Parashat Ki Tavo (When you come…)
16th Elul, 5786 \ August 29th, 2026
By Arnold Fishman
This Week’s Readings:
Torah: Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8
Haftarah: Isaiah 60:1-22
Brit Chadashah: Ephesians 5:1-17
“Are we there yet? How many of us remember when we were young repeating this line on a long drive? And maybe the response was “you asked that question 5 minutes ago!!” And your parent wisely says “Now let’s think about what we are going to do when we get there…” During the Israelites journey from Egypt, G-d repeatedly spoke to them “When you come into the land…” as a reminder that the land of promise, a land flowing with milk and honey was directly ahead. This phrase “When you come into the land” is repeated 10 times in Deuteronomy. When G-d wants to get our attention, He is okay with repeating Himself. So next time, your kids complain that you repeat yourself, remind them that G-d approves of this.
Now in the Torah passage, we are getting to the
end of the 40 years of discipline in the desert. “When you come” into the land,
G-d calls His people to perform a yearly tithe of the produce of the land. This
recitation of the phrase “I was a ‘wandering Aramean’” seems to refer to Jacob
living in the land of his distant ancestors where G-d multiplies him and his
seed with prosperity and a future hope. In this recitation in front of the
priest, we see the act of tithing is not to be a legalistic transaction of
dropping stuff off, but rather, an act of worship, an action that contains a
kind of an “amen” to the historical facts of G-d’s provision for His people. This
confession in front of the priest, indicates a faithfulness to His word, and
obeying His commandments. This was a liturgical moment of faith in both action
and word. It reminds us of His command to love the L-RD our G-d with all our
heart, mind and soul and with all of our might.
Let’s move further into the Torah passage. When you come into the land, all
Israel is to assemble between two substantial hills located by Shechem. Here
they were called into a time of hearing of the laws of G-d and giving another affirmation
of the covenant before Adonai. That they were indeed ‘His treasured people’. In
some respects, this could be seen as a second Sinai experience with G-d. Now here
in the land, he commands them to write down the Torah onto the large flat
plastered stones and place them on Mount Ebal. [Let us remember G-d likes the
use of stones to declare his covenantal reminders.] While it does not explicitly
say this, the implication is that the priests would read the entire Torah in
the people’s hearing as they were in the valley below the priests. These stones
of testimony are a sign both to them and to future generations. And both
mountains figuratively see the words of G-d and which act of testimony to
Israel. It is of interest that the stones were to be located on Mt Ebal. But
why on that mountain? More about this later.
Selected individuals from all 12 tribes were to recite the curses and
blessings of the covenant. In doing so, it required a reminder of illicit behavior
that was considered out of bounds in three distinct areas: in worship; in the
family; and in neighborly relationships—the primary focus being the purity of
sexual relations. Some commentaries have noted that many of the 12 highlighted
sins were secretive in nature. These were overt sins and for many were assigned
capital punishment. This calls to mind the sin of David and Bathsheba and how
this was done in secret, but the prophet Nathan said the consequences to
David’s family will be revealed in plain sight under the sun so that all Israel
will see. Now this recitation of blessings and curses occurs on not just any
two mountains, but on Ebal and Gerizim. Both mountains act as large gates into
the central territory of the whole land and are designated by the L-RD to
represent goodness, blessings, and evil and curses. The choice of the tribes
that were to give the blessings and curses are specific. Judah representing
governance and Levi representing the priesthood and worship, and Benjamin
(Jacob’s favorite) is prominent on the blessing side. The curses are expressed
by the other six tribes—of which Reuben who disqualified himself as leader due
to sexual sin and Gad, both of these tribes insisted on staking their
inheritance on the other side of the Jordan, much to Moses’s displeasure. Gerizim
was designated the blessing and of life, while Ebal represented bareness. Now
let’s look at a few visuals of the scene (screen). Going further, in Deuteronomy
28 we see the blessings and curses parallel each other in reference to
protection, favor, abundance of every kind, the working of our hands, fertility
of the land, and livestock and foreigners. Moses then provides what amounts to
a prophetic vision declaring what will happen to Israel should the national
sins and their curses cross the line and turn into a torrent of G-d’s extreme
discipline and judgment. In my thinking, this represents the idea of death by a
thousand cuts. Much can be said about the prophetic nature of this section
concerning the Babylonian siege and invasion, the recorded desolations of
Jeremiah and Lamentation, the exile and even the destruction of the 2nd
Temple and dispersion to the nations—all in most graphic and horrific details.
It is of interest that the curses mentioned are 4 times as numerous as the
blessings—perhaps this is a not-so-subtle reminder from the L-RD to the people
of their 10 major failings from the time they left Egypt until now being at the
Jordan. This litany of curses parallels the Song of Moses which we will see next
week. I encourage humbly taking time to read through this narrative and take
stock before the L-RD concerning our own nation and our ongoing personal relationship
to Him.
In the Haftarah portion in Isaiah, we see the
finale of history revealing G-d’s judgments and discipline of Israel’s failings
are turned to eternal blessings with the millennium Kingdom brought into
existence. Sorrows will be over. This future time of promise where Israel is to
be blessed by G-d with overflowing blessings, the nations of the world will
repent, turn to Zion and acknowledge that the House of Israel is and was G-d’s chosen.
It’s a good ending and a good contrast to the previous curses!
In the Brit Chadashah we are commanded to choose life and walk as children of G-d in holiness unto the L-RD. Paul lists a number of specific sins which would take believers away from the Kingdom of G-d. Not only are we called to be righteous in our behavior, but we are also called to expose any works of darkness seen in the believing community as appropriate by the Spirit of G-d. We are called to watch our lives carefully—to understand the will of G-d for our lives and how to live them out. We are called to understand how to make the most of the days we have.
Our takeaways. First, in our giving to the L-RD here in this synagogue or
other godly ministries, take a moment to worship the L-RD with thanksgiving and
acknowledge that He has provided for our needs in abundance. This simple act of
prayer and praise can take on special covenantal meaning and affirmation. Second, Deuteronomy 28 shows that G-d’s
people should stay aware of our nation, the spirit of the age we live in, and
our behavior living in the world. This being especially true during Rosh Hashanah
and Yom Kippur. We are to have discernment for prayer and intercession—for both
ourselves and for our nation so that we can boldly stand in the gap before G-d.
Drash Challenge: Choose blessings and life. Choose to obey G-d and anticipate him to redeem curses into blessings on a daily basis. Shabbat Shalom