TorahParsha

The giving cycle

for Parshat Ki Tavo

i

This is what Moses says to do:

 

Take the first fruits of your crop

bring them to the Temple

pronounce your thanks to God.

 

And:

In the third year

the tithing year,

pronounce

that you have given the Levites their gifts

(for the Levites, the priests, are landless,

they rely on you for food);

and pronounce

that you have given the foreigner

and the orphan

and the widow their gifts;

that you have given

to they who need you.

And say to God:

Look down from above

and bless us,

bless the Land.

 

ii

Understanding that it is God

Who has given you what you need,

your understanding of holiness

becomes an understanding of giving to the needy.

Of course what follows your time in the Temple

what follows your time before God

is your giving to others.

 

And for your giving,

God gives to you.

 

That is the cycle.

 

 

_____

Shabbat shalom,

Abe 

Deuteronomy 26:1-14

Please pray for Daniel Yehuda ben Arella and Yechiel ben Michal

 

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What we do with religious experience

for Parshat Ki Tavo

 

i              

Deep in the Desert

through fire and thunder

from up on the Mountain

God appears to the people

sending the Commandments down,

imparting His Covenant.

 

ii

Before Moses’ death

before the people enter the Land

Moses makes a speech

and then God commands him

to introduce another Covenant,

aside from the Covenant

God gave on the Mountain.

*

This is a Covenant

that tells of how God guides history

based on the goodness we do

or on the wickedness we do.

 

iii

Revelation happens

but it does not end there:

we,

who have witnessed God’s  great spectacle,

must now carry God’s presence into history.

 

 

___

Shabbat Shalom,

Abe

___

Originally sent in 2012

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What we do with religious experience

for parshat Ki Tavo

 

i              

Deep in the Desert

through fire and thunder

from up on the Mountain

God appears to the people

sending the Commandments down,

imparting His Covenant.

 

ii

Before Moses’ death

before the people enter the Land

Moses makes a speech

and then God commands him

to introduce another Covenant,

aside from the Covenant

God gave on the Mountain.

*

This is a Covenant

that tells of how God guides history

based on the goodness we do

or on the wickedness we do.

 

iii

Revelation happens

but it does not end there:

we,

who have witnessed God’s  great spectacle,

must now carry God’s presence into history.

 

 

___

Shabbat Shalom,

Abe

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How happiness is a duty

for parshat Ki Tavo

i

Moses says:

The Land you have arrived to

is not like the Land of Egypt

that grows seed from abundant water

like a garden of greens.

The Land you have come to

is a Land of rain

but the rain does not always come.

*

Moses says:

When you come to the Land

and your crop bears fruit

you must bring the first fruit

before God.

You must recite the history:

of the earliest days,

of slavery in Egypt,

of leaving Egypt,

of the Desert,

of arriving to the Land.

You must rejoice in all the good

that HaShem has given you.

 

ii

You come all the way from Egypt.

Rain comes all the way from the sky.

No one here is a native.

Everyone is an unexpected guest.

*

An unexpected guest, you have no reason to assume

a steady life with crops,

a watered garden.

*

So all good is a surprise here.

And surprised, you come to joy.

 

iii

You must announce

how what you have

is a gift from God.

You must be surprised in God’s Land.

In God’s Land,

your duty is to come to joy.

 

_________

Shabbat Shalom,

Abe

 

 

Ayelet Yakira bat Chaya Hinda Matel Nechama, the one-year-old I have mentioned for the past many weeks, has received a bone marrow transplant and things are going well. Thank God. Please pray for her transplant to succeed quickly.

 

____

For further reading, consider: Hirhurim – Jewish Ideas Daily - Rabbi Jonathan Sack’s writings –Pardes  - The Virtual Beit Midrash – Yeshiva University Online

 

Thought for Parshat Ki Tavo

When you are hidden from others

 

i

When you grow a crop, you bring the first fruits before God.

You say: I have come to the Land that HaShem has sworn…to us.

And you respond before the priest with the long story of God’s kindness—from the days of your ancient father until now, until this fruit.

*

When you finish tithing you declare: I have removed the tithes from my house, I have given my tithes away—and now You, God, bless Your people Israel.

*

When you enter the Land, the whole nation will stand upon two mountains.

The Levites—the tribe of the priests—will respond: pronouncing curse upon whomever does evil in secret.

And the entire nation will respond: Amen.

 

ii

When you speak of the fruit of your open field, you speak, and you respond.

When you speak of the tithes behind the walls of your house, you speak, and you ask God to respond.

When we speak of dark secrets, we respond to one another.

 

iii

And so the more hidden you become, the more you must converse—bringing others’ voices to you.

Because it is not good that Man should be alone.

 

___________

Gilad Shalit—Gilad ben Aviva— turns 25 this Shabbat. He was abducted by Hamas in 2006. He is still hidden. Please pray to HaShem to return him happily to his family.

Shabbat shalom, Abe

 

___________

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Please continue to pray for Ahuvah Rachel bat Orah, and for Rachel Tovah bat Yehudit Esther.

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The Nation of God is Built in Our Secret Hearts

i
Moses says: You have become a nation to HaShem your God.

Moses says: Cursed is the man who makes any...idol…and sets it up in secret.

Moses says: Cursed is the man who strikes his fellow in secret.

ii
Other nations hold up conquest or great towers or long bridges or riches hoarded up in bedazzling jeweled cities--or even public wise men--for all the world to see.

They exist to show their wealth to the world.

iii
But the nation of God must remain a nation to God, even in secret.

What they show to the world is never the point.

What God sees is the point.

iv
Because this is so, your life with God must permeate so far down to the secret recesses of your heart that it is present even when no one else can look, when only God looks.

Shabbat Shalom,

Abe

A special thanks to Sara Gollom for the use of her computer.

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