Ki Savo 5774: Who’s That Calling?

By Rabbi Joshua (recurrently known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

The main focus of parshas Ki Savo is the section of tochecha, or rebuke, also known as the section of blessings and curses. The Talmud (Megillah 31) instructs us to read this section in the synagogue on a Shabbos preceding Rosh Hashanah, as an indication of our hope that the old year and its curses end, and that the new year with its blessings begin. The sections of blessings and curses, however, are preceded by the mitzvah of bringing bikkurim, or one’s first fruits, to the Kohen in the Beis HaMikdash, and the mitzvah of clearing one’s home of accumulated tithes. Why do these mitzvos precede the tochecha?  Is there a thematic connection?

Perhaps we can suggest that the theme of gratitude, which lies behind the bringing of bikkurim, is the guiding principle of the entire parsha.  Rabbeinu Bachya Ibn Pekudah, in his Chovos HaLevavos, says that a sense of gratitude is the basis for all of our service of God. At a number of points in the parsha, we are told that God commands us this day – hayom – to perform the mitzvos.  For example, directly preceding the enumeration of blessings that will come if we perform the mitzvos, Moshe tells the people, “This day, the Lord your God commands you to perform the statutes and the laws… (Devarim 26:16). Rashi comments on the words hayom – this day – that they should be new in your eyes, as if you were commanded them this day.

How does one acquire this feeling, this sense of freshness in performing the mitzvos each day?  If one realizes that God gives us life anew each day, as articulated in the prayer of thanks, “modeh ani,” that is said each morning when one arises from sleep, he views himself as newly born each day, and can then take the next step and view the mitzvos as newly commanded each day, as well. This sense of gratitude is cultivated by the mitzvah of bikkurim, which precedes the tochecha, and can lead to the sense of renewal referred to in the word “hayom.”

The attitude of renewal serves, in turn, as an introduction to the section of the tochecha. The section which enumerates the blessings we will receive if we observe the mitzvos begins, “It shall be that if you listen to the voice of the Lord your God, to keep, to perform all of the commandments that I command you this day… all these blessings will come upon you (Devarim 28:18).  Here, too, the word “hayom” is used.  Reb Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, in his Kedushas Levi, cites a midrash which explains that each day a heavenly voice emits from Mt. Choreiv (Sinai) saying, “Return, wayward children, return.”  The Kedushas Levi says that even if a person does not hear the actual words, his subconscious gets the message, and, if he pays heed, it will lead him to repentance.  A person, however, needs to arouse himself to hear this verse, which is really the voice of his inner, true self.  The Talmud tells us that Elisha ben Avuyah, who became a heretic, was thereafter referred to as “Acher,” literally, the other.  When his student Reb Meir pleaded with him to repent, he said that he heard the heavenly voice say, “Return, except for Acheir.”  Reb Levi Yitzchak explains that it must be the person himself, not another, who arouses himself to repent.  However, my teacher, Rav Aharon Soloveitchik, offered a different explanation.  He notes that whenever the Talmud refers to the bad side of someone’s personality, it refers to him in the third person, as “hahu gavra,” that person.  Elisha ben Avuyah, was completely possessed by the bad side, the other side of his personality, and so was called Acheir, as someone totally alienated from his true, inner self.  A person who is attuned to his true inner self, however, will hear the call to teshuva, and perform the mitzvos.

Reb Levi Yitzchak points out that this verse, which alludes to the call to teshuva, begins with the word “vehayah,” which, the rabbis tell us, connotes simcha, joy.  Rav Yosef Albo, in his Sefer Ha-Ikkarim, teaches that a person attains true happiness when he acts according to the nature of his soul. The Rambam, in his Laws of Divorce, writes that the true nature of a Jew is to do the mitzvos. The parsha of bikkurim, as pointed out by Rabbi Mordechai Ilan in his Mikdash Mordechai, also begins with the word vehaya, connoting joy. The subsequent parsha, regarding tithes, alludes to bringing joy through performing that mitzvah (see Rashi to Devarim, 26:14). The enumeration of blessings, as we have seen, uses the term hayom, and recurs throughout the parsha.  Finally, toward the end of the tochecha, we are told that severe punishment will come because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of the heart” (Devarim 28:46). This lack of joy in performing the mitzvos indicated that the people did not view them as projecting their true, inner selves, calling them to do teshuva. The mitzvah of bikkurim, then, with its message of the importance of gratitude, set the tone for the entire parsha of Ki Savo, guiding us to a constant renewal of our commitment to God, through an acknowledgement of His daily kindness