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This week’s parshah, Ki Tavo, like several parshiot before it, contains rules which the Jews have to follow in the Promised Land.  These rules are given to the Jews by Moses, who got them from God.  In fact, Ki Tavo means “when you enter.”

Ki Tavo’s first sentence says that when the Israelites enter the Promised Land, they had to take the first fruit of the soil, put it in a basket and pray to acknowledge that God has given them the land.  And then God wants them to party, because they are supposed to celebrate what God has given to them.

Now, after all this partying, it’s time for the Israelites to get down to business.  Like all of us here today, they had to pay taxes.  But these taxes go to charity. 

After the partying and the paying, Moses gathers all the people and tells them to take large stones, coat them with plaster and write the words of “God’s teaching” on them.

After the Jews cross the Jordan River they are supposed to set up large stones as an altar.  Moses specifically orders them to not use any tools to build the altar.  At that altar, the Jews are supposed to make sacrifices, eat them, and party some more. 

Moses speaks to the Jews and says “Sh’ma Yisrael,” Listen Israel, today you have become the people of God.”  Now that they are God’s people they have to follow God’s rules and observe God’s commandments.

Moses goes on to talk to the Jews about blessings and curses.  He warned them about what actions are acceptable and not acceptable.

Some of the actions that would result in punishment are:

• making idols
• hurting people physically
• not respecting parents, needy people or people who are dependent
• and disrespecting the Torah and its commandments.

Punishments for these behaviors would be:

• disease
• bad weather for their farms
• leprosy, insanity, deafness and blindness
• their animals would be killed
• their houses would be destroyed
• their farms would not prosper
• they wouldn’t be connected to their families
• and family members would die.

Moses also told the people what blessings would occur if they follow the commandments, such as:

• profits from the success of their products
• safe travels
• overcoming their enemies
• and gaining prosperity.

Early in the Torah God told Abraham that his family members would be as numerous as the stars in the sky.  Now God is threatening to wipe out the whole Jewish nation if they don’t listen to God’s rules.

God also threatens that if they don’t follow the laws they will never be content, and they will be sent back to Egypt where they will be given up to their enemies as slaves. 

Now that the Jews are not slaves anymore, they are able to make their own decisions and choices, which gives them independence and responsibilities.

Moses reciting the blessings and curses is like a guidebook, because the Jews are told what will happen if they do good things and what will happen if they do bad things. 

Ibn Ezra, the medieval commentator on the Torah, said that the “blessings are uttered in broad general terms, while curses are stated in greater detail to awe and frighten the audience.”

The philosopher and commentator Maimonides adds that people who have just emerged from slavery cannot understand the world except by knowing that if you do a good deed you get a reward, and if you do a bad deed, you will get a punishment.  Maimonides thinks that these newly freed slaves are only able to understand the world if blessings and curses come automatically.

Ibn Ezra also explains the following Torah verse:  “you will serve other gods…and you will be a horror”. 

He teaches that this is a curse and yet a blessing.  The curse is that if the Jews pray to idols everyone who saw them, including God, would be horrified by their actions. 

Ibn Ezra goes on to explain what about this could be a blessing.  If the Jews had prayed to other idols and not have been punished for their bad deeds, assimilation would have occurred, and the Jews would not have survived.

In this parashah, we also become the chosen people.  Earlier in the Torah the people of Israel are referred to as goy kadosh.  Goy kadosh is a nation like other nations.  Now in this parashah we are referred to as am kadosh, “a people with a spiritual purpose.” 

Moses tells the people “Silence, hear O Israel, today you have become the people of the Lord your God.”  The Hebrew word that is used is am, or people, not goy, which is used for all people.  God singled out the Jews for a purpose, and with the purpose comes blessings, and curses, rules and regulations.

Rabbi Joseph Telushkin says that the Torah doesn’t tell us why we are the chosen people, but, in his opinion, the only explanation is that we are chosen for publicity. 

In the story of Chanukah, when the Maccabees defeated the Greeks, that was a miracle of God.  If the Greeks had won over the Maccabees, the Greeks would have had a hard time proving it was because their gods had performed a miracle.  After all, they had a vast army and the Maccabees had none. 

We are the chosen people not because of our vast population, but, according to Rabbi Telushkin because we are a small population.  In a small group like ours, any miraculous event would bring knowledge of God’s greatness.

A miracle in a large population, especially in a time without email or CNN, would be hard to communicate. 

Even though the Jews have messed up in the Torah, like disobeying God by:

• making the golden calf
• being mean and nasty, like Joseph’s brothers
• breaking the ten commandments, and sinning

we are chosen for a spiritual purpose.

The Jews have existed for thousands of years and the Torah is volume one to our many stories.  So maybe the miracle of the Jewish people being chosen - was that it happened so early in our vast history.

Our status as am kadosh gave us strength and confidence to prosper, survive, achieve and learn, during the different parts of our history.  And having the Torah as a guide from the beginning, has given us structure and rules and standards.

In Ki Tavo we learn that God wanted the Jewish people to write the Torah on stones.  Many commentators believe that it was not one stone, or two stones, or even three stones, but twelve.  However, we don’t have enough information to know how many there were. 

Now as you might imagine, writing the Torah on twelve stones, no matter how big they are, is an extremely hard task.  The Jews are commanded to write the words on the stone  “very plainly.” 

Chazal interprets that “very plainly” means in all seventy languages, so that everyone can understand what has been written.  But Oznayim Latorah thinks differently.  Plaster, on which the words of the Torah were written, washes away with rain.  So the next time it rained, it would be gone.

Oznayim believes that the Jews wrote the words of the Torah on the rock and then put the plaster on, so as not to show non-Jews the teachings of the Torah. 

So what was actually on these stones?  Technically, it should have all the stories of the Torah.  Yet that seems hard, since the whole entire Torah was not written yet.  But some main parts of the Torah were.  Dr. J. H. Hertz believes that instead of the whole Torah, all that was written was the 613 commandments.

Other commentators believe that a summary of the Torah was written on the stones.  But after finding the Hammurabi Code with 8,000 words engraved on one stone, many believe that it is possible that the whole Torah could have been written on twelve stones. 

The Italian scholar, Abarbanel, wrote that the stones were set up, not next to each other, but on top of each other so that they would serve as a memorial and everyone would be able to see them. 

The commentators want to know how many stones there were and what was written on the stones.  But there are other questions that they haven’t tried to answer. 

Why write the Torah down?  Why write anything down?

As I’ve already mentioned, after the Jews wrote the Torah on the stones, Moses told the Jews that today they are God’s people.  Why so abruptly?  Could it be that as the Jews wrote the Torah down they are finalizing their belief? 

After finishing a report, or paper, or speech, when you press the print key, you feel a sense of completion.  Maybe not only are you finishing your paper, but you are finalizing it, ready to turn it in. 

Most people don’t want to turn in a paper they don’t believe in, just as the Jews wouldn’t want to turn in something they had worked so hard on but didn’t even care about. 

Do you know the feeling, maybe before you are assigned a report, when your teacher asks you a question and the answer is on the tip of your tongue but you just can’t say it?  I think it is because you don’t understand the question fully. 

• Maybe that’s why the teacher gave you the report.  While you are doing the research and rereading your information, and writing it down, you understand it more. 
• Maybe that’s why God and Moses gave the Jews that task to begin with.  I think that when you write something down you are able to understand it better, and it makes your ideas and points clearer.

So as that thin white paper comes sliding out of your printer you realize that finally your idea is real, and everyone will be able to see it.  Instead of it being on the tip of your tongue, it is on a sheet of paper, black and white.

The Jews, seeing their finished work, must have felt some kind of appreciation, not only of God, but of their own selves, for being able to complete this process and make it real.

Even though the Jews had finished writing the Torah on the stones, their work’s not done yet. 

Now all the Jews have the opportunity to fully read what is on the stones.  And even though not everyone can read, everyone will be able to hear the exact same thing. 

As some of my school friends might remember, in kindergarten, my class did Trumpet of the Swans as a read-aloud.  In second grade, I read it by myself.  The second time around I was able to understand it more, and find hidden meanings that I had never seen before, in some of the sections.  This has happened with many other books. 

So as the Jews were reading the Torah again and again, they had the chance to find hidden meanings in it, to scrutinize it, and, to understand it.

What do you think we are doing today?  Right now? 

What do you think I’m talking to you about? 

We’re re-reading the Torah, understanding it more fully every year, and finding our own meanings as the parashiot come and go.

Why was this the very time God decided it was time for the Jews to write the Torah down?  -  It had been 39 years since the Jews left Egypt.  Most of the people who were slaves were dead.  The children of these former slaves had heard stories such as “when I was your age I walked through a sea to get out of Egypt,” but they had not witnessed any big miracles for themselves.

So God told them to write the Torah down so that the Jews would be able to really see their own story.  Instead of hearing it from their old parents, they were seeing it for themselves.  That gave them an experience of God in their own lives.

Sometimes my Mom and Dad leave me alone in the house.  Most of the time, they tell me things that I should be doing while they are gone.  “Wash the windows, vacuum the carpets, clean the tables, practice the violin, do the laundry, don’t answer the door, don’t use heating elements, or a credit card...”

But before they can start, I’d yell, “hold that thought,” and run and get a pen and a notebook.  Then I’d write down everything they told me to do, and they would leave.

So here I am, alone in the house for a few hours, with a couple of things to do, and what’s my first instinct?  -  I run and plop my butt right on the couch and turn on the TV. 

So I’m surfing through the channels when I hear a little voice:  “Katherine, you’ve got work to do!”  Yes, it’s my to-do list calling me.  And I’ve got to go do it. 

Maybe this isn’t so realistic, but you’ve got the point.  When somebody gives you a to-do list, it’s almost like they’re there in person, making sure you didn’t miss a spot cleaning the table or that you practice your scales. 

Maybe God made the Jews write down the Torah so that the commandments would be with them whenever and wherever they went, talking quietly in their ears.  “Judah, don’t forget, it’s Shabbos tonight!”  “Miriam, that apple doesn’t belong to you, don’t take it!”

Another question that the commentators didn’t really discuss was why the people have to carry the stones with them.

Why carry the stones?  I mean if the Jews are willing to carry huge, heavy, numerous rocks, it must be important, because why would a lot of people want to carry such a burden unless they truly believed that it was worthwhile?

When I first read this section I was surprised at how much the Jews cared and how much they risked doing this task.  I found it to be rare to see such care in a hard task. 

But then I realized lots of people find things that are very challenging and dangerous important to them.  Like soldiers in the army, firefighters risking their lives or police officers fighting crime.  

Remember, Moses just told the Jews that they are God’s people.  Being chosen for a specific purpose comes with its obligations.

But haven’t we been God’s people since Abraham? 

During many parts of the Torah we have sinned and been punished.  Could this task possibly be a pop quiz?  And could our grades be the key to being God’s people once again? 

I think that by following the instruction to carry such heavy objects across a river, the people were proving to God how dedicated they were.

As I mentioned, maybe the new generation of Jews needed to see a big miracle from God. 

Maybe the miracle is not only having these huge stones and the words that are written on them, but also having the drive to carry them across the river. 

Most people think that miracles are events that people stand by and watch in amazement.  But can’t a miracle be inside of you?  This kind of thing helps you understand the purpose of the commandment and gives you the strength to carry not only big stones, but big teachings too.

So as the Jews cross the Jordan, a generation of Jews who are more mature, have the opportunity to take their important lessons with them.  God is like a parent, nurturing the Jews and then when they are old enough, giving them the independence they need to survive. 

As a bat mitzvah I am becoming an adult in the Jewish community, and technically, I am becoming more independent.  But even if I am going to Starbucks with a friend or just picking up my lunch from the store I always have instructions. 

Maybe it’s just to look both ways before crossing the street, just a little reminder that is always somewhere in my mind.  Even when you feel you are on your own, you still have instructions to follow, and lessons to build on, follow and teach.

To become a bat mitzvah I feel like you must have taught someone by examining the parasha, discussing the interpretations of the commentators, and by giving you my own thoughts. 

So, here I am, with my thoughts written down in black and white, and I am teaching them to you because I believe in them, because I hope that you will think about them, build on them, use them, and teach them, just as God wanted the Jews in Ki Tavo to do with the Torah and its lessons. 

Maybe you don’t agree with some of my points, but that’s OK.  If I have got you thinking so that you are coming up with your own ideas, then I can stop talking and we are that much closer to lunch. 

Thanks to those of you who have taught me so I can teach you. 

Special thanks to a few special teachers: 

The Rabbi, for helping me with this speech and for showing me how to take things I believe in and act on them, like the Darfur rally and the Aids Walk.

My Aunt, Cantor Elizabeth, for helping me understand why I am here today, and for leading a wonderful service.

My dad, for being himself, and I love him for that.

And my tutor, principal and mother, who has taught me so much through my whole life, and whom I love very much.

Shabbat Shalom.