TORAT HAYIM -- Living Torah Torah Study for Reform
Jews UAHC Department of Adult Jewish Growth
Shabbat September 16, 2000 / 16 Elul 5760 -
vol. 4, no. 50 Ki Tavo, Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8
The Torah: A Modern Commentary, pp. 1,508-1,537 Haftarah,
Isaiah 60:1-22
Ain't No Room Marc J. Belgrad
In this week's parashah, Ki Tavo, we read: "You shall go to the
priest and say to him, 'I acknowledge this day before Adonai your God
that I have entered the land that God swore to our fathers to give us.
Adonai brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing
with milk and honey. Wherefore I now bring the first fruits of the soil that
You, O God, have given me.'" (Deuteronomy 26:3; 9-10)
The Baal Shem Tov (known as the Besht) happened upon a shtiebl just
before Rosh Hashanah. When they saw him approach, the people of the
shtiebl invited him to enter. He demurred, saying that there was no room.
It was crowded, to be sure, but the people stepped aside so that the Besht could
enter. Still, he refused: The reason was that their prayers, focused only on
their own needs and desires, had left no room for him-or for God. The Besht
continued on his way, choosing to daven alone.
Each soul is a shtiebl, small and crowded with the needs of the self.
Its ceiling is supported by pillars of the id; its aron is filled with
the sacred ego; its floor is littered with thwarted desire. And, as (I believe)
Larry Kushner once said, "Ain't no room for God" in a soul that is filled with
itself.
When the Israelites finally entered the Promised Land, they were commanded to
make room for God and for others through the rituals prescribed in
ParashatKi Tavo. These rituals give us three tools for clearing
enough space for God: understanding the meaning of dependence, gratitude, and
humility.
Martin Buber teaches that the Israelites will understand God's role through
the recitation of the words "Adonai brought us to this place. . .
wherefore I now bring the first fruits. . . ." (Deuteronomy 26:9-10) They
acknowledge the following: I did not arrive here on my own; there is an Other
who guides me. It is the understanding of reciprocity that opens the door to the
shtiebl.
Having understood our dependence, we express our gratitude for that which the
Other has given us. Akedat Yitzchak teaches that "the essence of
acknowledging Divine sovereignty lies in man's gratitude to the Creator as the
source of all good." (Studies in Devarim, Nehama Leibowitz, World Zionist
Organization, 1980, p. 259) Gratitude invites an Other to enter.
The door is open, and the invitation is extended. But there is no room if we
have not learned humility-not as self-deprecation but as a realistic assessment
of what we are and where our place is in the cosmos. Rambam teaches that the
recitation of this portion promotes humility "for he who brings the first fruits
takes the basket upon his shoulders and proclaims the kindness and goodness of
God." (Guide for the Perplexed, 3:39) When we understand that we do not
fill the universe and that sometimes we are fortunate beneficiaries, then we
create room in our shtiebl for God and for others.
This is why the parashah continues by mentioning the tithe
(Deuteronomy 26:12), which is given to protect the marginal and the vulnerable.
Once we have come to understand that the sole purpose of the universe is not to
serve us, we recognize our responsibility to God and to others. Through the
giving of the tithe, we bring God and others together into the shtiebl of
our soul and take an important step toward forming a spiritual
minyan.
Hence our souls are an overcrowded shtiebl of the self, the clearing
of which enables response and responsibility to occur, the opening of which
allows God and others to enter.
Dust or Angels? Humility or Pride? Betsy Dolgin Katz
And God has affirmed this day that you are, as God promised you,
Adonai's treasured people who shall observe all God's commandments; and
that God will set you, in fame and renown and glory, high above all the nations
that Adonai has made; and that you shall be, as God promised, a holy
people to Adonai your God." (Deuteronomy 26:18-19)
At this point in Parashat Ki Tavo, the Jewish people have been
instructed to acknowledge that God brought them to the Promised Land. They are
to express their gratitude by bringing the first fruits to the altar and to show
appreciation for their fortune by setting aside a tenth part of the harvest for
the needy. By fulfilling these instructions, they recognize their dependence
upon God. There is, however, another side to these obligations: It entails a
further reward-the result, perhaps, of our making room for God amidst all our
riches.
After the offering and the tithing, we are told that we are a treasured
nation, destined for fame and glory, a holy people to Adonai. The God who
has kept one promise and brought us to the Land of Israel will also keep this
promise. Our expression of gratitude requires humility and recognition of
dependence, but it can also be empowering and uplifting. In participating in the
described rituals, B'nei Yisrael are confirming a relationship with God
and showing that they are worthy of God's gifts, of the beauty and abundance of
creation.
According to the Talmud (Menachot 43b), we are to recite one hundred
blessings each day. One hundred times we are to pause to note, appreciate, and
wonder at the working of our bodies, the food we eat, the world around us, and
the mitzvot we perform. In doing this, we are both expressing our
gratitude and showing that we are aware that we are blessed. God is present in
our lives not only to turn to, not only to express gratitude to, but also to ask
help from, to give us comfort, to expand our joy, and to relieve the burden of
our sorrows. Saying thank you is a confirmation that our relationship with God
exists.
Think about what might be the motive for parents' continually reminding their
children to say thank you. They may want to teach a child to be polite and to
show appreciation for what he or she has been given. Beyond that, however, they
may desire their child to be aware of his or her relationship with the giver.
The beauty of the gesture is not necessarily in the gift itself but in the
relationship between the person conferring the gift and the child. In the saying
of thank you, in the address to the one who provides the gift, a connection is
established. Without the thank you, the child is only aware of the gift, not the
potential bond with the giver.
Acknowledging our relationship with God can be a very humbling experience. It
can also be empowering, in the same way that looking at a starry sky can make us
feel small and insignificant and at the same time can fill us with awe at being
part of this magnificent creation. We exist on both of these levels. Just as we
must create room in our souls for God, we must also leave room for the
realization of our godlike qualities. That part of us that is the image of God
prompts us to care for the widow, the orphan, and the stranger.
To be Jewish-or perhaps to be truly human-is to believe in the truth of the
two contradictory statements cited in the following chasidic parable: According
to this tale, in our right pocket we are to keep a note that says, "You are made
of dust and to dust you will return." In our left pocket we are to keep a note
that reads, "You were created just a little lower than the angels." Every time
we say thank you to God, we place ourselves between these two notes-between
humility and pride, between recognition of our dependency and awareness of our
nobility. Both are inherent in Parashat Ki Tavo, as we stand poised to
enter the land that God has given us as a heritage.
Questions for Discussion
Read Deuteronomy 26 and imagine yourself to be the direct recipient of its
message. How would you react? Would you feel humble or proud?
How do the recitation of history, the offering of the first fruits, and the
setting aside of the tithe (Deuteronomy 26:5-13) relate to the concepts of
humility and pride?
Why do/did you remind your children to say thank you? Why do you say thank
you to other people and to God?
Dr. Betsy Dolgin Katz is the former director of the
Department of Reform Education for the UAHC Great Lakes Region. She presently
serves on the Committee for Adult Jewish Growth and the Editorial Board of the UAHC Press and directs the Florence Melton
Adult Mini-Schools in North America.
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