Parashat Ki Tavo

September 20, 2024
18 Elul 5784
PARASHAT KI TAVO
Deuteronomy 26:1 - 29:8

Dear Friends,

Fear is a formidable weapon. It serves to protect us when the lion is chasing after us, or any time we feel endangered. Fear can make us cower and hide in the shadows, or empower us to stand and fight. In all likelihood, our parents used the fear of consequences to steer us in the right direction. Keeping us away from a lit flame is just one example. Just this week, a presidential candidate used vitriolic rhetoric to engender fear of the consequences to the Jewish community should they not support him.

This week’s Torah portion Ki Tavo, “when you enter in” (Deuteronomy 26:1 - 29:8), with its blessings and curses, functions as a warning by using the fear of the consequences of our actions to be remind us to be aware, to not forget our journey and assure us that our way of being in the world truly matters.

This Torah portion’s curses, which lay what we should not do and what will happen if we deviate from the path that has been been laid out for us, range from the admonition “Cursed be he who subverts the rights of the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow” to a description of what will happen when we do not follow the path: “All these curses shall befall you; they shall pursue you and overtake you, until you are wiped out, because you did not heed your God יהוה and keep the commandments and laws that were enjoined upon you.”

What are we do with this? How are we to stand up when this is being thrown at us? One of the most important supports that we receive in this Torah portion is the recognition within the text that we are not alone on this journey. It is in this Torah portion that we read:

“My father was a wandering Aramean. He went down to Egypt few in number and sojourned there; but there he became a great and very populous nation. The Egyptians dealt harshly with us and oppressed us; they imposed heavy labor upon us. We cried to Adonai, the God of our fathers, and then Adonai heard our plea and saw our plight, our misery, and our oppression. Adonai freed us from Egypt by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm and awesome power, and by signs and wonders. And brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And I now bring the first fruits of the soil which You, O Adonai, have given me.” (Deuteronomy 26:5-10)

Although each of us is enjoined to bring the first fruits, we do so in community. The story of the wandering Aramean is enshrined in the Haggadah. We find ourselves in an active relationship with the Divine, and we are told that the community matters as we go forward into the land that awaits. How we behave toward one another is crucial. If we read the portion carefully, it is not fear that should motivate us but kindness; and our kindness will be rewarded.

Acts of lovingkindness are a reward not only to the recipient but to the one behaving with care towards another. It is not fear that motivates care for one another but rather the hope that indeed we can make tomorrow better than today.

One way to understand this Torah portion is to learn that the antidote to fear is standing together and bringing our best selves forward. This is not to say that there are not dangers in the world around us. However it does give us agency in confronting them together with kindness and caring.

Shabbat Shalom, 

Rabbi Linda Shriner-Cahn