Rabbi Daniel Glatstein – Ki Tavo

Parshas Ki Savo: Walking in the Ways of Hashem - Inspiring Awe In the Nations of the World

Reb Ginsbourg: This Day You Have Become a People to Hashem

'This day you have become a people to Hashem'

There is no nation in the land, except for Bnei Israel, as all the nations, compared to it, are as nought, and do not merit being called ‘a nation’.

We read in our Parasha ( 26:16-19):’This day, Hashem, your G-d, commands you to perform these decrees and the statutes, and you shall perforn them with all your heart and with all your soul. You have האמרת: selected Hashem today to be a G-d for you, and to walk in His ways, and to observe His decrees, His commandments, and His statutes, and to hearken to His voice. And Hashem האמירך: has selected you today to be for Him לעם סגולה: , a treasured people, as He spoke to you, and to observe all His commandments, and to make you supreme over all the nations that He has made, for praise, for renown, and for splendor, and so that you will be a holy people to Hashem, your G-d, as He spoke.’

The Torah then relates (27:1-8), that Hashem commanded the people, on the day that they cross the Jordan into the promised land, to set up great stones, on which they are to inscribe all the words of the Torah, ‘well clarified’- and continues:

‘Moshe and the Kohanim..spoke to all Israel, saying:’Be attentive and hear, O Israel: This day you have become a people to Hashem, your G-d, and you shall perform all His commandments and His decrees, which I command you today.’

Rav Zalman Sorotzkin asks:’Why did Moshe choose to say these things, at this time?

‘Answer: Since Mishneh Torah is replete with words of rebuke intermingled with a relation of the occurrences that befell us, from the exodus from Egypt, till the departure of Moshe from this life, and only in the preceding parshiot of Sefer Devarim, Moshe retaught the people some of the Mitzvot of the Torah, or taught them Mitzvot which he had received at Sinai, and for good reason, he had not previously relayed to them, now, that he had completed this, he warned them - as Rashi brings - that ‘divrei Torah should, in their eyes, always be as if they were given ‘today’’.

The Kli Yakar, in his great Torah wisdom, expounds that our psukim are in response to the earlier part of our Parasha - the Mitzvah of the Bikurim. Expounds the sage:’’You have selected Hashem this day..and Hashem has selected you’, by the declarations you made, with your Bikurim and tithes, saying:’I heeded the voice of Hashem’.

‘Correspondingly, Hashem also ‘selected you’, to gaze upon you from His Heavenly Abode, and to bless you above all the nations.

‘As in both passages we find the word ‘today’, we learn that our psukim are linked to the passage above- the Bikurim and the tithes.’

The Chatam Sofer proffers a different answer to our question - why this passage was given at this time:’Hashem does not want Mitzvot which are performed as ‘by rote’, and He therefore repeated the Torah in the plains of Moab, because it was then that the people had completed forty years of learning Torah from Moshe Rabbeinu, and - as our Sages teach - were only then able to fully understand his teaching.

‘From this fact - that Hashem ‘waited’ till that time - we can judge that Hashem wants us to serve Him with our hearts, not by rote, as, though He had previously commanded us with His Mitzvot, He commanded them - again - ‘today’, at the end of the forty year schooling, to teach that we are to perform Mitzvot ‘with all your heart and with all your soul’.’

The Shem MiShmuel adds:’The purport of ‘This day you have become Hashem’s people’, is that we are obligated each day to envisage in our minds that ‘this day’ we have become ‘Hashem’s people’.

‘This can be likened to the words of the Kriat Shema:’Which I command you today’, which Rashi expounds as: They are not to be in your eyes like something which is old’, but as something new, which all are attracted to.

‘So too, in our psukim, every one is to imagine in his thoughts as if he was a lost soul, and Hashem threw him a lifeline in his chessed, and took him to be His people, which touches him to his very being.’

Rav Shimshon Hirsch notes that the Torah here chose to use the words: האמירך and העמרת, ‘which is only found here, in our psukim.

‘Its purport here is causative and declaratory: You caused, that it should be said that Hashem shall be, to you, G-d, and, in turn, Hashem will cause that it be said of you: ‘Hashem has selected you today to be for Him a reasured people’.

‘The previous bond was in the nature of a ‘personal’ one; it now became ‘public’: known to all nations, and henceforth Hashem will be known as ‘the G-d of Israel’, and Israel as ‘Hashem’s nation’.

‘Israel ‘selected’: Israel vowed to Hashem, in the sight of all the nations, to be to Him ‘a holy nation’, to subjugate its whole destiny and deeds, to the rule of Hashem, and His guidance.

‘’Hashem ‘selected’: Hashem said, to the eyes of all the nations, that He was to Israel ‘a G-d’, totally His, and subject to no other force, and to ‘be a holy people to Hashem’: to the eyes of all nations, the nation of the Torah of Hashem, and the instrument to enlighten the eyes of the nations, and to teach them proper ways.

‘Hashem here expressed the destiny of Israel, and the expectations that He has of it, and so He says concerning Israel::You are obligated to be ‘a holy people’, only guided by that which is moral, and right in the eyes of Hashem.

‘This obligation is imposed on every individual who is counted in the nation of Israel, and therefore, if one should betray his holy destiny, even the least of the nations, is able to adjure him as to his destiny and his duty.’

The Be’er Mayim Chaim sweetens our appreciation of the great privilege this relationship confers on us:’Hashem has thereby entrusted us the entire conduct of His kingship, as he adjured us, prior to Matan Torah:’And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests’, which Rashi - there - expounded as:’Ministers’, meaning the Ministers of the King, by whom the Kingdom is ruled, as our Sages deduce:’ The ministering angels, asked Hashem: when do You declare the moadim? Answered Hashem: We, you and I, are bound by the decision of Israel.

‘Further, we read in the Gemara (Rosh Hashanah 16):’Say before Me psukim of kingship, so that you crown Me over you’- teaching that all in the conduct of the Kingdom is in the hands of Israel, and by them, Hashem is elevated above all others, in all worlds, as by our deeds we determine His praise.’

The Netivot Shalom adds:’ The reason for ‘Hashem you selected today’, is that, since you accepted upon yourselves the whole of the Torah, with all of its particulars and novelties, you have glorified Hashem and elevated Him, that He alone should be to you a G-d; and said ‘Hashem selected you today’, because this day is to you as that day at Sinai, when Hashem elevated and glorified you by the giving of the Torah, that you should be to Him the nation chosen above all the nations.

‘This was on the day that Moshe completed expounding the Torah in the Book of Devarim, and Bnei Israel accepted upon themselves the Torah in its entirety.

‘This day was therefore in the nature of a new acceptance of the Torah, when we selected Hashem, and Hashem selected us, on this day, as He had, at the giving of the Torah on Har Sinai.’

Rav Yosef Salant brings the commentary of Rav Elazar ben Azaria (Chagigah, 3.):’’You have selected Hashem this day’: Hashem said to Bnei Israel: You have made me חטיבה אחת: a single entity, in this world, as it says:’Hear O Israel, the Lord our G-d, the Lord is One’, and I will make you ‘a single entity in the world, as it is written:’And who is like your nation Israel, the one nation in the land’’.

The Rav then brings the commentary of Rashi, on this Gemara:’’Praise after praise, saying: There is none like you’; and, on our passuk:’Denotes separation and distinction. From all the pagan deities, you have set apart the Lord for yourself, to be your G-d, and He separated you to Him from all the peoples on earth, to be His treasured people’.

Expounds the Rav:’Seemingly, Rav Elazar here brings a novel understanding of our passuk, and this requires explanation, as to what led him to use the word חטיבה: a single entity, an unusual word, and not simply say:’You made me the One Lord in the world, and I will make you the one nation in the world’.

‘We may posit that the novel understanding from his choice of words, is: there is no nation in the land, except for Bnei Israel, as all the nations, compared to it, are as nought, and do not merit being called ‘a nation’.

‘He derived this understanding from the words of our psukim: ’Hashem you have selected to be to you the Lord’, that, just as we praise Him as ‘the One G-d’, meaning: the only true ‘One’, as only Hashem is not composed of various elements and parts.

‘This ‘only One-ness’, this led Rav Elazar to choose the language חטיבה אחת:’ a single entity’, something the like of which can not be found elsewhere.’

Adds the Rav:’There is an additional aspect to this saying - ‘You made Me a single entity in the world’ - as we say: Hashem our Lord, Hashem is One’, to refute the false thought of those who deny His One-ness, holding that it is not possible that both ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’, should emanate from the One entity, and who therefore hold that there are two separate sources, one for each of the opposites.

‘We, however, believe in perfect faith, that both emanate from Hashem, the one and only source, in His different attributes: ‘Hashem’ denoting mercy and good, and ‘Elo-kim’, denoting Judgement, He is the One G-d.’

Rabbeinu Nissim - the Ra’n - asks, on the aid brought for ‘And you made Me one חטיבה: a single unit’, from the words of Kriat Shema: ‘The Shema is not the words of Bnei Israel, but is the words that Hashem commanded us to say, to believe in His one-ness, and, though we proclaim them twice each day, they are not words that Bnei Israel proffered as praise of Hashem, but the fulfillment of a Mitzvah.

‘If you should say, that in truth, the words: ‘And you made Me a single entity in the world’, the meaning is not what you said in the Shema, but in that you fulfilled the commandment in this passuk, which we fully believe in, and we have thereby, as it were,‘made Hashem חטיבה אחת: a sngle entity’.

‘However, my opinion is that which has been said on this subject, alludes to the passuk:’And Yaakov called for his sons, sayng: gather around, and I will reveal to you that which will befall you in the end of days’, but the shechina departed from him; whereupon, he said: Perhaps there is amongst you, heaven forfend, an invalidity in one of my seed, as was the case with the seed of my forefathers? They responded:שמע ישראל: Hear O Israel’- our father, Yaakov, who is also called ‘Israel’ - ‘just as in your heart there is only the One, so too, in our hearts, there is but the One’.

‘Therefore, even though these words are commanded as a positive Mitzvah, the tribes already had said them, and, by them, indeed praised Hashem, and were written, not only in Sefer Breishit, in their place, but also in Sefer Devarim, as a Mitzvah binding all generations, so that it justly can be said to Hashem saying:’You made Me one entity in the world’.’

A parting gem from the Netivot Shalom:’The words:’Hashem you have selected this day’, alludes also to Rosh Hashanah, THE day of Judgement, the day on which Creation is renewed, and the time of the renewed coronation of the King, Hashem, and of the covenant between Hashem and Bnei Israel, which is renewed every year.

‘This is the meaning of the passuk: ‘This day Hashem commands you to perform these chukim..: today you have selected Hashem to be the for you the G-d’: the task of every Jew, on Rosh Hashanah, is to renew the covenant with Hashem, that ‘He shall be to you, your G-d’.

‘And Hashem has selected you today, to be for Him, His treasured nation, that just as the coronation of Hashem is renewed on Rosh Hashanah, so too, our choice, as ‘His treasured nation’, is also renewed , as ‘there is no King, without subjects’.’

Reb Danny Ginsbourg 

Mayim Achronim: Jew of the Week: Don Joseph Nasi

 Jew of the Week: Don Joseph Nasi

Prince of Europe

 

Don Joseph Nasi (1524-1579) I’m not sure why they haven’t made a movie about this man yet, but they should. His story is quite fascinating. In a nutshell, he was the head of a banking empire, the Duke of Naxos, the Count of Andros, and the Lord of Tiberias. He actively sought a national homeland for the Jews, initially hoping for Cyprus, later receiving a grant from the Ottomans to start settling Israel. He single-handedly triggered a war between Turkey and Venice, sparked the Dutch uprising against Spain and brokered a peace treaty with Poland. At one point, he went by the secret name Juan Miguel to escape the inquisition. 

He monopolized the wine industry in Moldavia and the beeswax industry in Poland, financed the Yeshiva of Constantinople (today’s Istanbul), established a printing press for Jewish texts and maintained a vast library in his house to be used freely by Torah scholars. For his foundational work in seeking to establish an independent Jewish state in the Holy Land all the way back in the 16th century, he has been called the first real “proto-Zionist”.

Words of the Week

The entire people of Israel comprise a single soul; only the bodies are separate
– Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, the Alter Rebbe (Tanya, ch. 32)

https://www.jewoftheweek.net/2011/01/13/jew-of-the-week-don-joseph-nasi/

How to Serve G-D in Joy

Ki Tavo: How to Serve G-d in Joy

“Because you failed to serve the Eternal your God with joy and contentment...” (Deut. 28:47)

Rav Kook was once asked: How can we awaken feelings of excitement and enthusiasm in our avodat Hashem? How do we cultivate a sense of joy in our service of God, when we observe mitzvot and study Torah?

The Answer of the Kabbalists

In his response, Rav Kook wrote:



It is difficult to properly explain this fundamental aspect of serving God in a letter. However, the primary way to kindle joy and enthusiasm is by dedicating time to rigorous study of the spiritual, non-halakhic areas of the Torah. Do not relegate it to haphazard reading. It is through this study that the soul’s inner light begins to shine, and a spirit of joy and vitality infuses those who earnestly seek truth.



Nonetheless, I will share with you one central principle, though this too cannot be fully grasped without serious study and reflection. This principle can serve as a gateway to deepening your love for God and experiencing the radiant light of the holy Torah.



Clearly, if someone was granted the chance to benefit the entire world, even the most self-centered individual would eagerly seize the opportunity, devoting his heart and soul to the task.



Fatigue and weariness arise when we fail to recognize the extent of the good that we bring to the entire world through our Torah study, performance of mitzvot, Divine service, and cultivation of character traits.



For this reason, God enlightened us with the teachings of the lofty tzaddikim, the masters of Kabbalah. They deepened our understanding of the true significance of our service, clarifying how it uplifts all of creation. Nonetheless, we need to bring this abstract idea closer to our intellect. Then our motivation will be strong and our enthusiasm well-grounded.



Uplifting the Universe

We attain this profound awareness by contemplating the spiritual unity that binds the entire universe. We need to recognize that each individual soul is connected to the collective soul of all existence. Every created being draws its light and perfection from this collective soul. We have the power to increase the light in our souls through Torah study, mitzvot, prayer, and character refinement. We need to be aware that whenever we enlighten our own souls, we are benefiting not just ourselves, but the entire universe. We are bestowing perfection and life upon all creation.



Through our efforts, the righteous are strengthened in their holy service. The evil of the wicked is mitigated to some extent, and they experience stirrings of remorse and penitence. Even the animals are ennobled, according to their station. The noble holiness provided by a single soul that truly cares about all of existence helps refine and purify even those creatures inclined toward destruction. And it certainly adds dazzling light to the lofty splendor of the souls, and throughout the spiritual worlds, in their infinite beauty and sanctity.

All of this is relevant for every member of the holy nation of Israel. But it resonates with even greater significance for those who are privileged to dwell in the Holy Land.



(Adapted from Iggerot HaRe’iyah vol. I, letter 301 5670/1910)

chanan@ravkooktorah.org

Rabbi Wein – Ki Tavo

 In this week’s parsha, all of Jewish history is reflected in the two relatively short scenarios that the Torah describes for us. The opening section describes the promise that the Jewish people will come into the Land of Israel, settle there and develop the country, build the Temple and express their gratitude to HKB"H for the blessings that He has bestowed upon them. They will harvest bountiful crops and commemorate these achievements by bringing the first fruits of their labor as a thanksgiving offering to the Temple and the priests of the time. 

They will then recite a short statement of Jewish history, a synopsis of the events that have occurred to them from the time of the patriarchs until their own time. The Torah promises blessings and serenity to the people of Israel. The Torah does not minimize the toil and travail that led to the moment of these offerings in the Temple. 

However, it does convey a sense of satisfaction and achievement, of gratitude and appreciation, for the accomplishments of the Jewish people, individually and nationally, regarding the Land of Israel and its bounty.

 

It is a spirit of wondrous gratitude that marks the accomplishments of the individual farmer and of the people generally in settling and developing the Land of Israel. There is little room for hubris and self-aggrandizement in the set text of this offering in the Temple. Rather, the text highlights the relationship between HKB"H, the Land and the people of Israel. That is the first scenario that is outlined for us in this week's parsha. 

The second scenario in the parsha is a much more somber and even frightening one. It describes the events, travail and persecution that will visit the Jewish people over the long millennia of its exile from its land. In vivid detail, the Torah describes the horrors, defeats and destruction that the Exile will visit upon the Jewish people. In our generation, this portion of the Torah reading can actually be seen on film and in museums.

 

We are witness to the fact that not one word of the Torah’s description of dark future events was an exaggeration or hyperbole. This period of trouble and exile lasted far longer than the initial scenario of the offering of the first fruit in the Temple. And, unfortunately, the residue of this second scenario is still with us and within us as we live in a very anti-Jewish world society.

 

Yet we are to be heartened by the concluding words of this section of the Torah that promises us that it will be the first scenario of this week's parsha that will eventually prevail. Even though so much of the negative is still present in our current state of affairs, we should be grateful for our restoration to sovereignty and dominion in our own homeland and for the bounty of the land that we currently enjoy. 

All of this is a symbol of the beginning of the resurrection of the first scenario and the diminishing of the effects of the second scenario. May we all be wise enough to realize this and adjust our attitudes and actions accordingly.

 

Shabbat shalom

Rabbi Berel Wein 

Eliezer Meir Saidel: FAT and KICKING – Ki Tavo

 

Fat and Kicking – Ki Tavo

וְהָיָה כִּי תָבוֹא אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר ה' אֱ-לֹקֶיךָ נֹתֵן לְךָ נַחֲלָה וִירִשְׁתָּהּ וְיָשַׁבְתָּ בָּהּ (דברים כו,א).

 

In last week's shiur we explored the methodology of לִדְרֹשׁ סְמּוּכִין, inferring principles from proximity between paragraphs in the Torah. In that shiur we discussed the paragraph preceding the episode of Amalek, the precursor to a situation where Amalek rears his head in the world.

 

By the same measure, it is possible to infer a lesson from the paragraph following the paragraph of Amalek, the beginning of our parsha, the paragraph of the Bikkurim. 

So, what is the connection between Amalek and Bikkurim? The Sfat Emet (כי תבוא, כד, תרנ"ד) says that Amalek is called רֵאשִׁית, as it says רֵאשִׁית גּוֹיִם עֲמָלֵק (במדבר כד, כ) and Bikkurim are also called רֵאשִׁית, as it says מֵרֵאשִׁית כָּל פְּרִי הָאֲדָמָה (כו, ב). In this shiur I would like to bring a different perush on the reason for the proximity between the two, but first a short introduction.

 

Parshat Ki Tavo is the second parsha (in addition to Bechukotai) in the Torah that contains lengthy curses. Ezra HaSofer instituted that these two parshiyot would be read prior to chagim, Bechukotai prior to Shavuot and Ki Tavo prior to Rosh HaShana (with a buffer parsha in between, Bamidbar/Nitzavim). 

The reason given in the Gemara is in order that תִּכְלֶה שָׁנָה וְקִלְלוֹתֶיהָ (Megila 31b). This is understandable for Rosh Hashana, which is the beginning of a new year, when HKB"H decides what our fate will be in the coming year, but why before Shavuot? 

The answer is that on Shavuot, HKB"H decides the fate of fruits of the trees, the agricultural crops, for the coming year.

 

If, however, you examine the paragraphs of the curses, both in Bechukotai and in Ki Tavo, you will see that they are preceded by a paragraph of blessings. So how does this correlate with Ezra HaSofer's decree? 

By reading these parshiyot before the chagim, you are leaving behind both the curses and the blessings, not just the curses? And if you say that it is to usher out the curses and usher in the blessings, why not reverse the order, i.e. begin with curses and then follow with the blessings?

 

In this week's shiur, I would like to explore the mechanism of a concept called וַיִּשְׁמַן יְשֻׁרוּן וַיִּבְעָט (דברים לב, טו), which is actually from parshat Ha'azinu, but has direct bearing on the subject under discussion here. When Moshe rebukes Am Yisrael in parshat Ha'azinu, he states this as a fact, not as a conditional statement. It is not a theoretical concept that might happen, Moshe is saying – it is for sure going to happen!

 

What does וַיִּשְׁמַן יְשֻׁרוּן וַיִּבְעָט mean? Literally it is translated as Yeshurun will get fat and kick.

 

Yeshurun is one of the names HKB"H gave to Am Yisrael, as we say each morning in Shacharit שֶׁמֵּאַהֲבָתְךָ שֶׁאָהַבְתָּ אוֹתוֹ וּמִשִּׂמְחָתְךָ שֶׁשָּׂמַחְתָּ בּוֹ, קָרָאתָ אֶת שְׁמוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל וִישֻׁרוּן. What is the origin of the name Yeshurun? 

We know Moshe calls Am Yisrael – Yeshurun (see above in Ha'azinu), but how do we know HKB"H calls Am Yisrael Yeshurun? The Chatam Sofer brings the Gemara (Megila 18a). 

R' Elazar says that HKB"H called Yaakov א-ל as it says אֵ-ל אֱ-לֹקֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל (בראשית לג, כ). The Chatam Sofer says, that if you take the words א-ל and ישראל together, their gematria is ישורון. That's a nice רֶמֶז by the Chatam Sofer, but we have a passuk meforash of HKB"H calling Am Yisrael "Yeshurun" - אַל תִּירָא עַבְדִּי יַעֲקֹב וִישֻׁרוּן בָּחַרְתִּי בוֹ (ישעיהו מד, ב).

 

Seemingly what this phrase is telling us is that Am Yisrael will get "fat" and "kick", i.e. they will get complacent and too comfortable and rebel against HKB"H. Later I will bring, what I believe to be a better translation of וַיִּשְׁמַן and it has nothing to do with scales.

 

Why does the passuk use the word וַיִּבְעָט to tell us that Am Yisrael will rebel against HKB"H, why "kick"?

 

The Gemara (Avoda Zara 3a) says that the goyim came to complain to HKB"H. "The reason Am Yisrael are your Chosen Nation is because you gave them 613 mitzvot to observe. If you would have given us all these mitzvot, we too would have been your chosen children!" 

HKB"H responded to this claim "You think you would have observed the mitzvot like Am Yisrael? Let's see. I have one small mitzva, an easy mitzva that doesn't cost much, called Sukkah (back then building a Sukkah didn't cost much, today it is not that cheap). Let's see you observe this mitzva".

 

The goyim indeed go ahead and build Sukkot on their roofs. HKB"H then brings the sun out in full force to beat down upon them. A short time later, the goyim can't take the heat anymore and rush out of the Sukkah, kicking it as they leave. HKB"H then laughs at them.

 

The Gemara goes on to ask "But the halacha is מִצְטַעֵר פָּטוּר מִן הַסֻּכָּה, if someone is seriously suffering in the Sukkah (from rain/heat, etc.), you are allowed to exit!" The Gemara answers, "Yes you are allowed to leave the Sukkah according to halacha, but when a Jew leaves under such circumstances, he is very  distressed to leave, he certainly does not kick the Sukkah". 

The reason the goyim kick the Sukkah is not to exhibit remorse or distress, but rather anger and disdain. HKB"H gave them a simple test that they failed. Instead of responding with humility and admittance "Yes, Am Yisrael truly are the Chosen People, they are more spiritually elevated than us", they are angered by their own failing and as result, belittle and reject the Torah "Who needs the Torah anyway!"

 

When Moshe wants to say that Am Yisrael will "rebel" against HKB"H, he uses the word "kick", וַיִּבְעָט, indicating that same disdain as the goyim kicking the Sukkah as they leave – "Who needs HKB"H anyway?"

 

In Ki Tavo (and Bechukotai) the curses are prefaced by blessings. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה בָּעִיר וּבָרוּךְ אַתָּה בַּשָּׂדֶה … בָּרוּךְ טַנְאֲךָ וּמִשְׁאַרְתֶּךָ … יִפְתַּח ה' לְךָ אֶת אוֹצָרוֹ הַטּוֹב אֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם לָתֵת מְטַר אַרְצְךָ בְּעִתּוֹ … and all the other brachot (דברים כח, א-יד). When we read them, it sounds like paradise on earth! 

However, Moshe is telling us וַיִּשְׁמַן יְשֻׁרוּן וַיִּבְעָט, it is not a possibility, but a certainty. When HKB"H gives us all these blessings the inescapable outcome is that we are going to "kick". It may not be immediate, but it will eventually happen.

 

When Am Yisrael first received the Mann, they were in wonder of it, but a few decades later it already became to them לֶּחֶם הַקְּלֹקֵל. Similarly, when Am Yisrael entered Eretz Yisrael and discovered the wonders of the Holy Land - the infrastructure that the goyim built for us, the riches in the walls of the houses, the miraculous natural bounty and beauty of the land. How long did this last? A few short generations. Read sefer Shoftim, it is a repetitious saga of  rebelling against HKB"H and returning to Him.

 

How does this destructive dynamic come about?

 

The first cause is complacency. The first time you see something, it is amazing, wondrous, but the second time you see the same "magic", it is not so impressive. After the 10,000^th time, it becomes – the norm. 

For Am Yisrael who left Egypt, the Mann was miraculous, but their children who were born in the Midbar, they were born into the reality of the Mann, to them it was how the world normally operated. 

Similarly with the first generation who entered Eretz Yisrael under Yehoshua, it was wondrous and amazing, but their grandchildren, who were born in Eretz Yisrael – to them it was the norm.

 

The second cause is propriety. When HKB"H created man, He blessed us פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ וּמִלְאוּ אֶת הָאָרֶץ וְכִבְשֻׁהָ (בראשית א, כח). What does it mean כִבְשֻׁהָ? Most of the Mefarshim (Abarbanel, Sforno, Malbim, etc.) say that by multiplying and inhabiting the earth with human beings, we distance the wild animals and thereby "tame the jungle". However, the Targum Yonatan and Onkelos, translate it differently - וּתְקוּפוּ עֲלָהּ, "you will control it".

 

In other words, כִבְשֻׁהָ means that we will dominate our world. We will discover how it works and will manipulate things in the world for our own benefit. We will discover the principles of aeronautics and build airplanes to allow us to travel quickly from place to place. 

We will discover the secrets of electricity, light, waves, biology, botany, astronomy etc. and we will invent things like light bulbs, telephones, internet, antibiotics, cherry tomatoes, space shuttles.

 

The danger is that we will mistakenly assume "propriety" over these discoveries and inventions and we will think that it was our intelligence that enables us to discover and invent them, our strength and perseverance that enabled us to build skyscrapers that reach up to the clouds, tame the wasteland with millions of acres of fields, growing genetically engineered crops that are juicier, bigger, more pest and climate resistant, creating global villages and global economies proving sustenance and employment for billions and billions of people.

 

We will assume propriety over all these advancements and forget that it was HKB"H that gave us the intelligence, the strength and the perseverance to accomplish all these things. And we will think "Who needs G-d? G-d didn't create cherry tomatoes, the Volcani Institute of genetic agricultural engineering did!" (Actually, Israelis did not invent the cherry tomato, they genetically engineered an existing, tasteless South American weed into something edible and flavorful).

 

The dynamic of וַיִּשְׁמַן יְשֻׁרוּן וַיִּבְעָט begins with prosperity, it emerges from prosperity. And it causes us to forget HKB"H.

 

The Torah is rife with myriad reminders of HKB"H, in everything we do, and they all have one common denominator. Gratitude, says the Alsheich (דברים כו, א) is the cornerstone of the entire Torah. 

Simply saying "Thank you" to HKB"H, is the foundation for every single one of the 613 mitzvot in the Torah. By thanking HKB"H, you are acknowledging that HKB"H is the source of everything, even the accomplishments we attribute to ourselves.

 

There is no mitzva in the Torah that more embodies the principle of gratitude more than the mitzva of bringing Bikkurim to the Beit HaMikdash. By making the huge effort to bring those two measly cherry tomatoes, worth less than 1 NIS (actually right now they are more like 21 NIS, tomatoes is currently a scarce commodity in Israel), that were the first to grow on the bush, that you tied a rubber band around to mark them - you are declaring 

"The Volcani Institute didn't create these cherry tomatoes, it was You, HKB"H. thank you for these cherry tomatoes!". (OK, I can hear you purists saying, they did not bring veggies as Bikkurim, it was only fruit of the Seven Species, but you get the general idea, genetically engineered cherry tomatoes or genetically engineered Majhoul dates, they are all the same principle).

 

The result of rebelling against HKB"H brings Amalek. The Torah immediately follows with the cure, to prevent וַיִּשְׁמַן יְשֻׁרוּן וַיִּבְעָט – Bikkurim, saying thanks to HKB"H – for everything.

 

Right now, Am Yisrael are deep in the midst of a struggle with Amalek and one of the most prominent issues that preoccupies our nation right now is "changing misconceptions", trying to understand how misconceptions led us to the predicament in which we currently find ourselves. Identifying those who were part of the "קוֹנְסֶפְּצִיָּה", putting them on trial and replacing them with their betters who were not. Politicians, generals in the army, heads of the secret services, judges in the Supreme Court, professors in academia, etc.

 

Undoubtedly, this cheshbon nefesh needs to be done, but if you think that it will result in finding a limited number of "scapegoats" that will stand before a tribunal, you are seriously mistaken. There are not enough courts or tribunals in the land that will be able to house all those guilty of the קוֹנְסֶפְּצִיָּה, because we are ALL to blame, the entire Am Yisrael is guilty of the קוֹנְסֶפְּצִיָּה, not just select individuals. We are ALL guilty of וַיִּשְׁמַן יְשֻׁרוּן וַיִּבְעָט.

 

A short 80 years ago Am Yisrael was in galut, without a State and at the whims of dictators and despots. If you think we, Am Yisrael, had it good 80 years ago, then you are a Holocaust denier. 

Out of the inferno of Europe, the State of Israel was born, in a land that for more than half a century had been resuscitated by countless צַדִּיקִים who toiled night and day to drain the swamps, dying of malaria, building the infrastructure that we now reap the fruits of. This was Generation "P" (Pioneers).

 

If you think the first few decades of the established State of Israel were a picnic, then you forget about the wars, the years of צֶנַע, during which basic commodities, like eggs and milk were a luxury. Generation "P" who built this country was not spoiled. They were selfless individuals who had little expectation of reaping the fruits of their own labor and sufficed with the knowledge that it was their children who would do so.

 

They did not suffer from any קוֹנְסֶפְּצִיָּה, it was the next generation,  my generation who are guilty of that. We are Generation "A" (Abundance). We were born into a reality that our parents crafted for us, with the sweat of their brow and often at the sacrifice of their lives. What they themselves did not enjoy, they made sure their children would have – university educations, a safer, more financially secure world to live in.

 

Generation "A" who grew up in the Diaspora, like myself, in the affluence of the West, were a terribly spoiled generation. We had no immediate trauma from wars and loss of life. Generation "A" born in Israel was born into families from Generation "P" who personally experienced the ravages of war. They grew up without parents, or with parents scarred by war. They experienced firsthand the after effects of war and many of them resolved that they would not bequeath that legacy to their children.

 

If the previous Generation "P" drained the swamps and established the state, Generation "A" built modern Israel, the hi-tech, agri-tech industries, the modern cities, highways, train tracks, skyscrapers, abundance beyond compare, no less than any other modern, Western country.

 

You no longer need coupons to buy eggs (right now you might need coupons to buy tomatoes). You walk into a supermarket and the degree of abundance is unfathomable. Thousands of varieties of food, toiletries, cosmetics, cleaning supplies, cookware (all laid out with precision to make you buy more and spend more money). If someone was cryogenically frozen 80 years ago and woke up today and you took them to the local Rami Levy supermarket, they would think that the Mashiach had already arrived and that they are in Gan Eden.

 

A week or two ago this country bumpkin from Karnei Shomron had to drive to Tel Aviv for a doctor's appointment and as I was driving on the Ayalon highway, I experienced the same thing I always experience when driving to Tel Aviv – an almost overwhelming sense of wonder and amazement at the progress, the ever increasing number of skyscrapers, the intricate highway intersections, the bridges, overpasses, railway stations, all the technological progress that has made our fledgling (76-year-old) country the counterpart of more veteran Western countries.

 

If you woke up a cryogenically frozen yeshiva student from 80 years ago and took him on a tour of Bnei Brak and Yerushalayim, passing thousands upon thousands of yeshivot, kollelim, all the tens of thousands of seforim, new sforim, improved editions of old sforim, all the tools that a modern yeshiva student has today at their disposal – he would think that the Mashiach had already arrived and that we are in Gan Eden.

 

The reality is that, compared to 80 years ago, we are living in a reality of Mashiach and Gan Eden, but we don't recognize it as such, because we are traumatized. Generation "A" is traumatized by abundance, we are the generation of exactly what Moshe called וַיִּשְׁמַן יְשֻׁרוּן וַיִּבְעָט.

 

Generation "A", until about 11 months ago, was not living in the reality of existential threat, that Generation "P" lived in. Yes, we have experienced terror attacks and repeated "sivumim" in Lebanon, Shomron and Gaza, but none of them were as existential as say, the War of Independence, the Yom Kippur War.  

 

It is not that we had no problems, we did, but they were "rich man's problems". Not enough budget for yeshivas, not enough budget for the health system, striking teachers every 1^st of September, increasing inflation, problems with our neighbors playing the music too loud, petty machlokot between people in shul, problems with bias in the courts, that kind of problem.

 

We ALL experienced the dynamic of complacency and כֹּחִי וְעֹצֶם יָדִי. Both the religious and secular experienced it.

 

We, the religious Generation "A" became so complacent that we saw no urgency to move ahead with G-d's plan. After 2000 years, in 1948 HKB"H gathered our exiles and gave us Eretz Yisrael on a plate, in 1967 He handed us Har HaBayit on a plate, in 2019 He handed us annexation of Yehuda and Shomron on a plate, sponsored by Donald Trump and the USA. 

However, each time, instead of following the prophecies in the Tanach, the plan, we were too focused on our abundance, too focused on the wrong things. Instead of simply saying THANK YOU HKB"H and graciously accepting these lavish gifts, we concentrated on our own daled amot and preservation of our sectorial abundance. 

We, the religious "messianics" (that the secular like to call us), dropped the ball and instead of actually pursuing the Messianic mission in the Tanach – working to rebuild the Beit HaMikdash, which can only happen when Am Yisrael are united within themselves, we concentrated rather on sectorial budgets for the yeshivas, mamlachti dati schools, political appointments to the Chief Rabbinate, in fighting between different factions of the Charedim and the Dati Leumi sectors. 

We do not deserve to be called "Messianics", because we have not rightfully earned that title. Uniting Am Yisrael and building the Beit HaMikdash is not high on the religious Generation "A" agenda.

 

The secular Generation "A", traumatized by their parents' experience of war and over-zealous in their sense of propriety of all their parents' achievements, developed a "messianic" cult all of their own – peace at all costs. We are strong, our army is strong, look at what we built – Iron Dome, David's Slingshot, Laser weapons (soon to be released), advanced detection systems for tunnels and monitoring fences. 

We are strong, nothing can beat us! וַיִּשְׁמַן does not only mean "fat", it also means "well oiled" – look how well-oiled our כֹּחִי וְעֹצֶם יָדִי is. From our man-made strength comes peace. We can afford to downsize to a "small, smart" army, we can afford to relinquish large tracts of strategic land. The days of existential threat against Israel are over.

 

You can almost imagine HKB"H sitting up there in Heaven, looking down and thinking – "What else can I do to give them the hint? I brought them back to their land. I gave them abundance beyond imagination. I gave them the strength and intelligence to become a regional superpower, economically and militarily. 

Instead of thanking Me and doing what I ask of them, they are all busy taking the credit for themselves, constantly fighting within themselves, concentrating on the טָפֵל and not the עִקַּר, perverting justice and adopting the culture of the goyim! This is what they do with all the שֶׁפַע that I gave them?"

 

And HKB"H sent us wakeup calls. First was COVID – "Remember ME, HKB"H, the One who is running this world?" Next was October 7^th, when we didn't wake up from the first. The illusion of abundance of Generation "A" revolves on a pinhead. In an instant it can flip and disappear.

 

We are ALL to blame for the קוֹנְסֶפְּצִיָּה, we are ALL to stand trial before a tribunal. We will be doing so on Rosh Hashana. What will we say in our defense?

 

The hope is that there is another generation, Generation "M" (Mashiach), the children of our Generation "A". These children also grew up traumatized, traumatized by their parents', our, obsession with abundance, complacency and arrogance. Ironically it was these children who did not grow up in the trauma of war who are now being called upon to wage war, for their parents' mistakes.

 

Generation "M" is not plagued by the ills of their parents. They see the emptiness of materialism and abundance and are hungry for true values. All the while we called them the "Tiktok" generation, more spoiled than even we are, but this is not true – they are more closely aligned with HKB"H's plan than we are. All our misconceptions, petty machlokot, they are not tainted by them.

 

We, Generation "A", need to step aside, and let this wonderful new generation repair our mistakes. These צַדִּיקִים, who are more closely related to Generation "P" than to us, are doing it at the expense of their own lives. Too many lives, Rachmana litzlan.

 

We, Generation "A" need to do tshuva. ALL of us, and oh boy, do we have what to do tshuva for!

 

We can start with one simple word – Thanks. "Thanks HKB"H, that we are still alive, despite all the wrong we have done to You".

 

 

 

Shabbat Shalom

Eliezer Meir Saidel

Machon Lechem Hapanim

www.machonlechemhapanim.org