Readings for Saturday, September 27, 2025 Shabbat Shuva

 

Readings for Saturday, September 27, 2025

Shabbat Shuvah (Sabbath of the Return)

Vayeilech (And he went)

31:1-30 Devarim (Deuteronomy)

Vayeilech is the ninth sedrah in the book of Devarim (Deuteronomy).  The sedrah takes its name from the first Hebrew word in the first sentence of the portion.  Due to a quirk of linguistics, the first Hebrew word is the second English word and vice versa.  “Moshe went (Vayeilech) and spoke these words to all of Israel.”  Vayeilech contains only thirty verses and is the shortest of them all.  When it is read alone, Vayeilech is the sedrah for Shabbat Shuvah, the Sabbath of Return also called Shabbat T’Shuvah, the Sabbath of Repentance.  This is the Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.  Moshe has finished the third and final discourse.  According to some commentators, this is the last day of Moshe’s life.  To better appreciate the sedrah, close your eyes.  Envision Moshe walking through the camp, stopping and visiting with each tribal group much as somebody would do if he or she were leaving a large gathering to go on a long trip.  While we have not finished with the Torah, we have finished with the commandments.  Vayeilech contains the last two commandments bringing us to a full complement of 613 Mitzvoth.

Themes

Commandments

612.      The obligation of the entire Israelite community to assemble every seven years to hear the Torah read publicly (31:10-13).

613.      The commandment that each Jew should write a Torah scroll during his lifetime (31:19).

Biblical Literacy by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin as edited by this author.

Transition

In verses 1-6 and verse 14, Moshe’s departure is stated in obvious language.  He is still upset about not going into the Promised Land, but this time there is no arguing or blaming as we saw earlier.  This is consistent with the behavior of a dying man who has made peace with himself.  Moshe set standards on how to live and how to die as well.  He is Moshe Rahbeynu, Moses the Teacher, in the truest sense of that term.  Beginning with verse 7, we see Moshe advancing Joshua as his successor.  This transition is consistent with what seems to be a Jewish passion for bringing order to what seems like a chaotic universe.  The concept of lineage is extremely important in establishing intellectual and religious credibility as can be seen, for example, in the opening verses of the Pirke Avot, the Sayings of the Fathers. 

Torah

The sedrah contains only two commandments and they both concern the Torah.  Moreover, these are the last two commandments in the Torah.  Placement would seem to be an indication of importance.  The first commandment has to do with the public reading of the Torah, the second with the need to write one.  Interestingly, we appear to have expanded the public reading aspect.  This probably began with Ezra the Scribe after the return from the Babylonian Exile.  According to some, it was really Ezra who began the real work of democratizing the Torah and making it available to all of the Israelites.  At any rate, we have gone from reading the Torah once every seven years to reading it three times a week as well as on festivals and holidays.  At the same time we appear to have lessened the writing requirement.  The requirement for fulfilling the command about writing a Torah has gone from writing a whole scroll, to writing one letter, to purchasing books of Jewish learning.  Of course, many congregations have taken advantage of this and have used the purchase of a letter, or a line or a sedrah as fundraising activity for the repair or purchase of a Torah.  We should also note that women as well as men were to hear the reading of the Torah.  Obviously from Moshe’s point of view, our modern practice of educating women is the right thing to do.  One can see from the text that the Torah is at the core of Judaism since it was to be placed just outside of the Holy Ark.  There are some interesting commentaries on the significance of placing the scroll of the law just outside of the Ark, which contained the Tablets.  If you accept the view that the words on the Tablets are the unique utterances of God, then the physical positioning of the Torah outside of the Ark may carry the image of the Torah as the bridge or pathway for man to reach up to the Divine and the Divine to reach down to man.

Predestination

Starting with verse 16, God tells Moshe that the Israelites are going to sin and suffer accordingly.  In verses 27 and 29, Moshe repeats this.  How do we square this with the message of choice or free will that we read in the previous sedrah?  Moshe is basing his prophecy on past performance.  But we do not have to be prisoners of our past.  There is great deal written about this apparent contradiction in concepts.  Rabbi Akiva says, “Everything is foreseen, yet freedom of choice is given; and the world is judged by grace, yet all is according to the amount of work.”  (Pirke Avot, III: 19)  Rabbi Hertz says that this verse “is among the most important in the Avot and lays down a fundamental doctrine of practical religion…God’s foreknowledge and the freedom of man’s will are reconcilable; so are God’s mercy and justice in His dealings with man.”

Where is God?

Verses 17 and 18 have been challenging for commentators over the centuries.  The concept of God hiding his face has taken on an even more troubling manifestation since the Holocaust.  If you want to pursue this topic, I suggest you might try The Trial of God by Elie Wiesel.  Since this is set in the seventeenth century Ukraine, it is obvious that this issue transcends the Holocaust.  I heard the following story.  Supposedly it actually happened.  God was put on trial in one of the camps during the Shoah.  This was done by the observant, not the scoffers.  They had difficulty finding a defense attorney for God.  The trial lasted three nights.  At the end of the trial, the court found God guilty.  After announcing the verdict, the chief rabbi stood and announced, “Gentlemen, it is time to say the evening prayer.”  In other words, you may be angry with God.  But you cannot stop believing in Him.  Issues like this and Predestination versus Free Will may be a form of Intellectual Chukat.  In other words, they are issues that will not really be resolved until the coming of the Moshiach.

Torah as the Foundation for a Modern Jewish State

Micah Odenheimer finds the command that the Jewish people gather every seven years to hear the reading of the Torah should serve as the blueprint for a modern Jewish state.  In a Jewish state i.e., Israel, the ethical teachings of the Torah should infuse all aspects of statecraft.  In other words, in a modern Jewish state religious leaders would work to ensure the existence of institutions designed to guard against income disparity that would guarantee the well-being of the weak as well as the strong and would have leaders who behave in the best possible manner.  Odenheimer decries the fact that the so-called Religious leaders of Israel have traded this role of meaningful ethical arbiter for a few political crumbs such as a Religious Ministry that gives them control, in the narrowest sense of the term, of things like marriage ceremonies, rules for divorce, and who can pray where at the Western Wall.

Shabbat Shuvah - Sabbath of the Return

The Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is called Shabbat Shuvah or the Sabbath of the Return.  Shabbat Shuvah is part of the Ten Days of Penitence.  In Judaism, we repent by turning or returning to God and his Torah.  On Rosh Hashanah we ask to be written into the Book of Life.  On Yom Kippur, we ask to be sealed in the Book of Life.  According to some, Shabbat Shuvah gives us an opportunity to show that we are in fact turning or returning.  Therefore, we are worthy of God’s mercy, which will take us from being written to being sealed.  The special haftarah reading described below further emphasizes this motif.

Haftarah

Hosea 14:2-10

Joel 2:11-27

Micah 7:18-20

The Men/The Book:  This is the haftarah for Shabbat Shuvah or the Sabbath of the Return.  This is the haftarah that is usually read when Vayeilech is not combined with another sedrah.  Customarily, the haftarah is supposed to come from the book of one prophet.  However, the writings of these three prophets are included in one book called Trei Asar or The Twelve.  These twelve prophets are also known as the Minor Prophets because their literary output is smaller than that of the Three Major Prophets.  According to the Talmud, the writings of the twelve prophets were gathered in one volume out of fear that otherwise they would be lost.  Hosea was the first and most prolific of the Minor Prophets.  He preached in the Northern Kingdom during the end of the eighth century B.C.E. and the first half of the seventh century B.C.E.  He died some time before the exile of the Ten Lost Tribes in 721 B.C.E.  He is best known for his marriage to the harlot, Gomer.  This marriage provided the literary motif for much of Hosea’s writings.  The Israelites were the unfaithful wife, Gomer, while God was the long-suffering “husband” who would redeem His errant spouse.  Each day, when we don the Tefillin, we are reminded of Hosea’s preachings.  When we complete the final wrapping around the middle digit and across the hand, we say, “I will betroth you to Me forever, and I will betroth you to Me with righteousness, justice, kindness and mercy.  I will betroth you to Me with fidelity, and you shall know the Lord.”  (2:21-22)

Joel is the second of the Minor Prophets.  His writings consist of a mere four chapters.  Since there is no biographical information available about him, we can only speculate as to when he lived and prophesied.  Some commentators contend that he lived in the Southern Kingdom since he mentions Judah and Jerusalem but not the Northern Kingdom.  The famine he mentions would indicate he was a contemporary of Amos.  His mention of the miraculous deliverance of Jerusalem remind the reader of the words of Amos and Isaiah which would mean that he lived during the seventh century B.C.E. prior to the destruction of either of the two kingdoms.  There are commentators who believe that these writings are a product of more than one author and were produced during the early days of the Second Temple.  Those of you who are Debbie Friedman fans will recognize Joel’s most famous lines, “Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions.”  (3:1).  In other words, “youth shall have the knowledge of age, and age the enthusiasm of youth.”  As Rabbi Hertz points out, this “rejuvenation of the soul and renewal of the spirit” is the main purpose the Ten Days of Penitence.

Micah was born in Judah, but addressed his prophecies to both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms.  Micah was a contemporary of Amos, Hosea and Isaiah.  The prophecies of Micah must have been well known in ancient times, since Jeremiah refers to them in his preachings.  Micah may have been the first prophet to warn the Jews that possession of Jerusalem would not save them from divine punishment.  In other words, he was the first to prophesy the possible destruction of the City of David and the Temple itself.  Unlike some of the other prophets, those in power heeded Micah’s words of warning.  King Hezekiah was moved by Micah’s preaching to pray to God for a reprieve from impending destruction.  Micah is best known for the line “It hath been told thee o man what is good and what the Lord doth require of thee:  Only to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.”  But he also authored words that are more often credited to his famous contemporary, Isaiah.  “For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”  (4:2)  “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation.  Neither shall they learn war any more.”  (4:3)

The Message:  Hosea begins by calling upon the Israelites to return to the ways of God.  God will accept the penitent Israelites nurturing them in all their needs.  Joel calls for a day of fasting from which none are exempt.  As Plaut puts it, in Joel’s vision, the people will return to God, which will cause God to return to Israel.  Micah closes with an image of an ever-forgiving God who will keep faith with His people as he promised the Patriarchs He would.

Theme-Link:  The connection is with the calendar and not with the weekly portion.  The haftarah is read on the Sabbath of the Return which falls during the Yamim Nora’im or the Days of Awe.  These are the Ten Days of Penitence that start with Rosh Hashanah and end with Yom Kippur.  So it is fitting that each prophet should invoke a High Holiday related motif in his preaching.  The haftarah begins with the word Shuvah or Return as in “Return (Shuvah) O Israel, to the Lord your God” (Hosea 4:2) which is a fitting beginning for a haftarah chanted on Shabbat Shuvah.  The portion from Joel begins with a High Holiday motif - “Blow the shofar in Zion, Sanctify a fast, call a Solemn Assembly.…”  (Joel 2:15)  The portion from Micah includes the following, “You will cast off (Tashlich) all their sins into the depths of the sea.”  (Micah 7:19)  This reference later gave rise to the ceremony of Tashlich, or Casting-off Sins that began some time during the Middle Ages.

 

 

Readings for Saturday, September 20, 2025

Readings for Saturday, September 20, 2025

Nitzavim (Are Standing)

29:9 - 30:20 Devarim (Deuteronomy)

Nitzavim is the eighth sedrah in the Book of Deuteronomy or Devarim.  It is one of the shortest of the weekly readings with only forty verses.  The sedrah takes its name from the second Hebrew word in the first sentence.  “You are standing (Nitzavim) today, all of you before the Lord, your God.…”  This sedrah does not contain any of the 613 commandments.  According to some commentators this is the end of Three Discourses that have comprised the book of Devarim up to this point.  Other commentators contend that Moshe is speaking on the last day of his life.  If you read these words as the declaration of an old man who is weary from responsibility but determined to instill hope in the people who are leaving him and whom he is leaving, they take on a special majesty and poignancy.  The language is so majestic that commentary, at one level, almost seems self-defeating.  I would suggest that you read the text aloud at least once.  Ignore the footnotes and listen for the sound.  There are no new themes this week.  The whole portion is “Recurring Themes.”

Themes

Covenant

Moshe opens with a reminder that we are a covenanted people.  The detailed mentioning of so many different groups in the audience indicates that the covenant and the Torah are for all Jews.  The reference to those “not here” means that this covenant is for all times and for all Jews.  We may turn away from our birthright, but it is always there waiting for us.

Idolatry

Moshe follows with yet another admonition about our old nemesis, worshipping idols.  Moshe shows insight into human nature as he warns against those who are arrogant enough to think they can break the laws.  This is another one of those themes that resonates throughout Jewish teachings.  In Pirke Avot, Yochanan, son of Berokah, says, “Whosoever profanes the name of Heaven in secret will suffer the penalty in public….”  (4:4)

Justice System/Communal Responsibility

The reference is to 29:28.  “The secret (things) belong to the Lord our God; but things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, to do all the word of this law.”  Some commentators might contend that this reinforces a basic concept of the Jewish judicial system.  God is the ultimate judge.  You might beat the jury, but you cannot hide from the ultimate judgment.  At the same time, the second half of the verse would indicate that we are responsible not only for our own conduct but for helping others with theirs.

Elul and The Days of Awe

How appropriate to read the first ten verses of Chapter 30 just before or just after Selichot Services.  After we have endured the blessings and the curses, when we are ready to “return,” God will find us no matter where exile has taken us and He will restore us.  Of course the concept of exile is spiritual as well as physical.  So as we utter the penitential prayers, the sedrah assures us that they are being heard.

Torah is for Everybody

The words of 30:11-14 say it all so beautifully:.  “…it is not hidden from you and it is not distant.”  Unlike other religions, Torah is open to all Jews.  There are leaders and teachers, but they do not own the text.  According to some, Torah study has a similarity to prayer.  It is another avenue for reaching out to God.

The Choice

“11. For this commandment which I command you this day, is not hidden from you, nor is it far off.

12. It is not in heaven, that you should say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us, that we may hear it, and do it?

13. Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it to us, that we may hear it, and do it?

14. But the word is very near to you, in your mouth, and in your heart, that you may do it.

15. See, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil;

16. In that I command you this day to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God shall bless you in the land which you are entering to possess.

17. But if your heart turns away, so that you will not hear, but shall be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;

18. I announce to you this day, that you shall surely perish, and that you shall not prolong your days upon the land, to which you are going over the Jordan, to enter and possess.

19. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live;

20. That you may love the Lord your God, and that you may obey his voice, and that you may cleave to him; for he is your life, and the length of your days; that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”  (31:11-20). 

In brilliantly clear language, Moshe lays out the choice:  Good and Evil, Life or Death.  But it is exactly that, our choice.  “‘Therefore choose life.’  Jewish ethics is rooted in the doctrine of human responsibility, that is, freedom of the will.  ‘All is in the hands of God, except the fear of God,’ is an undisputed maxim of the Rabbis.  And ‘to subject our will to the will of our father in Heaven’ is the great purpose of man’s life one earth.  According to the historian Josephus, the doctrine of Free-will was maintained by the Pharisees both against the Sadducees, who attributed everything to chance, and the Essenes, who ascribed all the actions of man to predestination and Divine Providence.  ‘Free-will is granted to every man.  If he desires to incline towards the good way, and be righteous he has the power to do so; and if he desires to incline towards the unrighteous way, and be a wicked man, he has also the power to do so.  Since this power of doing good or evil is in our own hands, and since all the wicked deeds which we have committed have been committed with our full consciousness, it befits us to turn in penitence and forsake our evil deeds; the power of doing so being still in our hands.  Now this matter is a very important principle; nay it is the pillar of the Law and of the commandments.’”  (Maimonides as rendered in the Hertz Pentateuch.)

There is much that man does not have control over in his physical universe.  But “though man cannot always even half control his destiny, God has given the reins of man’s conduct altogether into his hands.”  (Hertz Pentateuch).  A great deal has been written on the subject of Free-Will versus Predestination versus Life as a Random Crap-shoot.  One book that is worth the read (or re-read) on this subject is Victor Frankel’s Man’s Search For Meaning.  It is only 154 pages long, but it is a million miles wide and two million miles deep.  From the bowels of Auschwitz he wrote, “…it did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us.  We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life - daily and hourly.  Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and right conduct.  Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly set for each individual…Sometimes the situation in which a man finds himself may require him to shape his own fate by action.  At other times it is more advantageous for him to make use of an opportunity for contemplation and to realize assets in this way.  Sometimes man may be required simply to accept fate, to bear his cross.”  But even in those times a man has the “unique opportunity” to decide “the way in which he bears his burden.”

All Jews Are Gems

The sedrah opens with a recitation describing all who are present at the acceptance of God’s law including those with the lowest of professions, “From the hewers of your wood to the drawers of your water” (29:10).  This verse has spawned many commentaries and rabbinic tales including this one.

“A Chassid, who was a wealthy dealer in gems, was once sitting the presence of Reb Shalom Ber of Lubavitch.  In the course of their conversation the Rebbe spoke highly of certain unlettered folk.

‘Rebbe,’ asked the Chassid, ‘why do you make such a fuss of them?’

‘Why, they have many noble qualities,’ said the Rebbe.

‘Well, I can’t see them,’ said the Chassid.

The Rebbe was silent.  Later on, he asked the Chassid whether he had brought his package of diamonds with him.  The dealer said that he had, but he would prefer to show them to the Rebbe a little later, not in the sunlight, so that they could be seen to their best advantage.  Later, the diamond dealing Chassid opened the package in a nearby room, arranged the gems carefully on a table, and pointed out a particular stone to the Rebbe, saying:  ‘this one is something really special!’

‘I can’t see anything in it,’ said the Rebbe.

‘Ah, but you have to be a connoisseur to know how to look at diamonds!’ said the Chassid.

‘Every Jew too is something really special,’ said the Rebbe, ‘but you have to be a connoisseur to know how to look at him.’”

The Nameless Shabbat

As Barry Holtz and Behtamie Horowitz point out in their commentary on Nitzavim entitled “It Depends on each of Us”, there are several Sabbaths with special names.  The Sabbath before Pesach is called Shabbat Hagadol.  The Sabbath between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is called Shabbat Shuvah, the Sabbath of the Return.  But there is no special name for the Sabbath before that most holy of days, Rosh Hashanah.  Since the Torah portion Nitzavim is always read on the Sabbath before Rosh Hashanah the sedrah itself must contain a message that makes it a harbinger for the upcoming event.  The sedrah begins, “You are standing this day all of you before the Lord your God.…”  (29:9).  Just as the Israelites were standing before God to hear Moshe’s final words, so are all of us today standing before Him who is the Judge of us all.  Furthermore, we are all seeking to be inscribed in the Book of Life and Moshe urges us to follow the laws of God and Life, “…therefore (you) choose life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed.” (30:19).  When the Sedrah opens it uses the plural form of the word “You.”  Later when the Sedrah urges us to choose life, it uses the singular form of the word “you.”  Why the change?  Possibly to remind us that renewal for another year depends on the behavior of the whole house of Israel as well as the behavior of each individual.  Or as Benjamin Franklin said when urging the colonists to unite in the war against British tyranny, “Either we hang together, or we shall surely hang separately.”

Hewers of Woods, Drawers of Water - Unsung Heroes

“You are standing this day all of you before the Lord your God:  your heads…your elders…your officers…the hewer of thy wood and the drawer of thy water.”  As the story below reminds us, the covenant belongs to all of the Jewish people.  This means that in Judaism, there are no mundane people and that the most mundane act can be a mitzvah in the truest sense of the term.

When Rebbitzin Mirl, the saintly wife of the sage Reb Avraham Yehoshou Heschel of Apta heard that Reb Yaakov the wagon-driver had died she cried out in grief.  The sage’s students were surprised to hear her express such anguish over this simple man.  When she had calmed down she explained.  “It once happened that on a freezing winter’s day I was left without a single splinter of firewood in the house.  I went to Reb Yaakov who immediately harnessed his horse and drove off to the forest.  He came back with a wagon stacked high with firewood.  He stoked up the stove in the study hall and dozens of you young scholars were then able to sit there and study Torah in warmth and comfort.  On another occasion I ran out water - not a single drop left.  Again I went off to Reb Yaakov.  He brought me a huge barrel full of water, so that I was able to cook in honor of Shabbat.”  “Master of the Universe!” she pleaded in conclusion.  “May it be Your will that from every piece of wood that he brought, an angel be born - to speak up now on his behalf.  And may all those drops of water be transformed into so many merits - to turn out and greet him as arrives in the World Above.”  Apparently the Heavenly court heard and heeded her prayers for this simple man was immediately admitted into the Heavenly Host.  (Based on the teachings of Rabbi Shlomo Yosef Zevin, of blessed memory)

Haftarah

61:10-63:9 Isaiah

The Man/The Book:  This haftarah is a product of the writing of the Second Isaiah, who is also called the Isaiah of the Exile.  This unknown author produced the last 26 chapters of the Book of Isaiah.  His was a message of hope and imminent redemption offered to the Jewish community of Babylonia.  This was the community who had been variously exiled by the Assyrians and the Babylonians and was the remnant of the Jewish people.

The Message:  The theme is that of a triumphant restoration.  The prophet opens with imagery of Israel, the Bride reclaimed by her Divine Groom.  The motif then shifts to that of the Divine Warrior who, in words reminiscent of the Haggadah’s description of the Divine Avenger moving against the Egyptians on the night of the Tenth Plague, will take personal charge in the defeat of Israel’s enemies.

The Theme-Link:  The link here is with the calendar, not with the Torah portion.  This is the last of the Seven Haftarot of Consolation, which were intended to comfort the Israelites after the destruction of the Temple.  Also, the tone of these prophetic portions helps to prepare us for the upcoming High Holiday Season with its theme of restoration, repentance and return.  The compilers of the haftarot seemed to have an unwritten rule of trying to end on an upbeat note.  In a message that is appropriate for the Exiles of Babylonia as well as modern man who suffers his own forms of exile, the prophet offers one final word of hope and reconciliation, “Afflicted in their affliction, the Divine Presence saved them.  In love and pity God redeemed them and carried them and raised them high in all times past.”  After the affliction, after the suffering and atonement, there is Divine forgiveness.

Copyright, September, 2022, Mitchell A. Levin

 

Readings for Saturday, September 13, 2025 and Selichot

 Readings for Saturday, September 13, 2025

Ki Tavo (When you enter)

26:1-29:6 Devarim (Deuteronomy)

Ki Tavo is the seventh sedrah in the book of Devarim or Deuteronomy.  The sedrah takes its name from the second and third Hebrew words in the first sentence of the reading.  “And it will be when you enter (Ki Tavo) the Land that the Lord, your God, gives you as an inheritance.…”  Ki Tavo stands in stark contrast with the previous three sidrot.  The torrent of laws slows to a trickle, with a mere half dozen.  At one level the sedrah reads as a re-affirmation of the covenant made at Sinai.  Now Moshe shifts to the consequences of obeying and disobeying the commandments.  The sedrah divides into the following four parts:

Rituals To Be Performed in the Promised Land (26:1-15)

Moshe provides the formulary to be followed at harvest time and when tithing.

Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal (27:1-26)

Moshe describes the ritual that will be performed once the people have crossed the Jordan.  It will provide a concrete reminder of the consequences of choosing to obey or disobey the commandments.  The tribes will stand on the slopes of these two mountains and hear the blessings and the curses.

The Blessings and The Curses (28:1-68)

The first fourteen verses include a compilation of the Blessings that will come to the people for obeying the law.  The balance of the chapter includes the Curses, or in Hebrew, the Tokhehah (Rebukes), which will befall the people for disobeying the commandments.

Reaffirmation of the Covenant (28:69-29:8)

The tradition is to avoid ending on a negative note.  So the sedrah continues with a reaffirmation of the covenant that was originally made at Sinai.

Themes

Commandments

606.      The obligation to recite a specific prayer upon bringing one’s first fruits to the sanctuary (26:1-10).

607.      The obligation to make a certain declaration when the portions and tithes are paid (26:12-15).

608.      The prohibition against eating the Second Tithe while in mourning (26:12-15).

609.      The prohibition against eating the Second Tithe while ritually unclean (26:12-15).

610.      The prohibition against spending any money exchanged for the Second Tithe on anything other than food and drink (26:12-15).

611.      The commandment to emulate God’s behavior by walking in His ways (28:9).

Biblical Literacy by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin with edits by this author.

Elul

Devarim continues to reinforce and set the stage for the penitential period that reaches its crescendo with the Days of Awe.  As your read the portion on the Blessings and the Curses listen and you may hear echoes of the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur prayer “who shall live and who shall die…who shall perish by fire and who by water…who shall rest and who shall wander….”

The Importance of the Promised Land and the Pain of Exile

We are commanded to bring the offerings to a central place once we have entered the Promised Land.  But the Torah does not mention Jerusalem by name.  Why does Moshe keep missing his chance to use the name of Jerusalem?  Is this an omission, and if so what could explain it? 

The commands concerning the offerings of the first fruits represent one of the few times that the Torah actually contains the specific wording for a prayer.  Many of you will recognize part of the formulation from the narrative in the Haggadah.  Why do we make the recitation of Jacob’s experience with Laban and Jacob’s childrens’ experience with the Egyptians a part of the blessing we utter when we bring our first fruits to the Temple?  According to Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, both of these episodes represented attempts to wipe the Israelites from the face of the earth.  Both of these episodes took place outside of the Promised Land in areas where we settled with a certain degree of comfort.  But these other places were neither our land nor our proper place of abode.  The offering of the first fruit could only be brought once we were settled in our own land.  In other words, we are thanking God not just for the fruits but for having brought us to the place where we could flourish both materially and spiritually.

The first fourteen verses of Chapter 28 are the Blessings.  If you view Moshe’s speech as prophecy, then the rest of the chapter is best described as the Admonitions and not just the Curses.  These are the rewards and the punishments for following and not following the commandments.  The Blessings are tied to being in the Land.  The Curses are tied to being in exile.  In other words, Jews are best able to find physical safety and spiritual fulfillment when we are settled in our own land following the commandments.  If you follow this logic, it is not enough for each person to observe the commandments.  Everybody, the entire community, has to observe them.  That is why there are so many admonitions about helping others to observe the commandments and about avoiding inappropriate secret behavior.  In other words, what modern man calls Salvation is both a personal and a national experience.  This is not intended as an argument for Zionism or making Aliyah.  Devarim predated them both.  While many of the early Zionists saw themselves as secularists, their beliefs were deeply rooted in our religious heritage.  There are those who contend that Chapter 28 was written after the exile.  This means the chapter is an attempt to explain the fate of the Israelites.  Such an interpretation does not render this chapter valueless.  Rather, it shows that the Jews had developed a unique view of history.  The well-being of the people did not depend on caprice or whim.  God was not, as Napoleon said, on the side of those with the biggest canons.  Rather, national well-being was based on following a set of laws rooted in basic morality and social justice. 

The Reason for Observing the Commandments

Why should we observe the commandments?  This is one of those big philosophical questions that nag us all at some time or another.  For once, the Torah provides us with a simple answer.  We “observe and perform” because God tells us to do so (26:16).  Of course, in the simplicity of the answer lies the complexity of the issue.

Observance of All the Commandments

If repetition signifies importance, then this must be a major concept.  In 27:1 we find “Observe the entire commandment that I command you this day.”  Again in 28:1 we read, “…to observe, to perform all of His commandments.…”  The theme is repeated again in 28:9 and 28:45.  According to some commentators, these and similar admonitions are not about breaking the commandments, but about rejecting one or more of them.  There is a big difference between violation and nullification.  The admonition to observe the entire commandment has produced many of the major commentaries created throughout Jewish history.  In some cases, the text of the Torah is so spare that it is left to the sages to create the manner of observance.  The best known examples are the commandments found in the three paragraphs of the Shema which gave rise to the mezuzah, the talit, teffillin and the system of Jewish education.  Then there is the challenge of finding ways to observe commandments that seem inoperative.  One example of this is the commandments tied to the Temple offerings since there is no Temple.  Using the words of Hosea, “so will we render for bullocks the offering of our lips” (14:3), prayer was deemed to replace sacrifices and reading about the sacrifices from the Torah stood as a replacement for the sacrifices themselves.  As Reb Shlomo of Radmosk says, “He who studies the passage in the Torah concerning the burnt offerings is considered to have actually sacrificed a burnt offering.”  Another example is related to the opening verses of this week’s sedrah concerning the bringing of the first fruits.  The Talmud states that when one brings a gift to a sage, it is as if one has brought an offering of the First Fruits to the Temple.

The Covenant

Moshe continues to remind us that the Israelites have entered into a covenant (26:16-19).  There is a reciprocal relationship between God and the Israelites.  Neither side is allowed to give up on the relationship, which is what makes it different from all other relationships.

Mountains

Once again we see high places playing an important cultic role.  In this case they are Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal.  How was it decided which tribes stood on the sides of which mountain?  The six tribes on Gerizim were sons of Leah and Rachel, the wives of Jacob (Joseph stands for the half tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim because Levi is being counted this time).  Four of the tribes on Ebal were the children of Bilha and Zilpah, the concubines of Jacob.  Supposedly the tribe of Rueben is on this mountain because Rueben lost his birthright.  Zebulen’s presence presents more of a mystery.  Supposedly it is because he was the youngest of Leah’s sons and somebody had to be number six to make it come out even.  You could also have said that since Asher was also standing on Ebal, this mountain contained everything from A to Z.

The Altar

The first altar built in the Promised Land is to be built with “unhewn stones” (27:6).  The admonition not to use an “iron tool” (27:5) will be repeated when Solomon builds the Temple.  Iron is an implement of war and death, neither of which are compatible with God’s abode, which is to be a house of peace.

Silence

Before talking to the people about the blessings and the curses, Moshe cries out “Hasket u-Shema, Yisrael” or “Silence!  Hear, O Israel!” (26:9).  We are used to hearing Shema Yisrael.  It is the use of Hasket or Silence that throws us off.  As Dr. Abraham Gottlieb points out, this is the only time that the word Hasket appears in the entire TaNaCh.  Before we can learn, before we can listen, we must be completely silent.  Silence means more than just an absence of noise.  It means a removal of all of those obstructions that keep us from hearing the “still small voice.”  On a practical level, this statement may have been the source for a variety of Rabbinic admonitions about frivolity in a house of prayer and periods during the worship service when one is not to be interrupted.

Customs and Ceremonies

Dr. Jeffrey Wolf, speaking in the name of Rabbi Solovetchik, offers the following.  At the end of the Torah reading, when the scroll is raised and held wide-open for the congregation to see, we are re-enacting the ceremony that took place between the mountains.  This serves as a reminder that the Torah is a living document, not some set of ancient utterances of only quaint historic value.

Amen

In Hebrew, the word Amen is spelled with three letters: “aleph, mem, nun.”  According to some the Hebrew word Amen is an acronym taken from the Hebrew expression “El Melech Ne’Eman” which literally means “God, King, Who is Trustworthy” or figuratively, “God is a faithful King.”  This three-word formulary is recited before saying the Shema when one is praying without a minyan.  The word Amen can be a noun (faithfulness), an adjective (true or faithful) or an adverb (certainly or truly).  As a general rule, Amen is recited after all blessings, but a person does not say Amen when he or she is reciting the blessing.  Amen is also said after each verse of the Kaddish, but the reader does not say Amen.  This is one of the reasons that Kaddish is said with a minyan i.e., to ensure that there are responders to say Amen.  This week’s sedrah contains one of the fourteen examples of the Amen formulary found in the TaNaCh.  Upon hearing the words of the Levites (27:16-26), the Israelites are commanded to respond by saying “Amen.”  According to Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin, when people say Amen, they are endorsing the words they have just heard.  They are affirming their belief in the truth of what has just been said.  “Where ‘Amen’ follows a petitionary blessing or a prayer of supplication, it also carries the meaning of ‘so may it be’….  Anyone who hears another recite a blessing is required to respond with ‘Amen’ upon its conclusion….”  This admonition about responding “Amen” has become important because anybody who does not know a prayer, but hears it and responds with “Amen” is said to have fulfilled the obligation of saying the prayer.

Joy out of Sadness

Even in sorrow we can learn how to enjoy.  In the words of the Admonitions we read, “Because you have not served the Lord your God in joy and gladness.…” (28:47).  Rabbi Moshe Pinchas Weisblum points out that the Ba’al Shem Tov, the founder of Chassidism, used these words to encourage a joyful approach to life and the performance of the mitzvoth.  He further points out that in the sixth chapter of the Tanya, Rabbi Zalman, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, states, “that not only are joyous feelings necessary for service but bad feelings and sadness will prevent us from appropriate service to God.  Feelings of sadness lead to depression and reluctance to perform good deeds.”  These sentiments are common throughout Jewish thought as can be seen in the teachings of the Chyda, Rabbi Cahim Dovid Azulie, who was a great leader among Sephardic Jewry.  As we approach the Days of Awe, it is quite easy to become intimidated by our own shortcomings.  The message here is that we have no right to our feelings of doom and gloom.  In fact, these feelings are actually self-defeating and will keep us from reaching the level we wish to attain.

Healing the Universe

One way of doing this is to elevate the mundane - to take the ordinary activities of life and infuse them with a sense of the spiritual.  You can do this with the recitation of berachot (berachah - sing.) or in English, benediction.  In this sedrah, the Israelites are not just commanded to make an offering of the first fruits of their harvest; they are commanded to make a specific blessing.  There is nothing more mundane than digging in the dirt which is the basis for all agricultural endeavors.  Yet by reciting a blessing, by praising God for His beneficence, we have taken the hot, sweaty, dirty business of producing a crop and made it into a holy activity.  There are innumerable berachot tied to a multiplicity of daily activities.  Depending upon the situation, the wording will be different, but the intent will be the same.

Ki Tavo and Selichot

Why is the sedrah of Ki Tavo read on the Saturday morning prior to the recitation of Selichot?  One explanation is offered by Reb Shlomo of Radmosk in his book Tiferes Shlomo and it centers on the Tochachah or Rebukes.  According to this tzaddik, even if the Jewish people were guilty of the transgressions described in those passages, by reading the Rebukes, the Divine Judge would consider that the Children of Israel had already suffered them and that any punishment which had not been meted out would be struck from the Divine Ledger.  In part, he bases this conclusion on the earlier cited passage that if one has read about the sacrifice, it is as if one has performed the sacrifice.

No Prayer for a Loan

A Jew came to a tzaddik and asked him to offer up a prayer that would help him gain a loan from a local non-Jewish noble.  The tzaddik refused because he did not want to be party to having his co-religionist suffer a measure of the Rebukes found in Devarim 28:43, 44.  “The stranger in your midst shall rise above you…he shall be your creditor, but you shall not be his.…”

Communal Responsibilities to Care for the Weak

Once again we are reminded that in God’s eyes our own well-being is tied to how well we to take care of our communal obligations and the powerless.  We are reminded to give “to the Levite” (community responsibility) “the stranger, the fatherless and that the widow.”  Judaism does not believe there is a moral good in poverty and does not have a problem with the accumulation of wealth.  The challenge is to use that wealth in a manner that meets the high standards of the Torah.  This is especially significant at this time of the year when we all, regardless of our wealth and status, appear before the Heavenly Host begging for forgiveness and a sweet year 

So will the Lord cause to rejoice: (i.e., “so will He make) your enemies (rejoice) over you, to annihilate you.”  (But the Holy One, Blessed is He, Himself, does not rejoice.  From here, we learn that the Holy One, Blessed is He, does not rejoice over the downfall of the wicked, for in our verse it does not say יָשׂוּשׂ (in the simple conjugation), “rejoice,” but rather יָשִׂישׂ in the causative conjugation, “cause to rejoice.” i.e., God will make others rejoice over your downfall, because you acted wickedly, while He Himself will not personally rejoice over your downfall.  Nevertheless, when it comes to bestowing good upon the righteous, God Himself rejoices, as it is said:  “just as the Lord rejoiced (שָׂשׂ) over you (to do good for you,” where the verb שָׂשׂ is in the simple conjugation, for God Himself rejoices here)).  - (Meg. 10b)  So will the Lord cause to rejoice: (i.e., “so will He make) your enemies (rejoice) over you, to annihilate you.”  (But the Holy One, Blessed is He, Himself, does not rejoice.  From here, we learn that the Holy One, Blessed is He, does not rejoice over the downfall of the wicked, for in our verse it does not say יָשׂוּשׂ (in the simple conjugation), “rejoice,” but rather יָשִׂישׂ in the causative conjugation, “cause to rejoice.” i.e., God will make others rejoice over your downfall, because you acted wickedly, while He Himself will not personally rejoice over your downfall.  Nevertheless, when it comes to bestowing good upon the righteous, God Himself rejoices, as it is said:  “just as the Lord rejoiced (שָׂשׂ) over you (to do good for you,” where the verb שָׂשׂ is in the simple conjugation, for God Himself rejoices here)).  - (Meg. 10b) So will the Lord cause to rejoice: (i.e., “so will He make) your enemies (rejoice) over you, to annihilate you.” ([But the Holy One, Blessed is He, Himself, does not rejoice.  From here, we learn that the Holy One, Blessed is He, does not rejoice over the downfall of the wicked, for in our verse it does not say יָשׂוּשׂ (in the simple conjugation), “rejoice,” but rather יָשִׂישׂ in the causative conjugation, “cause to rejoice.” i.e., God will make others rejoice over your downfall, because you acted wickedly, while He Himself will not personally rejoice over your downfall.  Nevertheless, when it comes to bestowing good upon the righteous, God Himself rejoices, as it is said:  “just as the Lord rejoiced (שָׂשׂ) over you (to do good for you,” where the verb שָׂשׂ is in the simple conjugation, for God Himself rejoices here)).  - (Meg. 10b So will the Lord cause to rejoice: (i.e., “so will He make) your enemies (rejoice) over you, to annihilate you.”  (But the Holy One, Blessed is He, Himself, does not rejoice.  From here, we learn that the Holy One, Blessed is He, does not rejoice over the downfall of the wicked, for in our verse it does not say יָשׂוּשׂ (in the simple conjugation), “rejoice,” but rather יָשִׂישׂ in the causative conjugation, “cause to rejoice.” i.e., God will make others rejoice over your downfall, because you acted wickedly, while He Himself will not personally rejoice over your downfall.  Nevertheless, when it comes to bestowing good upon the righteous, God Himself rejoices, as it is said: “just as the Lord rejoiced (שָׂשׂ) over you (to do good for you,” where the verb שָׂשׂ is in the simple conjugation, for God Himself rejoices here)).  - (Meg. 10b A Problem of Translation 

The modern English translation of Chapter 28, verse 63 as found in Etz Chayim and other texts reads, “And as the Lord once delighted in making you prosperous and many, so will the Lord now delight in causing you to perish and in wiping you out.”  What kind of Lord would take delight in causing the Jews to perish?  What kind of Lord would take delight in wiping out the Jewish people, his Chosen People?”  Thanks to the Artscroll Interlinear Translation and Rashi, we find that the problem is with the translators and not with the Torah or the Lord.  “And it will that just as Hashem rejoiced over you to benefit you and to multiply you so Hashem will (make your enemies) rejoice over you to banish you and to destroy you.” (Artscroll Interlinear).  In other words, God will not rejoice or take delight in our banishment or destruction.  But as part of the humiliation that we will suffer, He will make it possible for our enemies to rejoice and delight in our banishment or destruction.  As Rashi points out the Hebrew is in the “causative conjugation” meaning “cause to rejoice.”  God “does not rejoice in the downfall of the wicked” but He does rejoice in those who follow His commandments and therefore received His rewards.

Haftarah

60-1:22 Isaiah 

The Man/The Book:  Chapter 60 in its entirety provides the text for the haftarah.  The words are those of the unknown Second Isaiah who provided comfort and hope to the remnant of the Jewish people living in Babylonia during the exiles that followed the destruction of the First Temple.

The Message:  The prophetic vision is grandiose, to say the least.  Much of the reading deals with a triumphal return to Jerusalem, which will enjoy a re-birth of commercial and political might that will make it even more magnificent than the Jerusalem of old.  The reading is filled with images of divine light.  “Arise!  Shine!  For your light has arrived…” (60:1).  “You shall no longer have need of the sun for the light of day” because “the Lord shall be unto you an eternal light…” (60:19).  “Never again shall your sun set…for the Lord shall be unto you an eternal light…” (60:20).  But when would the exile end?  The last verse answers the question, but the reader is not sure what it means.  Some say it means that when the time comes for deliverance, whenever that might be, God will make it happen quickly.  Others say that the time of deliverance is at hand and God is going to make it happen quickly.  How much man can do to encourage the final Redemption and how much is strictly a matter of Divine decision is a debate that has divided commentators as great as Rashi and Radak, so do not look for an answer from this Am Ha-aretz.

The Theme-Link:  This is the sixth of the Seven Haftarot of Consolation.  According to the traditionalists, the connection is with the calendar and not the sedrah.  It is one more of the prophetic portions designed to provide comfort to the Jewish people following the tragedy of Tisha B’Av.  At the same time the triumphal vision of Isaiah provides an antidote of joy to the depressing list of Rebukes featured in the sedrah.  It continues with the theme that eventually the Israelites will find favor in God’s eye and return from Exile.  Once again, the words of Isaiah make their way into Lechah Dodi.  The haftarah begins with the famous Hebrew words, “Koome, Ohre” (Arise and Shine), and continues, “for your light has come.”  These same words are found in reverse order in the second line of the sixth verse of the hymn sung to welcome the Sabbath Queen.  Over the last several weeks, we have seen that the author of Lecha Dodi drew on the teachings of Isaiah.  What is the connection between welcoming Shabbat and Isaiah?  Second Isaiah is the prophet of the Redemption.  According to some, Shabbat is supposed to be a foretaste of the Final Redemption.  As the Jews welcome Shabbat into their lives each week, they hope that it will be the last Shabbat because the world will finally be redeemed.

A Tale of Two “Keys:”  Last week we read the haftarah for Ki Taytzay which is ten verses long, making it the shortest haftarah of the year.  This week we read the haftarah for Ki Tavo which is twenty-two verses long, making it one of the longer prophetic readings of the year.  With all that is expected of Bar and Bat Mitzvah students, the key to easing their “burden” is to make sure that they chose the right “Ki.”

Saturday Night September 13, 2025

Selichot

No sooner do we finish with Shabbat than we gather for the recitation for Selichot.  For those of us who are confused by the apparent “floating” of these nighttime penitential utterances, the following might be of some use.

http://www.chabad.org/holidays/JewishNewYear/template_cdo/aid/4350/jewish/Selichot.htm

The following is a “neutral” description of this custom

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Selichot.html

Copyright, September, 2025 Mitchell A. Levin