{"id":62814,"date":"2019-09-12T11:18:08","date_gmt":"2019-09-12T08:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=62814"},"modified":"2022-10-12T16:59:02","modified_gmt":"2022-10-12T13:59:02","slug":"ki-tavo-what-is-a-curse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/ki-tavo-what-is-a-curse\/","title":{"rendered":"Ki Tavo: What Is A Curse?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cYour life\u00a0will hang in the balance and you will be frightened night and day and you will not have assurance of survival (literally, believe in your life)\u201d (Deut 28:66).\u00a0This is one of the curses in the tochacha<\/em>, the section of this portion (Deut 28: 15-68) dedicated to letting the Israelites know what will befall them if they do not obey God when they enter the land.<\/p>\n

An examination of this verse allows us to ask about it what is bad.\u00a0The first part, \u201cyour life will hang in the balance\u201d is what this penitential season is about, that as humans we have humility to know our good deeds do not always outweigh our bad, and that since most of us are not completely righteous or completely wicked we must do what we can to attempt to tip the scales. Rabbi Meir ben Baruch of Rotenberg (1225-1293) writes on this that \u201cthis is to say your life is dependent on repentance like scales that are hanging\u201d a metaphor used often to think about the Days of\u00a0Awe.<\/p>\n

So if all lives hang in the balance, why is this a curse?<\/p>\n

It is the last part of the verse, \u201cyou will not believe in your life\u201d that makes the first part of it more difficult.\u00a0 Rashi, basing himself on Menahot 103b says this is someone who \u201crelies on the baker\u201d who is not even able to muster resources to buy grain from year to year.\u00a0I see it though as a lack of faith in how one is living and what one is doing; many psychological studies<\/a> \u00a0show that individuals who have purpose in life tend to age in more healthy ways and live longer<\/a>.\u00a0Not having a purpose, not believing in what one is doing or its importance, then, is surely a curse.<\/p>\n

One of the positive mitzvot in this parsha, according to Sefer Hahinukh is to \u201cwalk in His ways” (28:9). We do this because God has elevated traits, worth noting, such as \u201cstraightness and goodness\u201d and \u201ckindness and mercy\u201d according to the discussion of this quality there.\u00a0The Sefer Hahinuch adds, “this is God\u2019s desire for His creatures so that they merit God\u2019s goodness – as He desires kindness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ki Tavo<\/em> makes clear from beginning to end that acting with the purpose of imitating God and God\u2019s desire for kindness is the best way to live a blessed life and not a cursed one.\u00a0At this time of year, as we think about judgement and balance, we all sorely need to be sure our purposes allow us to believe in our lives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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