The Pshat Heard 'Round the World

There has been much written about why the particular sets of tribes are stationed on Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Eival for the blessings and curses. None of the approaches suggested have been generally accepted. Here's my take. I assume that the selection must be fairly straightforward and comprehensible based only on the preceding narrative in the Torah. What we find here is that all the tribes assigned to the blessing are "l'chatchila" sons (exception noted and explained below). That is, they are not sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, who were born only due to attempts to manipulate "fate" on the part of Rachel and Leah. They also are not sons of the second round of Leah's childbearing, initiated by the mandrakes. Shim'on, Levi, Yehudah, Yosef and Binyamin are all conceived in accordance with Hashem's will (and thus, blessing), without any manipulation. Believing that you can tamper with Hashem's will borders on idolatry (we won't get into the q...

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 mus...

As with last week, no time, no time, we're having our new in-laws and sheva berachot e5c. However, a short thought, seeing as how Ki Tavo is also Elisha's Bar Mitzvah parashah: Ki Tavo is famous for playing host to the great "blessing and curse" passage which concludes the collection of mitzvot which has spanned three parashiyot. The parashah opens', however, with two mitzvot which are effectively the concluding mitzvot of the great mitzvah collection. The first the the mitzvah of bikkurim, the bringing of the first fruits. The second is bi'ur ma'asrot, the ensuring that all tithes and priestly gifts have been actually given to their recipients, and not merely set aside. Interestingly, both mitzvot contain declarations which are part and parcel of their respective mitzvot. There's much to say, of course, on both the mitzvot themselves and on the declarations - the first of which forms the text upon which the central passage of the Haggadah, Tze U...