Parashat Ki Tavo, “The Prophet Isaiah: The Light of our Fruits," Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8, Haftarah, Isaiah 60:1-22

This week is the third Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah, our journey of preparation continues during this month of Elul. This week's parasha, Ki Tavo, begins "And when you enter the land...," meaning yesterday needs to be put into perspective. It was Leonard Cohen, the Jewish song writer, who said about Rosh Hashanah, "how can I begin anything new with all of yesterday in me." Now while still a few weeks away, Cohen's words also work with Ki Tavo as well. Moses taught the Jews that day that "when you enter the land" life is new, your surroundings are new and your possibilities will be new, but don't let the past steal your new present.

Every morning in Jewish prayer we say, “How good is our portion, how pleasant our lot, how beautiful our heritage,” asking us to consider the middah of Hakarat Hatov, or recognition of the good, hence gratitude.  There is a story in a Midrash (Exodus Rabbah 24) about Reuven who experienced the pains of Egypt but also the delights of deliverance, yet he had no gratitude.  Here, Reuven speaks about Egypt where they had dry clay for mortar to make bricks and now have to walk through the clay on the seabed in order to escape from Pharaoh and his armies who sought their lives; but we know how that ended.  In response God says to him “all of these miracles you now equate with evil.”  This Midrash goes on to call him “Foolish” because for Reuven the power of Egypt took away his ability to show gratitude for his deliverance.

The Prophet Isaiah in this week's Haftarah (Is. 60:1-22) begins "Arise and shine, for your light has come, for the glory of God shines upon you." The goodness of God is upon you the prophet says, yes you will contend with exile and all the struggles of life, but like our Midrash above, don't be foolish like Reuven and lose your gratitude for all of the good received, no matter how little or no matter how much!  But Isaiah does not paint an unrealistic picture either, also writing. “Though darkness may cover the earth, thick darkness the people, upon you God will shine.”  Just look at our world, we see antisemitism, social injustice, war and famine, hate, violence and needless killings. This ugly side of life is perhaps why upon entering the land Israel's first deed was to build an altar and “inscribe upon it all the words of this teaching.” In Ki Tavo one of those first teachings is about tithing (Deuteronomy. 26:12-15), an act of showing Hakarat Hatov, or gratitude. They did this with the practice of Bikkurim, giving of the first fruits of their harvest in order to help make life around them better for others. No matter what happened when they entered this new land the light to help others and the betterment of themselves was to be present, gratitude was always primary, the past wasn't to take that away. 

But is it simply the fruit that comes from the ground?  We further learn in Ki Tavo that a women's child from her body is also called  fruit, thus “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body (belly), the produce of your ground.”  I actually think here we can refer to a Christian tradition that can find its partner in Mussar. As such in the Christian bible we read about what is called the “fruit of the spirit, ” those being “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Just as an aside, but worth mentioning, it is not “fruits of the spirit” but “fruit of the spirit,” suggesting that all these characteristics are of equal value.  In the teaching of Mussar we refer to our middot, our soul characteristics, in the same way as they produce attributes of love, goodness, humility and compassion, although from our middot can also come hate, evil, pride and hardheartedness towards both self and others. The fact is that fruit can spoil, both the fruit from the ground but also the fruit from our middot.

Although too big of a subject here, with an understanding of good and bad fruit, let me say something about the idea of blessings and curses. In chapter 28 we read about several curses the people would experience if they were unfaithful to God. Moses teaches after they cross the Jordan and enter this new land before them, that "im lo tishmah," if they do not listen to God all the curses to follow will fall upon the people. That is not an easy pill to swallow, and more than that it suggests that people are no more than puppets on strings and the blessings of God are conditional.  Still, while the ancients my have saw God in that way, it does not take away from its meaning if you don't.  Within the section on the curses, we read in 28:22-24 “the Lord will strike you with consumption, fever, and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew; they shall hound you until you perish. The skies above your head shall be copper and the earth under you iron. The Lord will make the rain of your land dust, and sand shall drop on you from the sky, until you are wiped out.” Today we might say that is the result of Global Warming.

If Global warming is a by-product of industrial emissions, burning of fossil fuels or cutting down our forests, not to mention that there are even studies that connect gun control problems with global warming, do we blame this curse on God or ourselves? I am not standing on a soapbox as an environmentalist advocate, others can do that, but I want to make a point about cause and effect. The Rabbis of the Talmud (San. 66a) came to view the idea of blessings and curses as something we do to each other, the Chofetz Chaim (The Laws and Prohibitions of Lashon Hara) teaching that bad speech against another is a form of cursing. I want to suggest that perhaps the curses we experience in life have much more to do with the spoiled fruit of our middot towards each other and our world more so than what God does.  This also might be a way to read the Prophet Isaiah as well.  So maybe while our spoiled fruit can be the cause of a curse, the goodness of our middot can be the fruit of blessings, creating a light that will "Arise and shine" upon others. This is what Elul asks of us as we prepare for the New year ahead.

Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Adam