Parashat Ki Tavo 5786
Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, Rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Sites
Parashat Ki Tavo opens with a demand to be joyful. This instruction comes after the commandment concerning the bikkurim – the first fruits of the Seven Species that grew on the trees – and bringing them to the Temple.
“And you shall rejoice in all the good that the Lord your God has given you and your household, you, the Levite, and the stranger who is in your midst.”
(Deuteronomy 26:11)
The Torah demands that a person rejoice in all the goodness that has been given to him. Joy is not merely a private feeling in a person’s heart; it is also expressed by sharing with others the goodness that has been given to him.
We find a similar idea immediately afterward, in the mitzvah of ma’aser ani – the tithe for the poor. This mitzvah requires the owner of a field, in the third and sixth years of the seven-year Shemittah cycle, to set aside one-tenth of his produce and give it to the poor. The Torah does not suffice with the act of giving itself. The manner in which it is done also has significance. As Rashi quotes the words of the Mishnah regarding the verse:
“I have done everything that You commanded me” – I rejoiced and brought joy through it.
(Mishnah, Ma’aser Sheni 5:12)
A person asks the Creator to bestow goodness upon him because he rejoices in fulfilling the mitzvah, and he also brought joy to another person through it, with a warm countenance and a generous heart.
There is a great difference between a person who gives because he has no choice and a person who gives out of joy. The first carried out the act; the second revealed through the act what is taking place in his heart.
Joy reveals that the mitzvah is not merely an external obligation, but an expression of love for the Creator and of trust that the path of Torah does not take goodness away from a person, but rather leads him toward it.
When a person gives another a portion of the fruits of his labor, there could be some resentment. After all, he invested his time, his strength, and his effort. Why should he give part of it to someone else?
It is precisely there that joy is tested.
If a person gives with a warm and welcoming feeling, that he is privileged to fulfill the will of the Creator, he reveals that his relationship with God is not a transaction of give and take, but one of absolute faith – that even when he gives, he does not lose, and his true gain is in fulfilling the will of his Creator.
For this reason, later in the parasha, after the 98 curses that may befall those who do not observe the Creator’s commandments are mentioned, the Torah points to a particularly surprising factor as the root of the problems and troubles that befall a person:
“And all these curses shall come upon you… because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and with a glad heart, out of the abundance of everything.”
(Ibid., 28:45–47)
This statement is puzzling, since joy is perceived by most people as a luxury, and not as such a serious and binding requirement that someone who refrains from it would deserve to have all these curses come upon him.
The explanation is this: Imagine a person saying to his close friend, “I love you very much,” but his face is expressionless, his voice is cold, and he seems distant. Would his friend believe him? When a person truly loves someone and is in their company, that love is evident in his facial expressions and body language.
So too with the service of God. A person can fulfill mitzvot as external actions, but the question the Torah poses is deeper: What is happening within your heart when you perform them?
A person who is not joyful about what he has, and who finds it difficult to serve God “with joy and with a glad heart,” is lacking something deeper. It is not merely the action itself, but the inner connection with the One who commanded him to perform it. And this is one of the most difficult curses of all: to live a life in which one’s external actions and inner world are not in sync.
This is precisely the message of the month of Elul.
According to the teachings of Chassidut, Elul is a month of joy, the month in which “the King is in the field” – close to every person. It is a time when a person is given a new opportunity to change, to cleanse the past, and to turn a new page.
For this reason, the parasha being read during these days teaches a clear message: Before you enter the new year, learn to rejoice in who you are and in the path you have chosen. Rejoice in the privilege of being Jewish and in the opportunity to fulfill the commandments of the Creator. Rejoice in the goodness that has been given to you – and above all, rejoice even when you give some of that goodness to another.
