Parashat Ki Tavo continues along a common theme track with last week's parasha, Ki Teitsei, namely, discussion of Mitzvot that teach kindness, compassion and attentiveness to others and to other living creatures.
Ki Teitsei teaches us Mitzvot ranging from choosing the correct marriage partner, who may or may not marry whom, divorce guidelines, laws concerning the Ben Sorer U'Moreh (the rebellious son), through returning lost property, sending a mother bird away before taking the young or the eggs, helping one's fellow Jew load and unload a burden, fencing in a roof area and not harnessing together different species of animals on the same yoke.
The theme then seems to be abruptly interrupted by the Maftir section on remembering and not forgetting what Amalek did to us and to ?blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heaven...?
Ki Tavo begins with the Halachot of Bekurim - the first fruits - which were brought to the Kohen as both thanksgiving and remembrance of Pharaoh's cruelty and Hashem's deliverance of B'nai Yisrael from Egypt to a land flowing with milk and honey. This section teaches us the importance of doing Mitzvot quickly, striking while the irons are hot, eagerly and b'simcha - with happiness.
Our parsha then returns to where Ki Teitsei left off with the enunciation of the laws concerning Ma'aser (tithing) and it's declaration regarding the required tithes. It continues with Hashem's command regarding the Mitzvot of writing the Torah on 12 huge stones, in all 70 languages, to be placed on the east side of the Jordan River, in what was Mo'av, and bringing another 12 huge stones to Mt. Eival, where they are to be built as an altar upon which B'nai Yisrael will offer sacrifices. This altar would later be disassembled and the second set of stones were subsequently used for a second inscription of Torah in the 70 languages. The parsha speaks about the assembly to take place on Mts. Gerizim and Eival, and in the valley in between, where the blessings and curses are to be pronounced, upon B?nai Yisrael's entrance into Eretz Yisrael.
What I want to discuss here is the possible relationship between the remembrance of Amalek's evil attack upon us, the Mitzvot bein adam l'chaveiro (between a man and his fellow) listed in both parshiyot and the writing of Torah in 70 languages.
Shem Mishmuel writes, on parshat Shoftim that when Klal Yisrael is fighting Holy Wars, ?they must set aside their private concerns for their own well-being and survival in the war... They must feel that the battle is not for themselves, but for Hashem and his glory...This level of control is no easy matter; it involves nullifying one's private concerns before the will of Hashem." (Shem Mishmuel, page 404)
It seems also that only when we are selfless and subvert our own personal agenda when doing Mitzvot, will we merit national unity and thus collectively merit to ?blot out the rememberance of Amalek from under the heaven...?
The Midrash Says asks what the purpose was for placing huge rocks with the Torah inscribed in 70 languages on the east side of the Jordan River and in Gilgal, at the entrance to Eretz Yisrael. It offers an explanation; that they served as a warning to the Gentiles to accept upon themselves the Noachide Laws. (The Midrash Says, Parashat Ki Tavo, pages 294-295) Shem Mishmuel, however, explains the purpose differently. He indicates that the two sets of stones inscribed with Torah are ?a tangible reminder of the correct way with which to begin their service of Hashem.?
He speaks about the two distinct facets to the Jewish heart. The first, deepest and most fundamental part is the Divine soul which is ?completely ?undefilable? and impervious to foreign forces. The second, more external part is much more impressionable; it is able to receive influence (good influences or defiling, bad influences) from the outside.? It is the secondary aspect that one is enjoined to purify. This purification will enable it to accept and retain Torah knowledge and ideals.
He explains the difference between writing of a Torah on huge stones and the normal manner of writing a Torah on parchment, the skin of a Kosher animal in this way: ?The hide of the animal must first be treated before the writing can commence. If untreated skin is used, the whole exercise is futile, as the writing is invalid. Just as the skin needs refining before the writing will be valid, so too, one needs to remove any traces of personal defilement before beginning one's Torah development.? And so comes the problem, Shem Mishmuel's explanation of the ?Catch-22? ? ?It seems that to achieve purification, one needs Torah, but to learn Torah requires prior purification.? Shem Mishmuel then explains that the inner aspect of the heart is always capable of Torah study and Mitzvah observance: ?By stimulating this inner, Godly element, one will enable its influence to spread to the coarser, outer manifestation, which will have a cleansing and purifying effect. Once this stage is reached, even the secondary aspect of the heart will be ready to receive the Torah?. The animal world is subject to change. The passage of time affects the animal and the processes of nature ensure that after a certain period the animal's cells are replenished.? This symbolizes the outer, impressionable part of the heart, which can be improved and sanctified. The inner, holy element remains unchanging and unchangeable - thereby represented by stone, the least changing entity in creation: ?Thus, Hashem required them to erect stones and write the text of the Torah on them. This indicates that the first element of Divine Service comes from the innermost, unchanging part of the personality.? The Torah written on the stones was ?to try to arouse the holy attachment to Torah, which lay deep within them (klal Yisrael) and allow it to pervade and purify the rest of their personalities.? (Shem Mishmuel, pages 412-414)
So it seems that the Torah written in stone served a dual purpose, to warn the Gentiles, but also to purify ourselves. By purifying ourselves and our deeds, by the learning and the application of Torah, we then merit to ?blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heaven...?
Today, we don't have revealed to us the two sets of 12 stones on which Torah was written in 70 languages, but we do have the outer skin, which is still coarse and not properly treated. That is why we don't learn from our past mistakes. Oslo began with ?Gaza and Jericho First?, just as, this time, we have ?Gaza and Bethlehem First?, followed soon after by Abu Sneinah in Hevron. Yet again, we've failed to ?remember and not forget? what Amalek did to us and to ?blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heaven...?
----------------------------------
Moshe Burt, of Ramat Beit Shemesh, is the Founder and Director of the Sefer Torah Recycling Network.
[A personal appeal by Moshe Burt:
I want to suggest that since we don't have those two sets of 12 huge, Torah-inscribed stones, maybe we have another way to achieve the goal - purification of the outer part of the heart through stimulation of the inner, Divine soul. We have it in our power to provide every needy location in Eretz Yisrael with it's very own Sefer Torah.
Many of you in Israel and in the US and Canada have already graciously given funds toward the project of restoring a Sefer Torah for transfer to the town of Homesh. To those who have already joined in this project - Tizku L'Mitzvot. But many of you have yet to join in this venture. Could there be a more appropriate time for this Mitzvah than now, just before the Holidays?
As one lover of Eretz Yisrael to another, I'm sure that you share my wish that Homesh truly be a place of Torah. Imagine the level of Kedusha when all of the souls who have read from, touched and kissed the Sefer Torah in the past, back in Baltimore, unite with all of the souls yet to read from, touch and kiss the Sefer Torah here in Eretz Yisrael.
Moshe Burt
Rechov Nachal Dolev 34/12
Ramat Beit Shemesh 99000
Israel
tel: 02-999-6496
cel: 067-305-497
www.sefer-torah.com ]
Ki Teitsei teaches us Mitzvot ranging from choosing the correct marriage partner, who may or may not marry whom, divorce guidelines, laws concerning the Ben Sorer U'Moreh (the rebellious son), through returning lost property, sending a mother bird away before taking the young or the eggs, helping one's fellow Jew load and unload a burden, fencing in a roof area and not harnessing together different species of animals on the same yoke.
The theme then seems to be abruptly interrupted by the Maftir section on remembering and not forgetting what Amalek did to us and to ?blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heaven...?
Ki Tavo begins with the Halachot of Bekurim - the first fruits - which were brought to the Kohen as both thanksgiving and remembrance of Pharaoh's cruelty and Hashem's deliverance of B'nai Yisrael from Egypt to a land flowing with milk and honey. This section teaches us the importance of doing Mitzvot quickly, striking while the irons are hot, eagerly and b'simcha - with happiness.
Our parsha then returns to where Ki Teitsei left off with the enunciation of the laws concerning Ma'aser (tithing) and it's declaration regarding the required tithes. It continues with Hashem's command regarding the Mitzvot of writing the Torah on 12 huge stones, in all 70 languages, to be placed on the east side of the Jordan River, in what was Mo'av, and bringing another 12 huge stones to Mt. Eival, where they are to be built as an altar upon which B'nai Yisrael will offer sacrifices. This altar would later be disassembled and the second set of stones were subsequently used for a second inscription of Torah in the 70 languages. The parsha speaks about the assembly to take place on Mts. Gerizim and Eival, and in the valley in between, where the blessings and curses are to be pronounced, upon B?nai Yisrael's entrance into Eretz Yisrael.
What I want to discuss here is the possible relationship between the remembrance of Amalek's evil attack upon us, the Mitzvot bein adam l'chaveiro (between a man and his fellow) listed in both parshiyot and the writing of Torah in 70 languages.
Shem Mishmuel writes, on parshat Shoftim that when Klal Yisrael is fighting Holy Wars, ?they must set aside their private concerns for their own well-being and survival in the war... They must feel that the battle is not for themselves, but for Hashem and his glory...This level of control is no easy matter; it involves nullifying one's private concerns before the will of Hashem." (Shem Mishmuel, page 404)
It seems also that only when we are selfless and subvert our own personal agenda when doing Mitzvot, will we merit national unity and thus collectively merit to ?blot out the rememberance of Amalek from under the heaven...?
The Midrash Says asks what the purpose was for placing huge rocks with the Torah inscribed in 70 languages on the east side of the Jordan River and in Gilgal, at the entrance to Eretz Yisrael. It offers an explanation; that they served as a warning to the Gentiles to accept upon themselves the Noachide Laws. (The Midrash Says, Parashat Ki Tavo, pages 294-295) Shem Mishmuel, however, explains the purpose differently. He indicates that the two sets of stones inscribed with Torah are ?a tangible reminder of the correct way with which to begin their service of Hashem.?
He speaks about the two distinct facets to the Jewish heart. The first, deepest and most fundamental part is the Divine soul which is ?completely ?undefilable? and impervious to foreign forces. The second, more external part is much more impressionable; it is able to receive influence (good influences or defiling, bad influences) from the outside.? It is the secondary aspect that one is enjoined to purify. This purification will enable it to accept and retain Torah knowledge and ideals.
He explains the difference between writing of a Torah on huge stones and the normal manner of writing a Torah on parchment, the skin of a Kosher animal in this way: ?The hide of the animal must first be treated before the writing can commence. If untreated skin is used, the whole exercise is futile, as the writing is invalid. Just as the skin needs refining before the writing will be valid, so too, one needs to remove any traces of personal defilement before beginning one's Torah development.? And so comes the problem, Shem Mishmuel's explanation of the ?Catch-22? ? ?It seems that to achieve purification, one needs Torah, but to learn Torah requires prior purification.? Shem Mishmuel then explains that the inner aspect of the heart is always capable of Torah study and Mitzvah observance: ?By stimulating this inner, Godly element, one will enable its influence to spread to the coarser, outer manifestation, which will have a cleansing and purifying effect. Once this stage is reached, even the secondary aspect of the heart will be ready to receive the Torah?. The animal world is subject to change. The passage of time affects the animal and the processes of nature ensure that after a certain period the animal's cells are replenished.? This symbolizes the outer, impressionable part of the heart, which can be improved and sanctified. The inner, holy element remains unchanging and unchangeable - thereby represented by stone, the least changing entity in creation: ?Thus, Hashem required them to erect stones and write the text of the Torah on them. This indicates that the first element of Divine Service comes from the innermost, unchanging part of the personality.? The Torah written on the stones was ?to try to arouse the holy attachment to Torah, which lay deep within them (klal Yisrael) and allow it to pervade and purify the rest of their personalities.? (Shem Mishmuel, pages 412-414)
So it seems that the Torah written in stone served a dual purpose, to warn the Gentiles, but also to purify ourselves. By purifying ourselves and our deeds, by the learning and the application of Torah, we then merit to ?blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heaven...?
Today, we don't have revealed to us the two sets of 12 stones on which Torah was written in 70 languages, but we do have the outer skin, which is still coarse and not properly treated. That is why we don't learn from our past mistakes. Oslo began with ?Gaza and Jericho First?, just as, this time, we have ?Gaza and Bethlehem First?, followed soon after by Abu Sneinah in Hevron. Yet again, we've failed to ?remember and not forget? what Amalek did to us and to ?blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heaven...?
----------------------------------
Moshe Burt, of Ramat Beit Shemesh, is the Founder and Director of the Sefer Torah Recycling Network.
[A personal appeal by Moshe Burt:
I want to suggest that since we don't have those two sets of 12 huge, Torah-inscribed stones, maybe we have another way to achieve the goal - purification of the outer part of the heart through stimulation of the inner, Divine soul. We have it in our power to provide every needy location in Eretz Yisrael with it's very own Sefer Torah.
Many of you in Israel and in the US and Canada have already graciously given funds toward the project of restoring a Sefer Torah for transfer to the town of Homesh. To those who have already joined in this project - Tizku L'Mitzvot. But many of you have yet to join in this venture. Could there be a more appropriate time for this Mitzvah than now, just before the Holidays?
As one lover of Eretz Yisrael to another, I'm sure that you share my wish that Homesh truly be a place of Torah. Imagine the level of Kedusha when all of the souls who have read from, touched and kissed the Sefer Torah in the past, back in Baltimore, unite with all of the souls yet to read from, touch and kiss the Sefer Torah here in Eretz Yisrael.
Moshe Burt
Rechov Nachal Dolev 34/12
Ramat Beit Shemesh 99000
Israel
tel: 02-999-6496
cel: 067-305-497
www.sefer-torah.com ]