Ki Tavo

With God's help, you and I are beginning to study the weekly portion Ki Tavo, and we will read from verse 1 of chapter 26 of the book of Devarim.

The word lashévet means to sit, to settle, to live a settled life, really to settle down, to establish oneself. As in the Russian language, the words settled and sit are connected with one and the same root, yud-shin-bet. Therefore a sitting man – is ish yoshév.

That is, every person who has fruits from the five kinds of trees comes into his orchard and sees: here dates have appeared on the first palm, here figs have appeared on the first fig tree, and so on. He marks the branch with the first fruits, then, when they ripen, he puts them in a basket and carries them to the place which the Most High chose. Today we know that this is Jerusalem. This commandment is defined here as almost the very first one that a person is to fulfill when he settles in the land. And we read that in each of the first two verses it is repeated: which the LORD, your God, gave you. Every time, however big a harvest we gather, however big the pomegranates, figs, olives, dates we grow in our orchard, we must remember: this is what the LORD gives us. And therefore it is not I who grew it, but the LORD gave it to me in the land which the LORD also gave me. And this whole commandment – is a remembrance of faith, of faith that everything I receive is given to me by the LORD.

This is also a confession of the kohen's faith; we can say: “We believe just as the kohen does.” Every person has some paths of faith of his own. Very often this is a reason for separation. We differ in opinion about when the rapture of the church will be, how the resurrection of the dead will take place, how this or that will be, when this or that will be. Sometimes these are trifles, sometimes these are important things, but this is what divides us. In such division it is impossible to come to the kohen. If you want to come to the Most High, whom the kohen represents, you must come to him and say: “I have come, I am speaking with your God – not with ours, not with mine, with yours,” that is: “I accept your faith.”

Such an unusual beginning of the verse. It is often translated like this: “An Aramean wanted to destroy my father,” and this is connected with Lavan, who wanted to destroy Yaakov; this is how, supposedly, Lavan is veiled here. This is a perfectly legitimate understanding, it is very widespread. There is one more understanding, which is closer to me: “A wandering Aramean was my father.” Our forefathers were idol worshippers, they were wandering Arameans, and Avraham wandered over the land which would only be given to his people as an inheritance.

A person who comes and stands before the kohen, perhaps many-many-many generations later, and says to the kohen: “This – is your God,” thereby unites not only with the kohen, but with the history of the people, although he was not a slave, and was not in Egypt, and never worked at hard labor. All this experience rises up in him, rises from his spiritual genetic code, and he feels this experience, although, it would seem, this event is a festive one. We brought the first fruits to the Temple, everything is wonderful, but we remember how hard it was for us, to which sufferings of ours the LORD responded.

I have already spoken more than once about this expression; it means a land that is ready for cultivation, that is only waiting to be cultivated.

That is, a person must come with the firstfruits, remember that all this is not his, that he himself descends from some rootless slaves, that he went down into Egypt itself, was enslaved there and humiliated, the LORD saved him, and now here he brings the first fruits. This is not the history of the people, although of the people too. This is a personal history, the biography of every person. One could tell it differently: “I grew up, mastered the agricultural craft, studied at the agricultural academy, bred a special variety of fig, a special variety of olive, a special variety of pomegranate, of date, grew dates the size of a fist, and here I have brought them, here are my achievements!” But the person says: “My participation here – zero. The LORD took me, brought me out, gave me, and I only brought. I am only a noviceiThe word translated as “novice” means a novice in a monastery and comes from the word for obedience, so it also suggests someone who simply obeys. in this whole scheme, I only brought the fruits, there was no other participation.” There was no I grew, I watered, I tended, I cherished – none of that was there.

When we realize that these are not our personal achievements, but what the Most High gave us, then we will truly rejoice at what happens to us, and not we alone, but also the Levites, whom we will take care of, and the stranger among us. We should not even rejoice on our own; we cannot throw some first-fruits party to which we will invite nobody, because this is our orchard, and you stand further away. That will not work.

From verse 12 we read another topic, another, but a close one.

This is the so-called ma'asér aní (the tithe of the poor), which in the third year is distributed to the needy, because the third year – is a special year.

That is, I have nothing left that belongs to God; I have distributed everything as intended.

One could have said it like this: “A black day has come, times are hard, I think I'll eat some of the tithe.” But no, I did not do that.

And perhaps, seeing someone else's grief, I can say: “Well, take this here for the bier, for some clothing, for some needs.” This is one of the understandings. Of course, it does not mean that I took some pomegranates or olives and made burial clothes out of them. But I could have thought that since this family is in need, I'll just sell my fruits from the tithe and buy them what they need for the burial. But I did not do that either, that is what I declare here. Another understanding implies idols here; by the dead, idols are meant. But I think that the first option fits better.

Pay attention: a person set apart his tithes and said: “I did everything honestly. I acted according to Your word, I did not depart from Your word. I fulfilled everything, gave to everyone, helped everyone.” And further one could have said: “Now bless me! Choose me! Give me!” No. Here the person says: “Bless your people, bless this land. You will bless the people – you will bless me as well,” the person does not single himself out.

There are laws of God – ordinances for the relationships within the community, between people. There are laws of the relationship between man and God. There are laws by which various problems must be resolved. And for each of them there are terms of their own. There are commandments of God, injunctions – what the Most High wants from us. All this in its entirety, the whole will of the Most High concerning us, we will keep.

The word segulá is very difficult to translate, in fact there is no equivalent for it in the Russian language. It is translated as treasure house. From the same root, sámech-gímel-lámed, comes the word lesagél (to acquire properties, to acquire qualities, to bring into conformity); mesugál – capable of doing this or that task. That is, am (people) segulá – is a people that will acquire, be transformed into the qualities of the Most High. That is, you will be My treasure-house people, a people segulá, you will be transformed into a righteous people that will live by divine laws.

That is, not to give, not to endow the people with some superhuman properties so that the people would be above all, but to appoint it to a high office.

For many, of course, the phrase that the LORD set, exalted Israel above all the nations sounds very frightening and strange. But this is like the role of a servant or of a kohen, who is set above in order to serve. Such was the original purpose of Israel – to carry the divine message to all the nations. The LORD chooses any of us, regardless of nationality, and the one who joins God's people, yes, is exalted, rises up. But he rises in order to shine from above, in order to lift others up: not to push them away, not letting them go up, but to give a hand, to stretch out a hand to those who want to rise. This is a very big difference, a very important distinction, and this must be remembered.

Here chapter 26 ends, and we will move on to chapter 27.

That is, as soon as you enter the land, your way will be to Mount Eval, where you will set up an altar, take stones, whiten them and write on them all the words of this Torah. What does all the words of this Torah mean? There are commentators who say: “The whole, the whole Torah, Moshe, write it, and in seventy languages on top of that.” It is hard to imagine the grandeur of this project and of its execution. Other commentators say: “What will be written further in this chapter, these blessings and curses.” Still other commentators say that the Decalogue has to be written.

It is unclear what exactly had to be written. The altar which Yehoshua ben Nun set up has, thank God, been preserved to our days. It is true that it had to be buried when this territory was handed over to the Palestinian Authority. To avoid desecration this altar was buried again in the same way as it had been dug up. But when the altar was found, the stones with inscriptions were not found, and it is hard to imagine what was written on them, it is impossible to reconstruct it.

Meir Bar-Ilan says that what was written could have been like what is written on the mezuza, which is fixed to the doorposts: “And write this on the doorposts of your house,” that is, the commandment itself was also written on the mezuza. Meir Bar-Ilan says that most likely these verses, and possibly the continuation of this chapter, were also written on the stones of the altar on Mount Eval. This option is the most probable, although one can argue endlessly, since nobody has a final answer.

Mount Eval is located in the area of Sh'chem, roughly where much later Yeshua Mashiach will meet the Samaritan woman; where, in fact, the journey of the people of Israel, in the person of Yosef, to Egypt began, and where Yosef will be buried. A very significant point to return to and confirm the agreement that had been concluded. Once more, by the whole nation, already in the land of Israel (so that nobody would say that it was there, in the past), to confirm the acceptance of the commandments. To confirm the agreement no longer in the Sinai desert, but to repeat it by the whole nation, in the land of Israel itself, at the final destination of the people of Israel. And one can say that Sh'chem symbolizes this very destination.

And we will return to our stones.

We remember about the shelamím (peace offering) sacrifice, that it is eaten by the kohanim, and as it were by the altar (the Most High), and by the one who brings it. And what is the reason for a celebration? The forty-year journey of the people of Israel from Egypt into the land of Israel, despite all the twists and turns, all the difficulties, all the falls low and falls even lower, all the breakings through the bottom, the rebellions, uprisings, revolutions and counterrevolutions – despite all this, the journey of the people of Israel into the land of Israel, the operation to return the people of Israel to the land of Israel, has been victoriously completed. The completion of the forty-year journey – is a grandiose reason for a celebration.

And here too it is unclear: on the basis of these words many say that it is about writing in seventy languages. There are many midrashim, called universalist midrashim. There is such a current in Judaism, such teachers, who taught all the time that the Torah was given for all the nations, that it was always intended so and that it was given in seventy languages right away; therefore this commandment – is the commandment to write it down in seventy languages. And perhaps it is so. But here it can also mean: “Write this in big letters, so that it is clear, so that it can be read.”

Here again something amazing happens: Moshe, who knows that he will not enter the land of Israel, gives instructions concerning the ceremony, concerning an event that will take place in the land of Israel, and describes it with geographical precision, with knowledge of the geography of the land of Israel, as if he can picture to himself how it will happen, as if he is right there. And he gives the people of Israel instructions about how the people will again take the commandments upon themselves, will proclaim once more the taking of the commandments upon themselves, in essence already without Moshe. This will take place without his participation, but he gives instructions; consequently, his teaching, his guidance, his mentorship will be revealed in this whole ceremony, in this whole event.

All of them are sons of Rachel and Lea, sons of the Foremothers, and not of the slave women. There is also Re'uven, who is also one of the sons of the Foremothers; a separate conversation about him will come a little later.

Pay attention to how careful the Torah is in its language. It is not written to curse the people of Israel, that is, the Torah does not join these two words, curse and people, as in the previous verse – to bless the people.

Although the whole people has gathered, the address goes to every person, so that each one hears. And each one answers – in this case he himself takes these commandments upon himself, takes obligations upon himself.

That is, even an aesthetically beautiful statue, stunning in its magnificence, of some Artemis of Ephesus – is an abomination to the LORD. Even if this person makes this statue, this idol, beautiful or not, and does not put it on display.

And all the people take it upon themselves that if someone does so, he will receive a curse.

A commandment that is harder to understand. It is about one who moves boundaries, shifts fences, takes away territory, intrudes into private life or interferes with someone's earnings. Instead of competing, he simply takes the earnings away; we have talked about this commandment. For example, a person has a small barbershop in a small town, and it feeds him. Another person came and tries to take these earnings away from him, to open one more barbershop. It is clear that in such a town only one will work, therefore one must not open a second one, one must not take from a person his livelihood, violate his boundaries. Cursed is the person who does so. This concerns not only the field from which a person earns his living, but also the territory on which a person earns his living.

It is not only about a blind man. If a woman has come to your house to clean and you have left a stack of hundred-dollar bills (God grant that you have them) in order to tempt her, then you too are leading the blind astray from the road. If a person was dependent on alcohol, you should not drink wine in front of him. Well, and so on. One must refrain from confusing a person in the place where he is weak, where he is still dependent, where he is feeble. People who are already healed must remember: somewhere inside I am still an alcoholic, somewhere I can still be led astray from the way. And that happens, and one must be careful. For some, healing happens finally and irrevocably, but for others one still has to care, one has to show care, so as not to tempt anyone. As the Jewish commentators say: “A breach in the fence attracts the thief.” One should not awaken in a person some weaknesses of his, one should not lead the blind astray from the road.

Apparently, the past of Re'uven (when he went in to Bilha and, according to some opinions, only disarranged her bed, only crumpled her clothes, and according to others – literally went in to her) required that the descendants of the tribe of Re'uven, as it were, repent of this, take this commandment upon themselves, and therefore, as many commentators believe, Re'uven was not included in the group of those who bless, despite the fact that he is a son of a Foremother.

One can understand this in the narrow sense: cursed is he who quietly, secretly beats his wife, beats some people dependent on him, simply beats someone. In a broader understanding, as it is usually interpreted, it is also about evil speech. Saying something behind someone's back, whispering something behind someone's back, we thereby, as it were, strike a person in secret and fall under the curse that is spoken of here.

It is not about a hired killer here, but about one who perverts judgment. Although, of course, it can also be applied to a hired killer. One must not kill for money, one must not condemn a person to death for some gain. A judge who took a bribe to sentence a person to death is also a hitman of a kind.

As Rashi comments, the whole Torah is contained in this – in these words, in these principles. Accepting this, a person takes the whole Torah upon himself. And whoever does not keep it will fall under the curse – this is the sum of all-all-all these commandments. Whoever has broken one of these commandments has already broken the whole Torah. And all the people will say: “Amen!”

With God's help, we continue studying the weekly portion Ki Tavo, and today we will read chapter 28 of the book of Devarim.

After forty years of wandering the people stands on the threshold of entering the land of Israel. Of those people who came out of Egypt forty years ago, practically no one remained alive, just as the Most High had sworn. Those people who stood at Mount Sinai and listened to the commandments of the Torah no longer remained. And it is important once more to voice to the people what the covenant consists of, what the essence of the relationship between the people and the Most High consists of, to remind them of the blessings and curses that are connected with this covenant. And our whole chapter 28 (and this will be a long chapter, and our conversation will be a long one) will be devoted to the blessings and curses in the covenant with the Most High. And we will begin, as usual, with verse 1.

Pay attention to the fact that Moshe here speaks with the people of Israel in the singular, with the people as a single whole; the whole people constitutes one body. If one person does not listen, it affects everyone. If one person is righteous, his righteousness affects everyone. Just as in any whole body the illness of one organ can affect other organs, exactly the same happens in the people of Israel.

What does it mean, will set you above the peoples of the earth? That is, you will influence all the events in the world; all world events will depend on your condition.

You will not have to do anything additional, except to obey the Most High, for these blessings to befall you, to overtake you. This good itself, the blessings themselves will chase after you and will overtake you.

That is, blessed is your trade, blessed is your industry, your craftsmanship – everything that is done in the city will be blessed. And in agriculture the fruits of the earth, the vegetables, the fruit will be blessed – a generous and prosperous land.

Beautiful, healthy, smart children will be born to you, almost with a university degree. In everything you will prosper: both in farming and in animal husbandry – everywhere there will be a blessing upon you.

That is, both fruits and grains – everything you have will be in abundance. Blessed will be both the little basket where you put the fruit, and the kneading trough, the tub in which you make the dough.

And when you set out to the field, when you set out to work, you are blessed. And when you return, you are also blessed: you need not be afraid to walk through the park without a Great Dane (as in the well-known song by the band Nautilus), you are under protection. Why is that so?

One can translate it into Russian like this: the enemies will scatter in all directions from fright, so strong will be their confusion before you. And you will live in the land safely, because your enemies will be afraid of you.

Whatever you do, any undertaking of yours will be blessed. Blessing is like electricity for an electric saw, like a fair wind for a ship, that is, a connection to a source of power that acts and strengthens everything we do. Everything we do is accelerated, improved, filled, and so on. Blessing (bracha) – is joining, attachment to the Source.

For all the peoples of the world it will be obvious that the name of the LORD is called upon you. Remember the situation with Yosef. Yosef in Egypt is in a situation that is, let us say, not very pleasant. He is in prison on a false accusation, but not everyone knows that he is there on a false accusation. This is a slave who has ended up in prison in the land of captivity. It would seem it cannot get any worse. But the pagans who surround him see that the LORD is with him. The presence of the LORD can be evident in all situations. And when there is blessing, abundance, wealth, surplus, prosperity, if we live in an abundant, rich country, someone may covet our wealth and want to conquer us. But the peoples will be afraid, because they will see God's blessing, God's protection upon the people of Israel.

In general, the agriculture of the land of Israel is arranged in such a way that it depends on rain. We have no flooding of the Nile, no water reserves of any kind, and everything depends on whether the Most High will send, in each particular year, the needed rain at the needed time. At the very beginning, when the crops are still weak, a heavy rain can kill them, therefore every rain has its own appointed time. Here the LORD says: “I will send rain on time.” Rain is only an example. All kinds of events that you need for your prosperity will happen at the right time.

You know, every country has a national debt: a country, when it has a budget shortfall or when there are some problems with export and import, ends up in debt. The Kingdom of Israel, blessed by the Most High, will not have a national debt; on the contrary, other peoples will be in debt to this kingdom. This is one more symbol of prosperity.

You will be among the influential in the world, and not among those who are subject to influence. You will not be a third-world country, you will be an advanced, leading country – if you remember these commandments, remember their right understanding and strive to observe them.

These are the blessings that we receive if we keep all the commandments. But it is impossible for any single person to keep all the commandments: if you are not a woman, you do not have the commandment to count the clean days; if you are not a man, you do not have the commandment of circumcision. But here it is important not to tear the “fabric” of the commandments; they must all be there. Therefore your wife keeps family purity, you keep circumcision, each one does what is required of him. Whoever has no rams does not give the tithe of livestock; whoever has them gives it. Each one keeps what is required of him, and no one tears the context apart, because the Torah is not a buffet. We cannot walk up and, as at a reception buffet table, take what we want and leave what we do not want; therefore it is constantly repeated: all the commandments.

So, up to and including verse 14, we have read about the blessings that the Most High gives if one keeps His commandments. But this also has a flip side.

Again – and will overtake (vehissigúcha), just as with regard to the blessings. One can do something sloppily, deviate from the norm somewhere, act wrongly somewhere in something, for the curses to overtake you. But if you do not obey the LORD, your God, then even when in your craft, in your business, you seem to choose the right programs, the right models, do everything right, the curses will overtake you as well. It is probably necessary to remind once more that Moshe says this in the second person singular: you, you, that is, the whole people.

It happens that, for example, a sick child is born, or it is hard to give birth, or some other similar situations. And there is such an approach (this must be remembered, after all we do not understand everything) that perhaps some person takes upon himself suffering for the unrighteousness of the whole people, participates in the sufferings of the people. Perhaps you have such a lofty soul, you have so much strength, that this sick child was entrusted to you, entrusted so that he would be born to you; such an approach is also possible. Imagine how many people would come to the Foremother Sara and would say to her: “Why is it that you cannot give birth? Let us check your deeds. Where did you fall under a curse here?” But not everything is always explained by some personal sins. And Moshe speaks to the whole people as a single whole, where everyone is responsible for one another to a certain degree. And if the people walks in unrighteous ways, then the righteous man in the people can also suffer. This must be remembered. We do not always understand the ways of the Most High, and with Him not everything is always black and white, as it seems to us.

So, regardless of how a person behaves, how well he tries to work, sow, reap, build, make pots, the curse overtakes him if there is no righteousness. And what then?

All your industry, everything you might be engaged in in the city: trade, business, craft – everything is cursed. All your agriculture – is cursed. The curse, like a headwind, blows against you, prevents you from moving forward.

The word arúr (cursed) has a synonym, the verb lekalél (klalá – curse), and from the same root, kuf-lámed-lámed, comes the verb lehakel (to lighten), that is, this deprives you of weight, deprives you of strength. No effort of yours can work, because you are light, you have no weight to carry this effort out.

And with fruit, vegetables and grains nothing will work out for you – everything will be cursed.

Your children will be sickly, troubled, and the offspring of your livestock – everything is cursed.

Both coming back from work and going to work you will feel bad, feel danger over you, feel cursed. And this really is dangerous. Why?

Curses will pursue you in everything, not simply the absence of help from above, but even opposition from above. If in any undertaking there are three participants: the one who acts, that with which he acts, and the Most High, then here the opposition will come from all three sides, and upon you yourself the Most High will send confusion, when you do not know what to do, and you do not cope. And your field will in some way also be spoiled: now a mouse, now a drought, now something else.

That is, the LORD will make the pestilence cling, will attach it to you, so that no vaccines, antibiotics or detergents will help. Pay attention: about the land it does not say here which the LORD, Your God, gave you. When you do not obey the Most High, you live in the land of Israel at your own peril and risk.

We do not know some of the diseases that are mentioned here, we cannot know what these words denote. But we can see that diseases of all etiologies are meant, as if all the disease-causing forces, microbes, infections and so on – everything has united against man. The sword, the human hand, and the wind, the hand of nature – everything, everything, everything is directed against the cursed man, directed toward his perdition.

That is, neither from heaven nor from the earth will there be help for growing vegetables and fruit: the earth will not be fruitful, and the heaven will not bring rain.

Instead of water, which gives life, dust will come down from the heavens – a symbol of death, a symbol of dying.

Here, of course, what we read in the first part of the chapter as blessings is repeated, but they can turn into curses. The same LORD who blesses can also curse. And now it is Israel that will scatter in all directions from its enemies.

And everyone will say: “Well, God forbid being like Israel,” the way people today say it about Somalia or Zimbabwe. Such a terrible name Israel can earn for itself if it does not obey the voice of heaven.

That is, even by an effort of will, by an effort of the heart, you will not be able to make sense of anything. Not only will you be in confusion, but you will also not be able to say to yourself: “So, calm down, think.” It will not work, there will be complete confusion.

Everyone can deceive, cheat, outwit a blind person. And, of course, there are people who stand up for him if they see this, but no one will stand up for you.

There is a very interesting phenomenon here. If someone reads the Hebrew text, he sees that after the coarser word yishgalénna (you will copulate) there stands in brackets the word yishkavénna (you will lie). Words are not replaced in the literal sense, by crossing out one and writing in the other, but after the word which they want to replace, they put the word with which they want to replace it; this is the custom in the text. Some words are avoided in public reading in the synagogue, and therefore instead of the harsher yishgalénna (you will copulate) we read during the public reading in the synagogue yishkavénna (you will lie).

Here are given (if we remember) those very three reasons for which a person does not even go to war: a new wife, a new house and a new vineyard, three joys that release a person from military service. And here the person will be deprived of them. Even where, it would seem, there is a special providence, a special protection of the Most High, it will not work.

It must be said that these curses come true in an escalating way. If you do not come to your senses, do not do teshuva at one stage, then curses overtake you that are more and more serious each time.

Tradition says that the Most High never gives trials that a person will not be able to bear, for which he will not have enough strength. But here the situation is different – a situation in which the Most High takes up arms against a person. If usually we say: “The Most High never strikes a blow without first having given the medicine,” here the suffering will be so strong, and the face of the Most High so hidden, that a person will not be able to endure it. And all this, this whole reality will drive him out of his mind.

First on the knees, then on the thighs too, and so on, escalating, until you are all covered with these incurable sores. How wretched a person whom the Most High curses can be, how far one can sink into this!

You will not simply live in exile, but the LORD will arrange it so that you become a byword among the nations, and the peoples of the world will say about you: “Now look at these Jews, look at this Israel!”)

At the very beginning of the list of curses we said that the field will not give fruit. But it turns out that it can be even worse, when the field gives fruit, and you labor over it, and you wait for it, but you are not granted to eat this fruit, because the locust eats everything.

Even in your own country you will be losing dominion, and strangers will take power over you.

No longer even in the world, but in your own country, on your own land (but not on the land that the LORD gave you), to which you came, where you already live independently, not keeping the commandments – there you will be the tail, you will be in subjection to a foreign people.

That is, you preferred not the kind of abundance that the LORD promised you. You gave up the commandments, gave up that joy which accompanies the service of the Most High, rushed off who knows where and fell under the curse.

The neighboring peoples see you constantly. When we see each other, it is very hard to be at enmity, it is hard to be at enmity with a neighbor. The Most High will send another people, from another region, from the other end of the earth, a people with which there is no cultural commonality at all, whose language you will not understand, whose culture will be completely different.

How did you live in this land, not relying on the Most High? You relied on high walls and strong fortifications. And the Most High will bring a people from afar, which will besiege you and destroy these walls. You must remember that it is the LORD who gave you the land. The LORD begins to act and by His power will bring the enemy from afar. The punishment becomes no longer simply frightening, but horrific.

In the second book of Melachim, in chapter 6, there is a terrible story about two women, when one said to the other: “Let us eat your child today, and mine tomorrow.” And this woman comes to complain to the king, saying: “We ate my child yesterday, and today she has hidden hers.” A terrible story. There are very many stories, both in the Talmud and in the history books, about the fact that such things really happened among the people of Israel.

Even your intelligentsia will see in their neighbors freeloaders, competitors in the struggle for a piece of bread. Because of all this want, families will quarrel with one another.

That is, not only will you eat your sons and your daughters, but you will eat them, let us say, alone, hidden under a blanket, and be afraid that your neighbors will make you share with them.

Even a pampered, spoiled woman, who is not used to any want at all, a mother of a family, will look around with malice at the infants, at her nursing little children and at her grown children with the thought that she can eat them in her want, will look at them as food during the siege and want, when the enemy presses, forces.

The Torah here says once again that all these curses come upon the people of Israel as a result of not submitting to the Most High, as a result of disobedience to the Torah.

This verse is a good example to show that the Most High is greater than the Torah, the Most High is not guided by some list, does not act the way it is written. He is greater than what is written, He is the Creator, He is the Lawgiver. And He is greater than the law, therefore, when the Most High has mercy, this too must be remembered. And there is no need to say: “This cannot be asked for, because it is not written. Why are you asking for what is not written?” We can ask for mercy beyond what is written, the Most High is not subject to the Torah, there is no law over Him, He is free to have mercy, and His mercy is forever. Just as a curse may not be written in the Torah, so too He can show mercy with a mercy not written in this book. This must be remembered. And let us put the emphasis on mercy when we turn to the Most High.

The quintessence of galut (exile) from the country and of distance from the Most High – fear, anguish and hopelessness. That is what the LORD will give you among, one can say, inhospitable peoples.

All the time you will live in uncertainty. How many times the Jewish people, who lived peacefully in some land, was driven out of its settled places, how many times it had to change its place of residence, how often Jews moved from place to place! At the very beginning of the 30s of the last century, before Hitler came to power, the Jews of Germany believed that Germany was the very best place for Jews to live. How everything turned upside down in one moment…

Such is the behavior of a person who does not rejoice in life at all, who is not glad that he was born. This is the behavior of a slave, of a person who is engaged in unwanted work, lives among unwanted people, who has no happiness at all, no expectation, except to say decisively: “When will I finally die?!” God forbid. The people did, of course, have to see terrible things.

That is, in the holds, like captives, the LORD will bring you back to Egypt. And since you will break the covenant, then at the end, at the end of the breaking, at the most terrible end of the road, you will return to that slavery from which you came out. And do not boast that the LORD brought you out, chose you, set you up, destined you for blessings, because, breaking this covenant, degrading more and more, you can sink to a level much worse than the one you started from: return to Egypt, but on completely different terms. And there will be such an abundance of Jewish slaves on the market that no one will want to buy them.

Such a terrible warning: if you do not listen to the voice of the Most High, then it is not only the blessings of the Most High that one can lose. People often ask: “Can salvation be lost? Can the exodus from Egypt be lost?” The exodus from Egypt can be lost, one can return there not in a time machine, but on ships that carry slaves.

And our portion ends with the words:

This is not the replacement of one covenant by another, no covenant is canceled, all covenants with the Most High are eternal. But since the people has changed, since the people is preparing to enter the land, the Most High renews the covenant with Israel, the covenant is spoken through once more. Terrible curses and powerful blessings. One must concentrate on the service of the Most High and try to be worthy precisely of the blessing.

With God's help we continue to study the weekly portion Ki Tavo. We will read a very small passage, only 8 verses, but they are very difficult and have many meanings. So, Moshe gathered the people of Israel right before the entry into the land of Israel, in order to renew the covenant, and at this gathering Moshe reminds the people of those blessings that will pursue it, really pursue it, if it listens to the voice of God, seeks the will of God in each specific situation and lives according to the Torah. There will be no need to do anything special in order to receive the blessing. This does not mean that there will be no need to do anything at all. The Most High will bless the works of your hands, which means you will still have to work with your little hands. And one can apply rationalization or something else like that, try as hard as possible, harder and harder still, this is important in the works of our hands. But we receive the blessing through obedience to the Most High.

The same is true of the curses. If a person does not listen to the voice of God, does not live according to the Torah, then no matter how diligently he works, no matter how early he gets up, no matter how late he goes to bed, the curses will overtake him. I am often asked, and I think it is important to answer this question here: why are there more curses than blessings, why are the curses described in more detail? In all the years that people have come to me with various questions, no one has ever once come to me and asked: “Alex, why on earth am I doing so well? Why am I so lucky, why was a healthy child born to me? Why am I so lucky and my salary was raised?” A person has no questions about the blessing. But about the curse a person will dig in more detail. Such is human nature, and therefore there is nothing surprising in the fact that the Most High, too, gives in the Torah a more detailed description of the curses.

So, we will read from verse 1 of chapter 29 of our book Devarim.

We already read earlier that Moshe gathered all Israel. Is this about one and the same gathering, or after all (which is most likely in my view) did Moshe let the people go, give it the opportunity to live with what they had heard, to take in what they had heard, and only then gather the people once more, in order to speak with the people again. So, Moshe, most likely, gathers the people a second time.

On the one hand, of course, it is strange to say you have seen, because this generation was born in the wilderness and for the most part, with the exception of a few people and women, did not see what happened in Egypt. But children, along with inheriting some outward qualities, also inherit the inner qualities of their parents, inherit their ancestral memory. Therefore they belong to the people that saw this. As, for example, it is told in the Epistle to the Hebrews that Levi himself, being in the loins of Avraham, gave a tithe to Malki-Tzedek, the king of Shalem. In exactly the same way this generation, being in the loins of its parents, saw what the Most High did in Egypt.

You saw everything through great signs, you saw the power of the Most High, saw that He is wondrous. And nevertheless:

Oh, how much ink has been spilled, how many lances have been broken and how many believers have been excommunicated on the grounds of this verse. Let us try to sort it out: you saw all this, but you could not understand it, because the LORD did not give you a heart, did not give eyes, did not give ears. But if a person has no heart, eyes and ears, that is, if this is a “blind-deaf-unfeeling” person, then what can you get from him? How can you demand from him an understanding of wonders and signs? And if He did not give and will not give the people a heart, eyes and ears, then what is there to talk about and why make a covenant at all?

And until this day can also be understood in different ways. It can be to this very day, that is, up to the real present-day date, or after all until the day on which this conversation takes place. The commentators have both versions. The expression until this day is mentioned in the book of Devarim in other cases too, and precisely in such a context that before there was not, and today there is. Today, on this day, you are like graduates of a university course in square caps, so festive, ready at last to understand, to see and to hear, and to realize that the Most High is the Sovereign of the world. Until this day you were not ready, that is exactly why I was forced (the Most High, of course, was forced) to lead the people through the wilderness for forty years. We read about this in our book (8:2–5): “Remember the whole way by which the LORD, your God, has led you for forty years now through the wilderness, in order to humble you, to test you, so as to know that in your heart you will keep His commandments. He humbled you, and let you suffer hunger, and fed you with man, which you did not know and your Fathers did not know, in order to make you understand, that is, in order to teach you, that man does not live by bread alone, but by everything that comes out of the mouth of the LORD man lives. Your clothing did not wear out on you, and your foot did not swell, for forty years now. And know in your heart: as a man instructs his son, so the LORD, your God, instructs you.”

For forty years the LORD prepared you for this, so that you would realize it in your heart. And Moshe solemnly speaks of the completion of the forty-year course of study. At last we have finished our studies, at last we can realize and understand. Of course, we also saw before that the Most High works wonders, that the Most High can rout the army of Egypt, give water in the wilderness, and much else. But today, as the result of these forty years, we have seen that the Most High is not simply a God of wonders, He has a design and He carries out this design: to bring the people into the land, to bring the people to a certain spiritual level, to correct it, to give the people this land. That is, the Most High is not only the Almighty God and the God of wonders, but also the One Who has a plan both concerning the people of Israel and concerning the whole universe. This is what needed to be understood in this forty-year school. This is what God did not let them understand until this day.

And one more very important question: what does God did not let them understand mean? If it is precisely God, as we also read further on, who gives the tools for understanding, gives into the heart the tools for understanding, then again, what can be demanded of people? If God did not give me, Alex, the ability to fly, I have no wings, then who can demand wings from me? If God did not give me the ability to see some kind of radiation or to hear some kind of sounds, then how can I give an answer for not seeing this radiation and not hearing these sounds? And here the answer is this: if I want this, then I begin to learn it; the Most High teaches me, gives this understanding. My free will is in this, that a desire arises in me to understand who the Owner of this world is, and my effort gives birth to an answer, the Most High gives me the tools for understanding this. Forty years passed, and the people has at last finished this course.

Does everything depend on man or on the Most High? Of course, everything depends on my decision and on my will. The Most High does not install in me by force any knowledge or any beliefs, otherwise it would have taken much less than forty years.

What else important can we learn from this verse? Not all revelations are given at once: there are situations when a revelation requires prior preparation. Therefore, after the revelation of the Torah, there can still be the revelation of the Mashiach. And the Jewish midrash says that the Torah of this world is nothing compared to the Torah of the Mashiach. Why was it not possible to give the Torah of the Mashiach right away? Because preparation is needed, humanity must be prepared for the Torah to be revealed. Why did someone not accept the Mashiach? The people that saw wonders did not accept the sign, because for certain purposes the LORD, perhaps, did not give until this day a heart, eyes and ears to understand. This is all a mystery, and we, of course, are only supposing.

So, how did the LORD raise you, how did He teach you?

Is this good or bad? Imagine a girl, a woman, who came into a store and bought herself a dress. And it fits her wonderfully, well, she is simply a little doll in it. And the saleswoman says to her: “Dear, you will wear this dress for forty years and never wear it out, for forty years you will wear it without taking it off. You put on weight – it will put on weight along with you, you lose weight – it will lose weight along with you; for forty years it is your fate to walk around in this dress.” For some reason it seems to me that most women would refuse. In our time one does not want to walk around in the fashion of the eighties. Why am I talking about women? Because about myself I can say that if my clothes did not wear out, did not get dirty, I might perhaps not even change them. I have no particular demands in this respect, but girls are made differently. Therefore, when it is said that your clothing did not wear out, this is not so much a manifestation of care as it is teaching. You understand that you will live in such a way that nothing depends on you, that everything is in the hands of the Most High, that He is the First Cause of everything, including clothing, it too is from Him.

We read in chapter 8 that and your foot did not swell. For some reason the commentators say that the swelling, the puffing up of the foot is connected with walking barefoot. I do not know, I have seen swollen feet in shoes too, but if we suppose so, then the further development of this idea among the commentators is that the Levites walked barefoot a lot during the Temple service, while the rest of the people walked in shoes. But one can say that both the foot did not swell and the shoes did not wear out. The one does not contradict the other. In this way the Most High nurtured the understanding that everything in this world, absolutely everything, depends only on Him.

And again let us return to chapter 8. When we eat bread, it seems to us that it is the bread that satisfies us, that it breaks down in the stomach, and calories result, some substances that give us life. The Torah says: no, it is not calories that satisfy you, not calories that give you life, but that very Word which the Most High spoke: “Let the earth bring forth fruit, seed,” that is where the root of bread is. The power is in the Word of God, which through bread gives you food. So that you would understand, when you eat bread, that food is not the bread itself, but the Word of God. Why will you understand this? Because for forty years you studied in this heavenly school. The sages say: “A student does not understand his teacher in less than forty years.” Forty years of study is a good term for you to understand that it is not bread that nourishes you, not wine, not meat: everything that is around you – this is the Most High.

And verse 5 continues this same thought.

In the simple sense, in the sense of the most ordinary food – you did not eat what you yourselves had grown, and did not drink what you yourselves had grown, that is, you did not labor in order to eat and drink. Everything you had, the Most High gave you. Well, since bread and wine are mentioned here, something must be said about bread and wine. When we bring bread and wine before the Most High, when we remember the Mashiach over bread and wine, when some covenant is made with bread and wine (for example, at the meeting of Malki-Tzedek and Avraham), then at that moment we testify that both bread and wine are a manifestation of the Most High in this world. It is something that only seems to us to be food and drink, that only seems to us to be the product of our labor, but in reality it is what the Most High has given us.

And this whole forty-year course of study, cut off from the material world as a source of sustenance, was needed so that you would see that a little higher there is a completely different world with a completely different source of sustenance. And you will understand what has already been said: when you do something, it does not matter how far beyond your own efforts you do it, because you receive the blessing for obedience to the Most High. Of course, this does not mean that one need not work conscientiously; conscientiousness, too, is part of standing before the Most High. It means that we make efforts according to our strength, according to our abilities, and the blessings overtake us on their own.

Here you have evidence that the system, as Matroskin the Cat from the cartoon said, – “Hooray, it works!” And here you have the fruits of this work.

The word taskílu (from the verb lehaskil, to prosper) is used in the same context as in Yeshayahu (52:13): “Behold, My servant will prosper (yaskíl).”

The success of any undertaking, the blessing of any undertaking depends on how well we learn this lesson. The lesson that it is not labor in the physical world that is the basis of sustenance, but obedience to the Creator is the basis of what gives us sustenance, what gives us existence, what gives us life.

In verse 11 of chapter 26 of our book Devarim we read: “And rejoice in all the good that the LORD, your God, has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the stranger who is in your midst.” The Torah gives us a commandment: to rejoice in all the good that we have. I know many people who have everything, and they do not rejoice, they cannot manage to rejoice. I know people who gather a rich harvest and cannot rejoice in it – there is no joy in their soul. And indeed, the question arises: how can one command a person to have joy? How can one command a person to experience some emotion?

 And in chapter 28, in verse 47, we read that the curses come because you did not serve the LORD, your God, in joy. Imagine that a certain person wakes up in the morning, washes, goes to the kitchen and sees that there, out of nowhere, lies a bar of his favorite white chocolate with raspberries. And he rejoices, brews himself some tasty tea or tasty coffee, sits down to eat this chocolate. He rejoices at the first little piece, at the second little piece, and then simply eats. The joy little by little goes away.

Now imagine a different situation. The same person got up, found the bar of chocolate, and next to it a note: “I love you, you are the dearest person to me. Have a good day” and a signature: son, daughter, wife, sister, mom. How much greater a joy this note will give than the chocolate itself!

And the Torah tells us at the very beginning of chapter 26: “And it shall be, when you come into the land which the LORD, your God, gives you as a share, and take possession of it, and settle in it, then take of the first fruits of the land which you will receive, of the land which the LORD, your God, gives you, put them in a basket and go to the place which the LORD, your God, will choose, so that His name may dwell there. And come to the kohen in those days, and say to him: ‘I declare today to the LORD, your God, that I have come into the land which the LORD swore to our Fathers to give it.’ And the kohen will take the basket from your hand, and set it before the altar of the LORD, your God. And you proclaim, say before the LORD, your God: ‘A wandering Aramean was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and lived there with few people, and became a nation strong, great and numerous. But the Egyptians dealt badly with us and oppressed us, and laid hard labor upon us. And we cried out to the LORD, the God of our Fathers, and the LORD heard our voice, and saw our affliction, and our toil, and our oppression. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand, a mighty one, with an outstretched arm, and with a sign, and with a portent, and with great wonders. And brought us to this place, and gave us this land, flowing with milk and honey. And now, behold, I have brought the first fruits which the LORD has given me!’ And set it before your LORD, and bow down before your LORD.”

In this there may also be a great mystery. When we see these fruits, see the fruits of our hands, see this little chocolate bar, then we also see the note of the Most High next to it. In this note is the whole history of the Jewish people, the promises that Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov had. They had only the promises, but we have the opportunity to see the fruits of this land. They had the promise – I have the fruits. This note is from the One Who has been with me all this time, throughout my whole history. And when I see some fruit of my life, see something that I have, something with which the LORD has blessed me – I can rejoice in all the good that the LORD, my God, has given me. Not in what I obtained with my own hands by hard and backbreaking labor, no, but in what the LORD has given me. It is not the fruits I rejoice in, but that note, in our case – the Torah, which is attached to these fruits. I rejoice that this is a manifestation of the LORD's care for me, of the LORD's love for me. I rejoice in the blessing of my beloved and Loving God. This brings me joy, this teaches me to rejoice.

Read also the talk on the blessings and curses in Devarim 28, the talk on the covenants, the book of commentaries on Devarim and the weekly portions of the Torah.