Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 16 Elul, 5784
Parsha Ki Tavo’– “When you enter”: (Deuteronomy 26:1 – 29:8)
Fifth Portion: Deuteronomy 27:11 – 28:6

Gooood morning! We are now in the final weeks of 5784.  This has been an incredible energetic week so far. The full moon has brought to light those areas of our lives we’ve been most needing to attend to. The shadow of conflict is the gift of diplomacy. The goal is peace. If we navigate the storm of the past week? We are walking closer towards peace in our lives.

Things will shift a bit tomorrow night. We are going to move into a lot of shadow work around seriousness. Things are going to get serious. The gift of the shadow work in seriousness? Delight. We are going to learn to delight in our seriousness. To find the balance of both taking things seriously and just enjoying life. The prize of this work? Discovering ecstasy.

It is interesting that people connect ecstasy to sex. The definition is a lot more broad:

“an overwhelming feeling of great happiness or joyful excitement.”

Looking at the definition of delight?

“great pleasure”

So really, it would appear that the seriousness in our lives is designed as opportunities to lengthen and deepen our pleasure.

Let’s dig in:

11And Moses commanded the people on that day, saying,

12When you cross the Jordan, the following shall stand upon Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.

13And the following shall stand upon Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naftali.

So we split the camp in half. Half go to the mountain to bless. Half go to curse.

14The Levites shall speak up, saying to every individual of Israel, in a loud voice:

15″Cursed be the man who makes any graven or molten image an abomination to the Lord, the handiwork of a craftsman and sets it up in secret! And all the people shall respond, saying, ‘Amen!’

16Cursed be he who degrades his father and mother. And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

17Cursed be he who moves back his neighbor’s landmark. And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

18Cursed be he who misguides a blind person on the way. And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

19Cursed be he who perverts the judgment of the stranger, the orphan, or the widow. And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

20Cursed be he who lies with his father’s wife, thus uncovering the corner of his father’s garment. And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

21Cursed be he who lies with any animal. And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

22Cursed be he who lies with his sister, his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter. And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

23Cursed be he who lies with his mother in law. And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

24Cursed be he who strikes his fellow in secret. And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

25Cursed be he who takes a bribe to put an innocent person to death. And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

26Cursed be he who does not uphold the words of this Torah, to fulfill them. And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

 I’ve written extensively below about the curses – and being centered around the ego, and gossip. These are serious matters.

We tend to judge ourselves and others based on what is inside of us. People are “too serious” or they are “not taking things seriously.”

So basically, we judge delight and ecstasy.

Think about this – you go to a store. You see kids who are “out of control” (judgment) who are just living in deep pleasure and ecstasy.  You see kids who are “too serious” and can’t have fun. We judge both.

The curse is upon us for speaking about them in secret.

Let’s look at the blessings:

28:1And it will be if you obey the Lord, your God, to observe to fulfill all His commandments which I command you this day, the Lord, your God, will place you supreme above all the nations of the earth.

2And all these blessings will come upon you and cleave to you, if you obey the Lord, your God.

3You shall be blessed in the city, and you shall be blessed in the field.

4Blessed will be the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your soil, the fruit of your livestock, the offspring of your cattle, and the flocks of your sheep.

5Blessed will be your basket and your kneading bowl.

6You shall be blessed when you come, and you shall be blessed when you depart.

There are a few things I am reflecting on here. These were communal blessings. And they were connected to the community following the Torah.

I am also reflecting on how this didn’t sustain as this is not our current reality.

Thoughts?

Here are my thoughts from the past two years:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 14 Elul, 5783

Today is the full moon! Hopefully last night you enjoyed the view!  Today’s passage is REALLY fascinating in light of the last full moon of the yearly cycle.  We we reach the new moon, the year will come to an end and Rosh Hashanah will arrive!

In today’s portion there are some things I am really pulling out from the passage.

Curses are connected to our ego

One thing I notice about the curses and the blessings.  The curses all start “cursed is the one.”  They are individual.  The blessings are all relational – “we.”  We move from me to we.  This is the spiritual journey of “me” to “we.”  Our blessings come IN relationship.  How we treat our relationships is crucial.  This is the blessing.  WE ARE THE BLESSING.  Not you. Not I. Not me.

The other practical piece of today’s portion?

Cursed is the one who hurts his fellow by maligning him in secret

Let’s be honest.  How often are we uncomfortable an awkward with someone – to their face – but in the break room, or in private, we speak negatively.  In Judaism, this is a big no no.  And I’ll confess.  I struggle to live this out all the time.  Maybe I am the only one.

One of my favorite communication books is by Kim Scott called Radical Candor.  The idea of this is – if we have feedback, even negative, we go to the source.  Kim Scott calls this “maligning in secret” – Ruinous Empathy.  We care for the person so much we don’t want to hurt their feelings – so instead of being direct, we hurt the relationship by avoiding the hurt feelings by not being candid.  And instead, we vent that energy with others.  Moses is telling us NOT to do this.  A big no.

So – talking negatively about someone behind their back? A big curse.  And we have two weeks before Rosh Hashanah to navigate this, and choose to leave this behavior behind in 5784.

What are your thoughts?

Here is my commentary from a year ago:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 19 Elul, 5782

Today we inch closer to crossing the Jordan and into the promised land with Moses telling us about the blessing and curses we will be experiencing.

He tells the people that when they enter the land, 6 tribes will stand on Mount Gerizim and will bless the people and the other 6 tribes will stand on Mount Ebal for the curse. The Levites will face each side of the mountains. Here are the “teams:”

Team bless: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.

Team curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, Naphtali.

The Levites should speak up and tell everyone:

• cursed is the man who makes a graven or molten image and sets it up in secret
• cursed is the one who disgraces his father and mother
• cursed is the one who moves his neighbor’s landmark
• cursed is the one who misdirects the path of a person who is blind (to a certain matter)
• cursed is the one who perverts the judgment of the convert, the orphan and the widow.
• cursed is the one who lies (has sex) with his father’s wife
• cursed is the one who lies (has sex) with any animal
• cursed is the one who lies (has sex) with his sister, his fathers daughter, or his mothers daughter.
• cursed is the one who lies (has sex) with his mother in law
• cursed is the one who hurts his fellow by maligning him in secret
• cursed is the one who takes a bribe to put an innocent person to death
• cursed is the one who does not uphold the words of this Torah or observe them.

Let’s stop. That’s a lot of cursing. Hey religious people, notice what ISNT there? Being gay. Trans. So….THATS interesting, as a point of observation. 

You are cursed for maligning people in secret – chew on that. You are not cursed (at least In this passage) for being gay. Just an observation. Remember the Torah talks about sexuality in the context of ritual impurity – so yes; have sex with someone of the same gender (or someone who is on their period) you can’t enter the holy place. But there aren’t general curses for it.

Just something I’m reflecting on.

Now, we get to the blessings. What is interesting is the curses seem to be handed down individually.

The blessings seem to be communal.

Moses gives us a big if/then:

IF:

• we always listen to the voice of Hashem
• we are careful to observe his commandments

THEN:

• Hashem is going to make us an elite nation
• we will be blessed in the city
• we will be blessed in the field
• the fruit of our womb, the fruit of our soil, the fruit of our livestock, the offspring of our cattle, and the flocks of our sheep will be blessed
• our fruits and dough will be blessed
• we will depart from the world the way we came into it: blessed.

That’s a pretty cool blessing.

What are your thoughts?