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Home -> 5775 -> Ki Savo

ארור מכה רעהו בסתר

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Ki Savo, 5775

Accursed is one who strikes his fellow stealthily. (27:24)

Rashi interprets this prohibition as reference to speaking lashon hora, slanderous speech. We do not realize the serious consequences which result from lashon hora. While it is true that refraining from speaking what comes to mind can be difficult, when we realize that the Torah considers it a hakaah, tantamount to striking someone – which most of us would never do – it might serve as a deterrent. We might say or even allude to something ethically or morally negative about someone. This statement might be overheard by someone who conveys the comment to others who embellish it. By the…

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Home -> 5775 -> Ki Savo

ונשארתם במתי מעט

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Ki Savo, 5775

You will be left few in number. (28: 62)

What a terrible curse. Our numbers will diminish as a result of the troubles of the exile to which we will be subjected. What makes it worse is the loneliness that results from depleted numbers. When one is the member of a large group, he will always find a partner, someone to whom he can gravitate and develop a friendship. When the numbers are greatly diminished, however, allowing for one person in one place and another distant from him, the feeling of loneliness begins to set in. The curse of b’m’sei me’at, being left few in number, has a dual…

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Home -> 5775 -> Ki Savo

והשיבך ד' מצרים באניות בדרך אשר אמרתי לך לא תוסיף עוד לראותה

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Ki Savo, 5775

Hashem will return you to Egypt in ships, on the way of which I said to you, “You shall never again see it.” (28:68)

With this curse, Moshe Rabbeinu concludes the dread Tochachah, Admonition. Ramban explains why the tragic Egyptian experience serves as the climax of the Admonition. A slave dreads the idea of being forced to return to the very land where he had originally been subjugated and humiliated, and from which he was overjoyed to be liberated. Accordingly, we derive from here that returning to one’s past, descending a notch in his spiritual journey, is devastating. Horav Chaim Zaitchik, zl, expounds on the tragedy of one who had achieved spiritual eminence and then fell backwards, descending to a point which he had…

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Home -> 5774 -> Ki Savo

ושמחת בכל הטוב אשר נתן לך ד' אלקיך

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Ki Savo, 5774

You shall rejoice with all of the goodness that Hashem, your G-d, has given you. (26:11)

The Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh writes that b’chol hatov, “all of the goodness,” alludes to the Torah, for there is no greater “good” other than Torah. He adds that if people would sense the incredible unparalleled sweetness and pleasantness associated with the Torah, people would go out of their minds in pursuit of Torah. Money would have no value; nothing would have value, for the Torah includes within it everything – all of the goodness in the world. In his hakdamah, preface, to his Iglei Tal, the Sochatchover Rebbe, zl, writes, “Chazal’s dictum, Mitzvos lav l’henos nitnu, ‘The performance of mitzvos…

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Home -> 5774 -> Ki Savo

והיה אם שמוע תשמע בקול ד' אלקיך... ונתנך... עליון על כל גוי הארץ. ובאו עליך כל הברכות האלה

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Ki Savo, 5774

It shall be that if you listen to the voice of Hashem, your G-d… Then (He)… will make you supreme over the nations of the earth. All these blessings will come upon you. (28:1,2)

The Torah enumerates a number of material blessings which are wide ranging and encompass every area of material life. What should be the primary and most significant blessing? “He will make you supreme over the nations of the earth” seems to be presented more as a hakdamah, prelude, to the rest. One would think that our supremacy in the world, the respect, admiration, and certainly the lack of animus against us would not only be an introduction to the blessing – but rather, the greatest blessing in its own right. Horav Zev Weinberger, Shlita, explains that the Torah is teaching…

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Home -> 5774 -> Ki Savo

ברוך אתה בעיר וברוך אתה בשדה

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Ki Savo, 5774

Blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the field. (28:3)

A Jew shall remain blessed whether he is in the city together with his chaburah, social group, or if he is alone in the field, away from everyone. Horav Yaakov Galinsky, zl, recalls his years as a student in the Novaradok Yeshivah, an institution which imbued its students with a sense of commitment to Torah and mitzvos that transcend time and place and even social support. Wherever a Novaradoker student found himself, he was somehow able to transcend the vicissitudes of life and the challenges they presented. For example, Rav Galinsky and a group of students were banished to a…

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Home -> 5774 -> Ki Savo

ולא נתן ד' לכם לב לדעת ועינים לראות ואזנים לשמוע עד היום הזה

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Ki Savo, 5774

But Hashem did not give you a heart to know, or eyes to see, or ears to hear until this day. (29:3)

Moshe Rabbeinu tells the people that only now, after forty years of miraculous sojourn in the wilderness, with danger at every turn, were the people finally able to acknowledge the all-encompassing gratitude they owed Hashem. It takes common sense, wisdom and insight to appreciate fully the debt of gratitude we owe those who have helped us in our achievements. Sadly, many of us refuse to engage our common sense, either because it then behooves us to show our gratitude to others – which is difficult for some – or because a festering bitterness makes us angry and resentful of anything…

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Home -> 5754 -> Ki Savo

Sruly Schnair
In Ki Savo, 5754

“And the Egyptians dealt ill with us and afflicted us.” (26:6)

Most commentators translate the word osanu as lanu, to/with us, referring to the harsh treatment to which we were subjected at the hands of the Egyptians.  Horav Mordechai Gifter, Shlita, suggests that the literal meaning is a more propitious definition. When the Egyptian leadership sought to enslave and ultimately destroy the Jewish people, they realized it would be difficult to convince the average Egyptian citizen to participate in this blatant anti- semitism.  They understood that first they must perform a successful campaign of vicious character assassination against the Jewish people. This negative propaganda would veil their virulent hatred of the…

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Home -> 5754 -> Ki Savo

Sruly Schnair
In Ki Savo, 5754

“And you shall take of the first of all the fruit of the ground… and you shall speak up and say before Hashem your G-d… When you make an end of the tithing of all the tithe… and you shall give unto the Levi, the ger, the orphan and the widow. And you should say before Hashem your G-d.” (26:12,13,25)

The parsha refers to two mitzvos which applied only when Klal Yisrael occupied Eretz Yisrael. They are the mitzvos of bikurim, the bringing of the first fruits, and maaser, the giving of tithes to the Levi, the widow and the orphan. Another tithe was maaser sheni, which was brought to Yerushalayim to be eaten among family and friends in joyful celebration. The fulfillment of each of these mitzvos was accompanied by a tefillah, prayer. One was known as mikra bikurim, the reading of pesukim of thanksgiving for the first fruits; the other was known as viduy maaser, the confession of…

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Home -> 5754 -> Ki Savo

Sruly Schnair
In Ki Savo, 5754

“Blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the field.” (28:3)

The Midrash adds to this pasuk. “In the merit of the mitzvos that you perform in the city you will be blessed therein; and in the merit of the mitzvos which you perform in the field, you will be blessed in the field.” What is this message and what are the mitzvos of the city and the field? Horav Mordechai Rogov z.l. interprets this Midrash homiletically. The city is an analogy for rest and solitude, peace and tranquility. It alludes to life in a structured, secure environment. The field, on the other hand, represents a place fraught with danger and…

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