Parashat Ki Tavo
September 14, 2022
Rabbi Abby Sosland, Morah Ruchanit (Spiritual Advisor) and Talmud Department Chair
Wouldn’t it be lovely to cut out the more difficult parts of life? It certainly sounds like a dream come true. In the Apple TV show Severance, the main characters choose to be “severed” from a part of their lives so that they don’t have to experience the pain of living. Of course, as the show reflects (no spoilers here, I promise), blocking ourselves from pain is not as easy as it sounds.
As social psychologist Erich Fromm wrote, “To spare oneself from grief at all costs can be achieved only at the price of total detachment, which excludes the ability to experience happiness.”
This seems to be a lesson at the heart of Parashat Ki Tavo. There is no way to detach from the dark side if we want to experience the blessings. Parshat Ki Tavo insists that we face the possibility of ruin. We read the tochechot — the curses — that might befall us should we fail to live up to God’s vision for us, and they are terrifying. The dreaded sixth aliyah (63 verses!), which contains some of the blessings and all of the curses, is sometimes read in a whisper so that we don’t hear the curses aloud. Yet even in a whisper, we know the curses are there. We have seen them in the real world: needless suffering, painful divisiveness, and perhaps a sense that the world is headed in the wrong direction. No one needs to scream out the curses for us to hear them in our hearts.
But the sixth aliyah ends on a happier note, as does the Torah reading itself. A few minutes later in the service, we will read the Haftarah, where the prophet Isaiah offers a vision of comfort and consolation. “Arise and shine your light!” The message is clear; it is always too soon to give up.
“Your sun shall no longer set, neither shall your moon be gathered in, for the Lord shall be to you for an everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be completed.” (Isaiah 60:20)
That’s the thing about this parashah, and, perhaps, life itself. Sit through the ugly parts, and “the days of your mourning shall be completed.” You will get to the blessings on the other side. This Haftarah of Consolation reminds us we are only a week away from the new year. Hang in there and the light will shine again. Just be sure not to detach from any part of the experience.
Shabbat Shalom.