Parashat Ki Tavo is best known for serving as home to the Tochechah, the long, hair-raising curse/prophecy uttered by Moshe toward the close of Devarim. It’s also familiar to us from the Pesach sedcr, since its opening passage, the mitzvah of bringing bikkurim, first fruits, contains the verses expanded upon by the Haggadah, Arami Oved Avi. Sandwiched between those two “big-name” passages is a passage a bit less dwelled-upon: the command to conduct a ceremony of blessing and curse on Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Eval upon entry to the land. It is this ceremony, with its Arur HaIsh (“cursed be the man”) rhythmically intoned by the Kohanim, and the antiphonal choral Amen responses of the tribes, echoing off the two mountains, which grabbed my attention this year.
The people had already been initially instructed regarding a blessing and curse ceremony upon entry into the Land, in Parashat Re’eh. That command was phrased generally; here we have a dramatic description of a ceremony which must have had a huge impact upon the newly arrived and triumphant people. Historically, the fulfillment of this mitzvah seems to be presented toward the end Sefer Yehoshua, AFTER the many years of conquest and division of the land, instead of immediately upon entry. Commentators try to reconcile the two passages, but it’s not this aspect of the ceremony which intrigues me at present. Nor is it the question of the logic behind the seemingly arbitrary choice of which six tribes will stand upon each of the two mountains. Rather, it’s the list of the twelve curses itself that I’m interested in.
Twelve curses. Obviously, paralleling the twelve tribes, yes? Well, perhaps, but some say there are only eleven curses. How so? Let’s examine the list:Here’s the list:
Cursed be the one who…
1. Fashions an idol and worships in secrecy
2. Ridicules his parents
3. Moves back the boundary of his fellow
4. Misleads the blind on the way
5. Perverts justice for the stranger, orphan ot widow
6. Has relations with his father’s wife
7. Has relations with an animal
8. Has relations with his sister
9. Has relations with his mother-in-law
10. Smites his fellow in secret
11. Takes a bribe to bear false testimony in a capital case
12. Does not uphold the words of this teaching (Torah) to do them.
There are a number of questions which this list raises:
a) Why are these particular mitzvot chosen for the ceremony – what do they have in common?
b) Why are only the curses mentioned? Wasn’t this supposed to be a ceremony of blessing and curse?
c) What about that last curse – it seems so general – why is it included in a list of very specific transgression?
In answer to the first question, Rashbam and Ibn Ezra, amongst others, notice that all the transgressions listed are those down in private, in secrecy, with no one the wiser. The only two which are not normally done in such a fashion – worshiping idols and smiting one’s fellow – are here indicated as being done “in secrecy”. Along the same lines, the only prohibited relations mentioned here are those where the man approaching the woman’s domicile would evoke no raised eyebrows amongst onlookers: mother/step-mother, sister and mother-in-law. We have, therefore, a list of transgressions - most severe transgressions at that - which an individual might well get away with should he so inclined.
This also answers the second question regarding the blessings. Though Chazal say that for each Arur there was a parallel Baruch, Ibn Ezra understands that this list of Arurim is actually a preface to the full blessing and curse, which follows immediately (chapter 28). It was that blessing and curse which was intoned by the priests facing now this mountain, now that. Our passage was an necessary preamble to that overarching blessing and curse, as will become clear when we tackle the third question.
What’s with that last Arur? What is it doing here? And how does it fit into the list of transgressions done in secret? Ibn Ezra explains that, after having addressed secret violation of prohibitions, the Torah now addresses the failure to fulfill all the positive commandments. Ramban takes theis farther and explains that this curse is referring to one who does not accept as true and binding all the mitzvot of the Torah. Lo Yakim is to be understood in the sense of kiyymu v’kiblu hayehudim – the Jews accepted upon themselves Mordcchai’s pronouncements (and, according to the Gemara, the entire Torah). And the curse is not on the violation, but the refusal to accept – as indicated by the combination – lo yakim…la’asot otam – who doesn’t accept to do them.
Ramban then brings a dispute in the Midrash:
Arur haIsh asher lo yakim et divrei haTorah Hazot:
Is there, then a Torah that falls??
Rabbi Shim’on ben Yakim says: This is referring to the synagogue official
Rabbi Shim’on ben Chalafa says: This is referring to the executive branch of government.
The first opinion has the Torah cursing the one who fails in his duty to “uphold the Torah” – literally – he does not hold up the Torah for all to see the writing;
The second opinion invokes wrath upon those who have the power to impose allegiance and ferret out violators – and fail to do so.
Both of these opinions fit well with Ramban’s own understanding. The visceral encounter with the physical text of the divinely given Torah – that palpable experience – can do more than abstract catechisms to fire conviction in the heart of the Jew from the outset. And the knowledge that, in the end, those representing society’s enforcement mechanisms will not shirk their responsibilities reinforces the individual’s own conscience in matters known only to him.
But perhaps there is another sense in which the two interpretations meet. To uphold the Torah is to hold up the Torah. The more a Jew feels inside, in those secret places where no one else can go, a revulsion from transgression, akin to a curse, as with the first eleven Arurim, as well as an unshakeable will to fulfill the Will, the more he becomes a living Sefer Torah, the more he walks in the world showing the ktav to all who will see. He becomes the Hazan of whom Rabbi Shim’on ben Yakim spoke. At the same time, such a person will not stand by idly when it is time to act; he will not “let George do it”, he will say, with Hillel, “in a place where there are no men, strive to be that man”. And in our own souls, there are no other “men” but us.
The ceremony of blessing and curse on Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Eval, speaking powerfully to the people as a whole, was preceded, then, by a addressing of each constitutive element of that whole. Each individual was called upon to examine his inner world, find that place where transgression is vile, and conviction is beloved, and to step forward, armed with those indispensable personal resources into his role as part of Am Yisrael.
And when each Jew, searching his soul, heard his thousands of brothers roaring “Amen”, and he along with them, the impact would fuse him and his fellows into a mutually-responsible spiritual unit, illuminating the world like the breaking dawn, whose echoes still resonate in the hills of this land. It is the echo of the inner transmutation of curse to blessing: Baruch Hagever asher yivtach Bashem…
The people had already been initially instructed regarding a blessing and curse ceremony upon entry into the Land, in Parashat Re’eh. That command was phrased generally; here we have a dramatic description of a ceremony which must have had a huge impact upon the newly arrived and triumphant people. Historically, the fulfillment of this mitzvah seems to be presented toward the end Sefer Yehoshua, AFTER the many years of conquest and division of the land, instead of immediately upon entry. Commentators try to reconcile the two passages, but it’s not this aspect of the ceremony which intrigues me at present. Nor is it the question of the logic behind the seemingly arbitrary choice of which six tribes will stand upon each of the two mountains. Rather, it’s the list of the twelve curses itself that I’m interested in.
Twelve curses. Obviously, paralleling the twelve tribes, yes? Well, perhaps, but some say there are only eleven curses. How so? Let’s examine the list:Here’s the list:
Cursed be the one who…
1. Fashions an idol and worships in secrecy
2. Ridicules his parents
3. Moves back the boundary of his fellow
4. Misleads the blind on the way
5. Perverts justice for the stranger, orphan ot widow
6. Has relations with his father’s wife
7. Has relations with an animal
8. Has relations with his sister
9. Has relations with his mother-in-law
10. Smites his fellow in secret
11. Takes a bribe to bear false testimony in a capital case
12. Does not uphold the words of this teaching (Torah) to do them.
There are a number of questions which this list raises:
a) Why are these particular mitzvot chosen for the ceremony – what do they have in common?
b) Why are only the curses mentioned? Wasn’t this supposed to be a ceremony of blessing and curse?
c) What about that last curse – it seems so general – why is it included in a list of very specific transgression?
In answer to the first question, Rashbam and Ibn Ezra, amongst others, notice that all the transgressions listed are those down in private, in secrecy, with no one the wiser. The only two which are not normally done in such a fashion – worshiping idols and smiting one’s fellow – are here indicated as being done “in secrecy”. Along the same lines, the only prohibited relations mentioned here are those where the man approaching the woman’s domicile would evoke no raised eyebrows amongst onlookers: mother/step-mother, sister and mother-in-law. We have, therefore, a list of transgressions - most severe transgressions at that - which an individual might well get away with should he so inclined.
This also answers the second question regarding the blessings. Though Chazal say that for each Arur there was a parallel Baruch, Ibn Ezra understands that this list of Arurim is actually a preface to the full blessing and curse, which follows immediately (chapter 28). It was that blessing and curse which was intoned by the priests facing now this mountain, now that. Our passage was an necessary preamble to that overarching blessing and curse, as will become clear when we tackle the third question.
What’s with that last Arur? What is it doing here? And how does it fit into the list of transgressions done in secret? Ibn Ezra explains that, after having addressed secret violation of prohibitions, the Torah now addresses the failure to fulfill all the positive commandments. Ramban takes theis farther and explains that this curse is referring to one who does not accept as true and binding all the mitzvot of the Torah. Lo Yakim is to be understood in the sense of kiyymu v’kiblu hayehudim – the Jews accepted upon themselves Mordcchai’s pronouncements (and, according to the Gemara, the entire Torah). And the curse is not on the violation, but the refusal to accept – as indicated by the combination – lo yakim…la’asot otam – who doesn’t accept to do them.
Ramban then brings a dispute in the Midrash:
Arur haIsh asher lo yakim et divrei haTorah Hazot:
Is there, then a Torah that falls??
Rabbi Shim’on ben Yakim says: This is referring to the synagogue official
Rabbi Shim’on ben Chalafa says: This is referring to the executive branch of government.
The first opinion has the Torah cursing the one who fails in his duty to “uphold the Torah” – literally – he does not hold up the Torah for all to see the writing;
The second opinion invokes wrath upon those who have the power to impose allegiance and ferret out violators – and fail to do so.
Both of these opinions fit well with Ramban’s own understanding. The visceral encounter with the physical text of the divinely given Torah – that palpable experience – can do more than abstract catechisms to fire conviction in the heart of the Jew from the outset. And the knowledge that, in the end, those representing society’s enforcement mechanisms will not shirk their responsibilities reinforces the individual’s own conscience in matters known only to him.
But perhaps there is another sense in which the two interpretations meet. To uphold the Torah is to hold up the Torah. The more a Jew feels inside, in those secret places where no one else can go, a revulsion from transgression, akin to a curse, as with the first eleven Arurim, as well as an unshakeable will to fulfill the Will, the more he becomes a living Sefer Torah, the more he walks in the world showing the ktav to all who will see. He becomes the Hazan of whom Rabbi Shim’on ben Yakim spoke. At the same time, such a person will not stand by idly when it is time to act; he will not “let George do it”, he will say, with Hillel, “in a place where there are no men, strive to be that man”. And in our own souls, there are no other “men” but us.
The ceremony of blessing and curse on Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Eval, speaking powerfully to the people as a whole, was preceded, then, by a addressing of each constitutive element of that whole. Each individual was called upon to examine his inner world, find that place where transgression is vile, and conviction is beloved, and to step forward, armed with those indispensable personal resources into his role as part of Am Yisrael.
And when each Jew, searching his soul, heard his thousands of brothers roaring “Amen”, and he along with them, the impact would fuse him and his fellows into a mutually-responsible spiritual unit, illuminating the world like the breaking dawn, whose echoes still resonate in the hills of this land. It is the echo of the inner transmutation of curse to blessing: Baruch Hagever asher yivtach Bashem…
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