In parshas Ki Savo, we have the tochacha, rebuke, and the long list of curses Bnei Yisrael will receive if they don’t follow the Torah. The curses were actually so severe and harsh, that at the beginning of next week’s parsha, Nizavim, Moshe Rabbeinu had to calm down Bnei Yisrael because horiku pneihem, their faces turned green from fear. How can we manage to follow the entire Torah, keep all the mitzvos, and not sin and still be deserving of all these curses?!
From the simple reading, one may come to the conclusion that Klal Yisrael are really unwanted by Hashem. Just look at this long list of curses. Both here and earlier in parshas Bechukosai. Our enemies have taken these curses at face value to claim that Hashem truly doesn’t want us. He rejected us (and chose them!), and we received all the horrors which the curses brought.
There are people who read these parshios and come to the conclusion that Hashem may not hate us, but that He’s vengeful and waiting for us to fall and receive all the punishments. After all, there are many more curses than berachos. Also, the curses are much more detailed than the berachos are.
This is a fundamental mistake. These curses actually show Hashem’s great love for us, and our great love for Him!
Let’s explain. Firstly, the Torah calls these berachos and curses a bris - a pact or treaty - between us and Him. A treaty is only valid when it’s accepted by both sides, not when one side forces the other to accept. This is the bris that Hashem offered to Klal Yisrael. It was not forced upon them; it was offered. Klal Yisrael agreed to it and accepted it out of love! They saw how everything Hashem had done for them was done in the best way possible, and they wanted to reciprocate and keep the powerful connection. It is similar to a marriage, where the choson and kallah want and agree to create an everlasting bond out of love.
Now, the curses in parshas Ki Tavo are coming at the end of the forty years, after Moshe has reviewed the entire Torah with Klal Yisrael. In a way, it was like a new kabolas haTorah. By kabolas haTorah, we went through a geirus, a conversion process. There’s no quick and easy geirus in Judaism. Other religions will try to bring in converts by making everything appealing and easy. If you don’t join us, oh boy will you suffer! Join us and receive all good we are offering. For Klal Yisrael, it’s the opposite. We try to dissuade the potential geir. Even in the mikvah, right before the final tevilah, we tell them some of the easy mitzvos and some of the challenging mitzvos. We warn them that Jews are hated around the world. We make sure they really truly want to convert. That’s what happened at the end of the forty years when Moshe Rabbeinu offered this bris to Klal Yisrael from Hashem, confirming that they truly wanted it. It was anything but forced upon us.
On Rosh HaShanah, we proclaim that Hashem is our Melech, our king. There are other words to describe a king by force: ruler, dictator, etc. The melech has power because he is anointed with the agreement and support of his subjects, not because he forced them. When we proclaim that Hashem is our King, it is with our will and desire that He rules over us - our bris with Him.
Now let’s discuss the aspects of treaties. There are two types of treaties. There’s a treaty where everyone involved is trying to gain the most they can for themselves. Their own wellbeing is their focus. A treaty like NATO is for the country’s security. There are treaties for financial reasons. It’s not because they care for the other parties involved; it’s just a way of getting the most for themselves. Sometimes it works; other times, the parties will pull away and break the treaty if that’s in their best interest. We see now in Ukraine how all the NATO members have jumped in to fight Russia. England made their exit from the EU. This is how it is all around the world. Definitely no love there.
Then there’s a treaty because the two sides clearly care for each other. They’re willing to commit and sacrifice for each other, which comes from their deep love.
When creating a treaty, everyone wants it to be enticing. Come and sign, and you’ll receive all these good results. Tell me what I need to do to receive the benefits; that’s what I want to hear. And certainly, don’t focus on the consequences of what will happen if I don’t follow through. That’s not enticing.
However, when there’s a treaty of love, then the sides are willing to proclaim that they’ll do anything for each other, even to die for each other! To say what they will give to each other could even be considered demeaning. It’s when one is willing to sacrifice for the other, and to proclaim how they’re even willing to be punished if they’re disloyal, that’s a sign that they have accepted the bris out of true love for the other! The Ramban says that a great sign of our love for Hashem is that we are willing to suffer for Him. That is the greatest display of love for Him, and for that He loves us more than anybody else!
Reading and completing the Torah is an ancient decree, from the times of the nevi’im and Ezra. The reading wasn’t always completed in one year. There were cycles that completed it in three years. However, it was always arranged that Bechukosai would be read before Shavuos, and Ki Tavo before Rosh HaShanah, in order to end the year with the curses and to begin the new year without them. (Shavuos is also a type of Rosh HaShanah; that’s for a different article.) However, based on our definition of a bris of love, we have another, deeper reason for this. We are reading this parshah and declaring to Hashem: We have such a great love for you that we are even willing to suffer the results of our disloyalty to you. This is what we declare before we crown Him as our king on Rosh HaShanah.
I’d like to make one more point here. Rav Shlomo Kluger zts”l writes that on Rosh HaShanah we dress in our finery and have fancy seudos because we are confident to receive a good din, judgement. How can we be so sure? Really, there are two denim - a big din and a small din. The small din is the one for each individual: tzaddikim, resha’im, and those in between. We really know where we are holding, and we try to improve our status before Rosh HaShanah. However, the bigger din is whether or not Klal Yisrael will remain the am hanivchar, the chosen nation. Each year, the nations of the world claim (their malach in heaven makes the claim) that Klal Yisrael has sinned, and are no longer deserving to be the chosen nation. Each year, Hashem pushes them away, always keeping us, while pointing to the bris that we have with Him! He will never abandon us, and we will never abandon Him! This is the din in which we are confident to have a good outcome. Reading the bris, our pact of love with Hashem, is the sign that He will never abandon us!
After such a challenging year, where all our enemies and “friends” have shown their true faces, we really see that there’s no one but HaKadosh Baruch Hu we can rely on. And, we declare with certainty that He will redeem us! With Him, have our bris!
Adapted from a shiur given by R’ Yisrael Altusky shlita, Yeshivas Torah Ore, Yerushalayim. Shiurim can be heard at the Kol Halashon website.
By R’ Dovi Chaitovsky
