Setting Realistic Goals
Parshas
Ki Savo
Posted on August 25, 2010 (5770) By
Rabbi Berel Wein | Series: Rabbi Wein
| Level: Beginner
This week’s parsha, as
do the next few parshiyot of the Torah as well, combines in its text exalted
hopes and blessed situations as well as dire predictions and warnings of
wretched events that will somehow all occur to the Jewish people. There are
wonderful blessings and predictions of happiness and stability and unlimited
success in the parsha. But there are also almost unspeakably dire predictions
of how close the Jewish people will come to annihilation and disappearance in
the future.
It is as though, so to
speak, on the surface of the text, the Torah cannot make up its mind regarding
the Jewish future and destiny. And it must also be noted that the Torah
makes little provision in its statements for an “ordinary” existence. It always
seems to be an “all or nothing” situation for the Jewish people – great moments
of triumph and/or desperate times of persecution, discrimination and potential
destruction.
Part of the main
unfulfilled hope of secular Zionism was to make the Jewish people “normal” – to
avoid the extreme swings of Jewish life and history. But it is obvious that the
State of Israel, the crowning achievement of Zionism, has not succeeded in
making us “normal.”
We are not Paraguay or
Australia. In the short space of sixty-two years of Israel’s as an independent
sovereign nation – only a blink of an eye in terms of history – it and the
Jewish world has experienced soaring moments of success and miraculous
accomplishments as well as terrible times of tension, pressures, fear and loss.
Apparently this pattern is destined to continue and it has truly been the
hallmark of Jewish life over the past century of our existence.
As the Torah
indicates, the end of the pendulum we will be on is partially dependent upon us
– on our behavior and spiritual thoughts, plans and acts. Just as the events of
Jewish life always appear to us as being somewhat extreme, so our goals and
behavior are also judged in the extreme, so to speak.
We always have to aim high for ourselves – very high – when it
comes to matters of personal development, spiritual attainment and Torah
observance. The status quo is an unacceptable state of being in the matter of
spirit and tradition. A business that does not grow at least incrementally will
surely sink. The same is true for human beings in their spiritual growth.
This is essentially the message of Elul and the High Holy days
now upon us – the message of how to attain blessings. Even though spirituality
and faith exist in extremes, as I have pointed out above, all extremism must be
tempered by the recognition of one’s true self and capabilities. Reasonable and
reachable goals should always be our true agenda.
Religious life is not a sprint race. It is a long marathon
requiring pace, consistency, training and commitment. There will be a day of
greatness and tranquility for the Jewish people. So, we are told by our
prophets who have never misled us. But we have to do our part to make that
promise a reality.
Shabat shalom.
Rabbi Berel Wein
Rabbi Berel Wein
The Power of One Word
Parshas
Ki Savo
Time was running out
for Moses, and as the Jewish people massed on the east bank of the Jordan River
on the threshold of the Promised Land, he issued his final instructions.
Immediately after crossing the river under the leadership of Joshua, there was
to be a solemn gathering of all the people in the valley bordered by Mount
Gerizim and Mount Eival, which formed a natural amphitheater. Half the tribes
were to take positions on one slope and half on the other. The tribe of Levi
was to deploy in the lowlands in the center around the Holy Ark. The Levites
were to pronounce the twelve cardinal tenets which determine blessing and
accursedness, and the people massed on the mountainsides were to respond with a
resounding, “Amen!”
Forty years had passed
since the Jewish people had received the Torah at Mount Sinai, forty years
under the guidance of Moses, the greatest prophet who ever lived. Why then wasn’t
this special pledge of allegiance to the Creator and His Torah taken at some
time during Moses’s tenure as the leader of the Jewish people? Why leave it to
his successor? Furthermore, why was the pledge encapsulated in the single word
“Amen”? Why wasn’t each and every individual required to make an explicit
statement of allegiance of his own?
Let us reflect for a
moment on this mysterious word – Amen. What exactly does it mean and what does
it signify? The Talmud tells us that the one who answers Amen is greater than
the one who makes the blessing. Why is this so? What gives this one word its
extraordinary power?
The commentators
explain that the word Amen is related to the word emunah, faith. The person who
makes a blessing over a delicious fruit, for instance, is poised to enjoy this
wonderful pleasure, and naturally, he expresses his gratitude to the Creator of
all things. A person who makes a blessing under other circumstances, such as
the performance of a mitzvah, expresses an intellectual appreciation for the
capacity of a mitzvah to reinforce the relationship between a human being and
his Creator.
The one who answers
Amen, however, is not acknowledging the bounty of the Creator out of gratitude,
nor is he communicating his appreciation on an intellectual level. Rather, he
is grasping the occasions that warrant blessing to express himself to Hashem in
terms of a pure faith unrestricted by the limits of his gratitude or the
boundaries of his intellect. His connection with the Almighty transcends the
human condition entirely and derives directly from the absolute spirituality of
the divine spark in the human soul. It is a total sublimation of the self in
the Infinite. This connection as expressed by the single word Amen, explains
the Talmud, is far greater than the blessing itself.
With this in mind, we can gain new insight into the purpose
and tone of the solemn gathering on Mount Eival and Mount Gerizim. During their
years in the desert, the Jewish people had existed in a celestial oasis, fed by
manna from heaven and guarded by pillars of cloud and fire. Their faith,
instead of being much tested, was continuously reinforced by the miracles which
characterized their everyday lives. But now the situation was about to change
drastically. Once they crossed into the Promised Land, they would have to
engage the physical world in the conventional manner. They would till the soil,
ply the seas and frequent the marketplaces. No longer would they walk on a
cushion of miracles.
In this new environment, they would need a new and powerful
infusion of faith and allegiance. And the most effective, powerful, soul
charging expression of faith would be the thunderous declaration of “Amen!”
A king wanted to test the loyalty of two of his ministers.
“What will you do for me?” he asked the first minister.
“For you, your majesty,” said the first minister, “I would
move heaven and earth. I would battle your enemies and bring you vast riches. I
would build you palaces in every city and I would provide food and
entertainment from morning until night.”
“And you?” said the king to the second minister. “What would
you do for me?”
“Absolutely anything you wish,” he replied.
The king beamed. “You, my good minister, are a truly loyal
servant.”
In our own lives, we
also find ourselves between a spiritual oasis and the teeming world of affairs.
On the Sabbath, we enjoy the wonderful tranquility of being totally removed
from the cares and concerns of mundane living, the soul-satisfying rewards of
Torah study, meditation, introspection and uninterruptable family time. But
when these sylvan hours pass, we once again face the challenges of the
workplace and the world, and we must once again fortify ourselves with a
reaffirmation of our faith. The formula is not complex. It is simple, short and
powerful. One word. Amen.
Text Copyright © 2006
by Rabbi Naftali Reich and Torah.org.
Rabbi Reich is on the faculty of the Ohr Somayach
Tanebaum Education Center
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