the antithesis: the curses that will befall the people if they do not faithfully observe all the commandments – [the Tochecha]. This is the most terrifying litany portraying various kinds of Jewish suffering in our classical literature. Because of its content, for years no one wanted to have the aliyah in which this passage was read, and it was sometimes given to the town fool. In traditional practice, it is chanted at breakneck speed in a soft voice, loud enough to hear but only if one strains a little.
The punishments explicitly threatened in this chapter include terrible diseases, conquest by merciless foreign enemies, famine to the point where parents will eat the flesh of their own children, and exile and dispersion throughout the world, leading to idolatry and enslavement.
It is indeed difficult to hear and absorb the terrors of these verses and the ramifications of what they implicitly indicate about the nature of the human being, even the one who is Torah observant. And yet that is the point – the moment we forget our frailty and vulnerability as human beings, we lose a sense of our need to care for other vulnerable souls. Just as Amalek saw itself as above the need to care for others, what we see in Amalek is frightening when we consider our enemies. It is downright horrifying when we consider the reality that we find these behaviors and this lack of care in ourselves; needing to be reminded to resist the temptation of yielding to it.
What is going on here? We learn in the Talmud that it is not good to constantly be so strict about our rules and regulations because it will send people away and we will lose our sense of Jewish peoplehood and destiny. So what is the purpose of such, but to remind us continually that we should be the exemplars of kindness, caring and compassion as is God, The One to whom we are accountable. Acknowledging that it is not always easy to act in such a way, maybe acknowledging and addressing reality is in its own way a kindness. Though it may not always feel that is the case (YOU MUST BE KIND AND CARING REGARDLESS OF WHETHER YOU WANT TO OR NOT!), perhaps this is no different than say the discipline of a parent that fiercely loves their child and wants them to behave in the best way possible regardless of what others around them are doing.
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks suggests as follows:
there is a profound sense that there is something natural at work ... Not by chance are the children of Israel and the land of Israel exemplars of the relationship between humanity and G-d. The people of Israel will always be small (“It is not because you are the most numerous of peoples that the Lord has set His heart on you and chose you – indeed, you are the smallest of peoples”). The land of Israel will always be vulnerable, occupying as it does a strategic location between three continents, Europe, Africa and Asia, and two traditional bases of empire, the Nile and Tigris-Euphrates valleys. Only by almost superhuman achievements of national unity and moral purpose will Israel survive as a nation in its land. So it was in biblical times. So it is today.
It is easy to be caring and giving and kind when things are going well. But what about when they are not, which is so often the case? Do we get a pass? Do we get to be Amalek? Do we come to understand how Amalek comes to be the one who is so wrapped up in themselves that they no longer care about those who are vulnerable? The answer is no – that no matter what are the circumstances, we are to try to be the best we can be and to strive to truly walk in the way of God as we are taught in Sotah 14a and elsewhere – by doing the very things that God shows us how to do no matter what our circumstances are and regardless of any “payback” we may or may not get as a result. This is precisely why EVERYONE, no matter how poor and indigent, in the traditional Jewish communities gave from and shared what resources they had. This is the reason that historically, the Jewish people are looked to as an example of those who care for and take responsibility for our own.
Clearly, we reading this, generally live a comfortable life today. Nonetheless, we are aware of and pained by the troubles of the world, both those suffered by Jewish populations and those that impact on human populations of any iteration. This is what Amalek did not know how to do and the Tochecha (the very difficult and sobering list of things not to do in this portion of the Torah) reminds us that we must always remember the Jewish promise that binds us as well as the human frailty that is our nature and behave towards others honorably, whether at home as we are in Ki Tavo or on the road as we were in Ki Tetze. We must always be on guard to be the best we can be and show that towards all others!
Shabbat Shalom.
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