Myles Cohn – Year 9

This week’s Parashah is called Ki Tavo, meaning ‘When you come to the Land’. This parashah contains Moshe’s’ final speech to the Israelites, where he speaks to them all before his death. He talks about the fruit offering that God wants to be offered when they are all in the promised land, and the blessings and curses that come with following or not following God’s mitzvot.

Anyway, Moshe says since God gave us the land of milk and honey, we should be offering these fruits to Him. It is important that we are grateful for what we have been given. God gave us the land of Israel and we need to show gratitude for it. He also commands the Israelites to give some food to the less fortunate, “You shall also give portions to the stranger, the orphan, the widow. They shall eat it within your gates and be satisfied.” It is very nice that Moshe’s final speech includes compassion and that everyone should be treated well and given a portion of food. Even today it is something that people should strive to do, to make sure that no one, no matter their worth, should be left with an empty bowl.

So Moshe focuses on observing the mitzvot and how God will bless you for doing so. He says that “On this day God commands you to carry out these laws and social ordinances with all your heart and all your soul”. Interestingly, that last phrase is actually like what we say in VeAhavta, “and you shall love”, using all your heart and soul. Moshe says that if you believe in all of the mitzvot, God will set you above “all the nations of the earth.” He says that everything of yours and everything about you will be blessed.

But this has a question in it. What if you don’t observe every single mitzvah? Well, Moshe says, “Cursed you will be in the city and the field, cursed will be your fruits of your body and soil and livestock. Cursed will you be when you come in and when you go out. God will unleash against you the curse, and you will be restless and feel guilt in everything to which you put your hand, so that you will be destroyed because of your wickedness in forsaking God.”

This is interesting because in the modern day we have a wide spectrum of Jews that makes it impossible to say that all Jews are the same. Some are as observant as the Israelites from the times of Moshe, and there are others, like a lot of you in here today, that don’t follow every mitzvah. You might not keep kosher, or go to shul each Friday, and aren’t that observant.

A recurring statement in the parashah is that the Jews who follow all of the mitzvot belong to God. Does this mean that if not all 613 mitzvot are observed that you don’t belong to God? That you’re excluded from being a proper Jew? This idea is actually still debated today, and everyone has an opinion on what makes you a ‘real’ Jew.

I don’t think there is a correct answer to this. There are people who believe that a Jew must carry out each law, and some that think you only need a kippah and a Jewish family. But I say that all types of Jews should be accepted for what they do. If you don’t fully keep kosher that’s okay. If you don’t go to shul that’s not so bad. It’s just what Moshe was talking about before about the stranger, the orphan and the widow. You should respect all of these people, whether they are fully observant, or don’t believe in doing some of the things God asks for us to do. This parashah asks us to be compassionate to each other, and I think that is the best way to tackle this very complex question.