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Drash for Shabbat Ki Tavo By Charlotte Hegwer - September 8, 2006 There are many firsts in the stages of a lifetime; baby, toddler, child, preteen, teenage, adult, and aged. Some of these firsts which take place in the above categories may be in education, first loves, marriage, employment, children, homes, moves, sickness and death, retirement, and writing a first drash. At the time of happening all of them are daunting to the individual and maybe even to a community. The month of Elul began fourteen days ago, Selichot will be in one week (next Saturday night) and Rosh Hashanah will be in two weeks with Yom Kippur following. This is the time of year for questioning and reflection upon the past year and what do we want to happen in the new year to come. This week's parsha Ki Tavo is titled, The Social Weal III. When googled I found 151,000 citations. The Oxford English Dictionary defines weal as "pertaining to the welfare of a community or the general good and prosperity of the community." The entire parsha is about the Jewish community and the social contract made with God. In the first part of the Parsha, the community is instructed on how to give thanks for the harvest, to remember the Exodus from Egypt, sharing with a stranger, tithing, and rituals of mourning. In the second section the people are given instructions for invading an area and building an altar with prescribed teachings in specific areas. Included in this section are 12 curses with the final curse being "cursed be he who will not uphold the terms of this teaching and observe them". In the third section are 12 blessings and more than 30 horrific curses. In the final section Moses gives his farewell speech to the community. After reading and rereading the parsha countless times I had only questions and no easy answers. Some of my questions: Why was it so
important to build and set the altar immediately after the crossing of the
Jordan? My questions continue: why was this parsha put so close to Selichot? Could it be that our elders were on to something? This parsha Ki Tavo deals with following the laws and commandments for the individual and the community. We as a people, individually and collectively freely choose to accept the covenant. We will be coming together as individuals and a community to celebrate Rosh Hashanah and then Yom Kippur. We will again be asked to take a first step: trying to obey the laws, commandments and rituals for another year as stipulated by Moses in his farewell address. Only by questioning our own actions on a continuing basis will we be able to bring blessing to ourselves and then blessings to our community. Shabbat Shalom.
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