Ziv Parashat Ki Tavo

Turn a curse into a blessing

One of the principle themes of the book of Deuteronomy is the tension between blessing and curse, the good way and the bad way. The admonition to choose the way of blessing stands at the heart of Moses’ last message to the children of Israel. Our parasha is considered the “parasha of reproach” where Moses sternly warns the children of Israel of the implications of their actions. It begins with the feast of the first fruits, which was a feast that went on for about six months, where the Israelites brought the first fruit from the seven-species of fruit prescribed in the Torah to the Temple to give thanks to the Lord for His providence. Each head of household, whoever owned even one such tree, would come up, depending on when his particular tree would produce its first-fruit - and this could happen at any time from the beginning of the harvest to after Succoth. In Jerusalem, therefore, and throughout the land, this was an ongoing reminder of the goodness of God and His blessing of the land. The commandment to bring the first-fruit uses the Hebrew word “Reshith” which is the word with which the Bible begins “In the beginning”. The commandment to offer the first-fruit to God is not related to the quality of the fruit, since the first batch of fruit is very often far from being the best. It is related directly to creation, and to man’s participation and enjoyment of creation, so that man retains and is reminded of his fundamental and primordial role as custodian of creation. This also brings to mind that, with the possession of the land - if Israel does what is right in the eyes of God - the curse of Adam by which the earth is cursed (Genesis 3:17-18) is turned into a blessing.

This also takes us back to Adam’s son Cain who was the first to offer up to God of the fruit of the ground (Genesis 4:3), only unlike his brother Abel, he failed to offer the “first-born”, and thus failed to live up to his role in creation. Cain, we are told, was “very angry, and his face fell” (Genesis 4:5) - or, in other words, he had no joy in serving God or in his brother’s offering pleasing God, but chose the way of the curse (Genesis 4:11). For this reason Moses reminds us to “rejoice in all the good that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you” (Deuteronomy 26:11). It is our joy in the Lord, that comes from His love to us, and our love to Him, that turns a curse into a blessing. In fact, we saw this In last week’s parasha, when Moses reminds the people that the Moabites and the Amonites “hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you. But the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam; instead the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loved you” (Deuteronomy 23:4–6). Our parasha this week includes few blessings followed by ninety-eight curses that are extreme and all-encompassing in their severity. Indeed, they even cover “every affliction that is not recorded in the book of this law” (Deuteronomy 28:61). Why go to such extremes? the answer is that every curse imaginable or unimaginable that might befall us can always be turned into a blessing for those who love God and keep His ways. Shabbat Shalom.