This week's Parsha, Ki Tavo, and the recent readings from the prophets...
This week's Parsha, Ki Tavo, and the recent readings from the prophets, highlight themes of comfort and hope and a path to achieving blessing and happiness in life.
During these challenging times we again learn from these words.
The Parsha begins with the instruction to the Israelites to be grateful for the first fruits they harvest from the Land, to bring them to the Cohanim, and to share what they have harvested. Significantly, they are also instructed to recount their history of bondage, suffering, and liberation.
In this Parsha, there follows a detailed litany of curses and blessings. When we read the curses we are struck by the relevance to our world today. We can better understand why there is so much misery. And as we read the blessings we can also appreciate why we are still here. Whether curses or blessings, they are responses to how we choose to live our lives. It is tragic that other people’s transgressions, greed and immorality, affect those of us who are honest, who take care of those in need, who observe the mitzvot.
We live with light and darkness. And we have the power to assert light over darkness. We do this through acts of kindness, expressions of gratitude, through Tzedakah and raising our voices against injustice. We can also increase the light through learning, respecting science, and making amends through the process of Teshuvah.
We need to help each other get through these hard times. The upcoming holidays give us an opportunity to be in community, both in person and also on Zoom. May we strengthen each other during these Days of Awe. Rav Kook wrote “..much love is needed to broaden the love for people…that love and that light stirs in the hearts of the righteous….it beats like a gentle wind filled with delightful fragrance, at the same time roaring like the waves of the sea.”
From Isaiah this week: “Arise, shine, for your light has come, …the Ineffable’s light and presence will shine over you…the days of mourning will end..”
B’Shalom,
Reb David