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A FEW PRE-SHABBAT WORDS FROM RABBI AARON

Flight from Curses

Parashat Ki Tavo is dominated by a long passage of severe curses, a warning against our straying from the covenant. Rabbi Hayym Talbi, Talmud professor at Bar Ilan, described a range of customs connected to the dreadful section we call the tochecha - the words of admonition. Perhaps the most familiar practice recommends that a paid gabbai receive the aliyah for the much undesired tochecha - other folks refused to take the aliyah. The halachic literature from centuries past bears witness to davenners leaving shul in order to avoid being present for the frightening recitation. The Vishnitzer Chasidim, according to professor Talbi, would not recite the customary Torah blessings (Barchu, etc.) over this section. After all, the Jerusalem Talmud (Megilla 3:7), quoting Psalms, says: "Rabbi Levi taught, the Holy One, blessed be He said: It is not right that my children be cursed, while I am blessed, as it written [Psalm 91:15], 'I will be with him in distress' " In some 19th Century shuls, the entire portions of Bechukkotai and Ki Tavo were skipped because they contained these frightening cursed-filled texts!

All of this suggests the primal urge to recoil when we are confronted with dire words soaked in violent terror.

Professor Richard Friedman, in his Commentary on the Torah, notes the lopsided nature of our text:

"The curses are four times the length of the blessings. Like the blessings and curses list in Leviticus chapter 26, this list may convey that threats of punishment were thought to be more effective than promises of reward. Or it may convey the opposite: that threats are less effective, and therefore more are required. The remarkable thing is that, following all these blessings and curses, Moses speaks beautifully for two chapters about why the people should keep the covenant for itself.”

Rubinstein's 2 cents, with a nod to B. F. Skinner

We seem to be hard-wired for reward and punishment. The spiritual yearning is to somehow stretch beyond our natures, engaging in good behavior and avoiding bad behavior - with no regard to any carrot being offered or any stick being brandished. That's a very tall order for the human animal but the promise of that yearning is what contains the human reach for holiness.

Shabbat shalom

Rabbi Aaron