A Tochacha for our times

Ki Tavo

Deut. 26:1-29:8

 

Précis: The parasha contains numerous religious mandates regarding the formation of a civil and moral community (including tithes of first fruits and tithes to support the Levites). The People are promised that if they follow God’s instructions, they will be transformed into a “holy people.” They are further instructed that they have a choice in their own destiny: there are blessings and curses (the “Admonition”), and they must choose between the two, and take the consequences. The parasha ends with Moses reminding the People about all that God had done for them in bringing them from Egypt, providing sustenance, defeating their foes, and giving them the Land.

 

 Deut.28:15-68 “But if you do not obey the Lord your God…all these curses shall come upon you…Cursed shall you be in the city and cursed in the country...Cursed shall be the issue of your womb…The Lord will make pestilence cling to you… The skies above your head shall be copper and the earth under you iron…The Lord will strike you with madness, blindness, and dismay…In the morning you shall say, ‘if only it were evening’ and in the evening you shall say ‘If only it were morning….'”

           

            These verses include the curses of the tochacha, (the “Admonition.)”  They are a paragon of threat and fear. This year, I have attempted a new tochacha, relevant to our times:

           

            "Cursed shall you be by disease, by hunger, by floods, and by fires;

            Cursed shall you be by your failure to maintain the Earth’s beauty and purity;

            Cursed shall be your nation with intolerance, hatred, inequity, and fear of the stranger;

            Cursed shall be your leaders who fail to agree on measures to sustain your nation and all of its people;

            Cursed shall you be by your failure to acknowledge truth and clinging to false prophets of conspiracies;

            Cursed shall you be with unending strife between Israel and its neighbors;

            Cursed shall you be in your going out and in your coming in; you will fear to hold those most dear to you, and you shall fear for your health and for the health of those you love.”

           

            Fear is an incredibly powerful emotion. It can paralyze us. One of the ways we can overcome fear is through unity with others, now made more of a challenge by Covid.

            Nevertheless, we can believe that by living good, moral and ethical lives that the worst will not happen, and that the curses we face can be eliminated by our hope and by our actions. In this time leading up to Rosh Hashanah, we can focus on our dreams and blessings (in my case, sharing my wedding anniversary with the one I love) instead of our fears. FDR famously said that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” 

               We delude ourselves by ignoring the real curses now upon us. In one way, however, FDR was correct: fear can be our worst enemy. We must recognize that the road ahead will be treacherous and difficult, but as our tradition reminds us, with repentance, prayer, and acts of loving-kindness, we can together overcome the severe decree.

Ethics, the "other," and creation

 Ki Tetze

Deut. 21:10 - 25:19

 

Précis:  The week’s reading begins with the phrase “when you go forth” (ki tetze) to battle. This parasha, according to Maimonides, contains 72 mitzvot (commandments). They cover a wide variety of topics, from family life, human kindness, respect for property and animals, the safety of others, sexual relationships, escaped slaves, financial loans and charging interest, keeping promises, and remembering to blot out the name of one of Israel’s greatest enemies. This assortment of commands included requirements that there be sex-distinct clothing; that mother birds not be separated from their eggs; that roof-tops have parapets; that seeds not be mixed in a field, and that “tzitzit” (fringes) be worn on garments.

 

Rabbi Rachel Sabath Beit-Halachmi has carefully brought into focus the variety of laws appearing in this parasha (ReformJudaism.org, 8/20/18). She suggests that there are three areas to consider: upholding an ethical society, understanding the “other,” and preserving God’s cosmos.  

            We create an ethical society when we regulate competition between brethren, wives, and disobedient children. We create an ethical society when we are commanded not to ignore the losses suffered by others, to guard the property of others as though it was our own, and to respect the fact that gender is important (whether we agree or disagree with the specific commandment here).

            We are taught to understand what she calls the “face of the other.” We are commanded to recognize the fundamental humanity of even our enemies during and after war. Victory does not permit us to engage inhumanely with those we have defeated.

             Finally, this parasha demands us to be guardians of God’s creation, and remember His creation through our conduct and clothing. We must not interfere with natural processes by mixing seeds improperly.  We must treat animals with kindness, not separating the mother bird from its offspring. We cannot yoke animals of uneven strength, as one will surely suffer. It is our responsibility to maintain the sensitivity which helps preserve our humanity, and to remember that God created a natural order which our lack of humanity can threaten.

            In other words, these details of human behavior provide a matrix for an individual not only to prosper as part of a community, but to be concerned with the fate of others, and of God’s creation itself.