REB GINSBOURG - Blessing and curses
‘Do not think that these oaths are imposed on you alone- as if, but for this, you would not serve Hashem.'
Our Parasha relates, (27:9: on ‘(27:9)The day’ that ‘you have become a people to Hashem, your G-d’, (27:11-26) ‘Moshe commanded.. the people that..when you have crossed the Yarden ..Shimon, Levi, Yehuda, Issachar, Yosef and Binyamin shall stand on Har Gerizim, to bless the people..and Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zevulon, Dan and Naphtali shall stand for the curse on Har Ebal.
‘The,Leviim shall speak up and say to every man of Israel’, the twelve curses then related, culminating with:’Accursed is the one who will not uphold the words of this Torah, to perform them’ - And the entire people shall say: ‘Amen’.’
The Alshich Hakadosh expounds: ’Moshe saw, that when the people entered the Land - and he not being with them to warn them - they will see the six tribes stand on Har Gerizim, and the six on Har Ebal, and that the Kohanim Leviim, with the Arc in the middle, between the two mountains, turn their faces against Har Gerizim, and pronounce the blessings commanded - and then, turn their faces towards Har Ebal, and utter the curses commanded.
‘Surely their hearts will fall, saying to themselves:’Are we ‘worse than the Kohanim Leviim, that they are the ones who say all this to us, as if they are righteous - and not us, as if, but for these oaths, we would not serve Hashem -when, we truly serve Hashem from ourselves?
‘What did Moshe do? He joined himself with the Kohanim Leviim, to speak to the hearts of the people, to appease them, as we read:(27:9):’Moshe and the Kohanim, the Leviim, spoke to all israel, saying..This day you have become a people to Hashem, your G-d., intimating that:Let it not enter your mind, חלילה, that we are righteous, and you are not.
‘Do not think that these oaths are imposed on you alone- as if, but for this, you would not serve Hashem.
‘Rather, this day you have merited to become His people, and therefore accept His decree, ‘and hearken to the voice of Hashem, your G-d’, which is said in juxtaposition to the curses.
‘Had you been no less righteous than us, we would still have warned you - not because you needed to be warned, and needed to ensure that you observed the mitzvot - as ‘this day you have become a people to Hashem’.
‘Though this surely reassured them, there remained one matter, which would surely concern half the tribes: They being the six tribes who stood on Har Ebal, thinking: our brethren are standing on Har Gerizim, and being blessed, whilst we stand on Har Ebal, and are hearing curses.
‘Therefore, in his lifetime - as it says:’on that day’, Moshe commanded:’These will stand and bless.. and these shall stand for the curse..’, and they will accept this, knowing that whatever Moshe said, came from Hakadosh-Baruch- Hu, and that It was Hashem who decreed the matter.
‘To further put their minds at rest, Moshe preceded the blessings and curses, with the word:(27:11)’saying’ - alluding to those standing on Har Gerizim - ‘those standing to bless the people’, meaning: you are not receiving the blessings just for themselves, when the Kohanim turn to face them, nor will they accept curses just for themselves - the blessings that will be uttered to all the people, including those on the other har, as they are being blessed for all of the people.
‘Therefore, none of the curses that are said to those on the other mountain, attach just to them, but equally to their brethren.
‘This is why it is said:’stand for the curse on Har Ebal’, meaning: those standing above, without any ire being attached to those standing opposite the utterers - this being the meaning of ‘on the curse’, so that thereby their concerns will be allayed.’
Rav Yitzchak Karo opens his commentary with a number of queries.
First, he asks: ’Why was the order of the first curse’ - against the making of a graven or molten image - ‘, different than all the other curses, as here it said:’the entire people shall speak up and say:’Amen’, whereas in all the other curses it only says: the entire people shall say:’Amen’.
‘Second: Why were these transgressions selected, to be cursed, more than other transgressions, when the Torah is replete with serious transgressions?
‘Third: why was there a need for two harim for the blessings and the curses - would one not have sufficed for both?
‘Fourth: it was a great offence to the tribes who were on Har Ebal, to be cursed - why were they so humiliated, that the rest of the tribes should be on the other har, and be blessed - yet they be on the curses? Should they not have immediately objected to Moshe at their treatment, compared to their brethren - what sin had they committed, to merit this, more than their brethren?
‘The answer to the first query, was that the subject of the curse was idol worship, and the acceptance of all the people at Matan Torah, was: ’All that Hashem said, we shall do and we shall observe’ - and this was on idol worship: whether it was their will that Hashem be to them their G-d, and they be to Him, His people.
‘As is known, one who engages in idol worship is deemed to be an apostate to the whole Torah - this is why, in regard to idol worship, ‘the entire people, shall speak up, and say:’Amen’.
‘The answer to the second query - why these transgressions, and not others, were chosen for curses - is that they are all offences which are committed secretly. For this reason, in the first curse - one who makes a graven or a molten image, will do so in secret, as are all the other transgressions cursed - the Torah did not curse those which were done openly, as they would be punished by the Beit Din.
‘As to the fourth query - the offence to the half of the tribes, who were ‘on the curse’ - two answers can be given: if one rebukes one who is from a good family, he is adjured: do not transgress, remember who your family is - go in their ways, and you will be blessed from Above.
‘If his ancestors were not righteous, admonish him: do not go in their ways, that curses came upon you.
‘Therefore, to the tribes who stood on Har Gerizim, we say: go in their ways of your forefather, Avraham - and therefore they were addressed in their ways way of blessing.
‘To the offspring of the concubines - on the other hand - adjure them not to be like their mothers and their fathers, so as not to bring curses on themselves.
‘This explains the need for two mountains - and one did not suffice - as the curses were necessary for some of the tribes, and not the others - and so too, the blessings.’
The Malbim comments:’We find, when we read those who receive a curse, that they are all done secretly’, as he then shows this to be the case in each of them, in detail.
He concludes with the ‘one who will not uphold the words of the Torah, to perform them’, expounding:’Here he included the whole of the Torah, which - as Rashi comments - the people all accepted on themselves by an oath.
‘The Ramban says, that in his opinion, the acceptance was that they would acknowledge the mitzvot in their hearts, that they will be the truth in his eyes, and that he believes that one who observes them, will be rewarded and the one who transgresses against them, will be punished - and, if he should deny one of them, so that in his eyes it is nullified, he will be cursed.’
Rabbeinu Bachya comments: ’There are here mentioned 11 transgressions that a person can perform in secret, beginning with one that is between man and his Creator - and then, between man and his parents, as who will know, if he should disrespect them in private.
‘Similarly, one who moves the boundary of his fellow - is done secretely, as is one who causes a blind person to go astray on the road, as that person is unable to make known who misled him.
‘Similarly, one who perverts the judgement of a ger, orphan or widow, who have no one to come to their aid, so it, too, is done in secret - which would not be the case of others, whose objections would be made public.
‘This, too, in the case of one who lies with the wife of his father, or his mother-in-law, or his sister, as he is unlikely to be suspected of relations with them, and these are therefore acts unlike other transgressions - as is the case with lying with an animal which has no mouth to protest, as would occur with another human being - so too, one who takes a bribe, be it the judge, or the witness, to give false testimony.
‘This is the exposition of the sage, Rav Avraham.’
Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch adds: ’When it says:’To bless the people’, it is not to receive the blessing themselves, but to pronounce the blessing for all of the people - so too, to ‘stand for the curse’, does not mean to stand without moving, so that the curse which is uttered reaches them, but, rather, aiding and participating in the execution of a task.
‘The people themselves are required to utter blessing and curse, and this has to be performed openly in the presence of the assembled people. There was a need to show that the Leviim did not utter blessing and curse on the people, as independent representatives of the Torah, but rather, as representatives of the people and in their name - meaning: the people said the blessing and the curse on themselves, and therefore, when these sayings were uttered, the Leviim did not stand on the peak of the har, to bring down from there blessing and curse on the people, but the people divided into two parts - half against half - and the Leviim stood in the middle, so that what was said by the Leviim was said from the midst of the people themselves, and when these sayings were people answered ‘Amen’, the sayings of the Leviim was the saying of the people.
‘’Curse’- we have already explained that the transgressions specified here are, in general, those committed out of the sight of people, and society which is law- abiding, cannot deal with them.
‘They are therefore given here to divine supervision, which decrees blessing and curse.
‘This is made clear in several of the psukim, where they are said to be acts done ‘in secret’.
‘The other transgressions which are the subject of ‘curse’, are acts which - though it does not say so - are by their nature, performed ‘in secret’ and it is this, which causes them to be ‘cursed’.
‘We find that all these act are corrupt from an ethical and societal point of view, whilst retaining externally an appearance of legitimacy.
‘This, then, is what underlies these cursed acts: they are ‘cursed’ and therefore one who engages in them, will not succeed; he presents himself to the world as one who cleaves to Hashem, but in secret he is an apostate, denying, by his actions, Divine providence and that Hashem alone conducts all that happens.’
Haktav veHakabalah adds, on the last of the transgressors who are the subject of a curse -‘one who will not uphold the words of this Torah, to perform them’ -‘It has been well said, that there are people who show themselves in public as engaged in mitzvot and in Torah, when, in fact, their main objective is to use this as a cover to deceive people, to consider them as righteous men of good deeds.
‘They do this, so that they will be appointed in charge of public and charitable funds - these deceitful people are truly detested in the eyes of Hashem and it is concerning them that there are people Torah says:accursed are ones who will not uphold the words of the Torah, to perform them’ - as one who ‘upholds the words of the Torah, to perform them’, has first and foremost to intend to perform them, not to present himself as performing mitzvot - this being his deceitful intent.’
A parting gem from Rav Moshe Sternbuch:’’To bless the people’ - Rashi brings the gemara (Sotah 36.):Six tribes ascended to the peak of Har Gerizim, and six to the peak of Har Ebal, and the Kohanim and the Leviim, with the Ark, below, in the middle; the Leviim turned their faces towards Har Gerizin and opened with the blessing:’Blessed is the man who does not make a graven or a molten image.. and these and these answered ‘Amen’. They then turned their faces towards Har Ebal, and opened with the curse: ’Cursed is the man who makes..’, and so with all the ‘cursed’, till ‘cursed is the man who will not uphold..’.
‘This teaches us, that the Leviim, who have no inheritance in the Land and - from a material point of view - are at the bottom of the ladder, depending on the charity of others, for their sustenance - having only the covenant of Hashem, and His Torah - whilst the rest of the tribes have material wealth, and are regarded by the world as successful - lacking for nothing.
‘Yet, all the people are dependent for their spiritual future, on the Leviim, as the blessing to Israel comes from the Torah scholars, and the servants of Hashem amongst them.’
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