Parashat Ki Tavo is all about returning and starting anew. The people of Israel stand at the border, about to cross into the land of Israel. They are so close, and Moses continues to profess his hopes and dreams for them when they arrive, this time focusing on the potential blessings that lay in wait for the people, or the curses that might arise should the people not follow in God’s ways.
This moment is filled with possibility. It’s what happens towards the end of a very long journey through trial and tribulation that has tested us in so many ways. And arriving on the other side of the journey to the promised land doesn’t mean that everything will just be great or that everything will be the same.
Remember, we WERE in the promised land! Before Egypt! Before the plague and famine that took us out of Canaan to Egypt. And we didn’t even know how good we had it then. And now that we’re heading back towards the promised land, the first thing the Torah tells us to do is acknowledge gratitude.
Ellie is going to tell us a bit more about the ritual a little bit later this morning, but there is a script we are supposed to follow in this particular ritual. And what’s the script that we are supposed to say in that moment of acknowledgement and gratitude? Arami Oved Avi!
The story of our people’s entire journey, on one foot. The one that we recite each year at the Passover seder.
We recite this formula remembering the trauma we went through. We don’t forget, we bring it along with us. And once we’re there and we’ve repeated our story, we look around, and we ground ourselves in joy.
וְשָׂמַחְתָּ֣ בְכָל־הַטּ֗וֹב אֲשֶׁ֧ר נָֽתַן־לְךָ֛ ה׳ אֱלֹקֶיךָ וּלְבֵיתֶ֑ךָ אַתָּה֙ וְהַלֵּוִ֔י וְהַגֵּ֖ר אֲשֶׁ֥ר בְּקִרְבֶּֽךָ׃
And you shall rejoice in all the good that your God has given to you and to your household, to everyone who dwells in your midst. We are actively instructed to acknowledge the good. To pause, to look around, to take everything in, and to celebrate. When we actually give ourselves the opportunity, time, and space, to do this, so much good can come from it.
And only once we are in this space of gratitude and acknowledgment can we look inwards to ourselves and redirect ourselves for the future. The past guides us towards how we must act in the present.
And that’s how the parsha continues. Listen to these next three verses. Do you hear a particular word or phrase that comes out of the story?
7. Deuteronomy 26:16-19 דברים כו:טז
(16) The LORD your God commands you this day to observe these laws and rules; observe them faithfully with all your heart and soul.
(17) You have affirmed this day that the LORD is your God, that you will walk in God’s ways, that you will observe God’s laws and commandments and rules, and that you will obey God.
(18) And the LORD has affirmed this day that you are, as God promised you, God’s treasured people who shall observe all God’s commandments,
(טז) הַיּ֣וֹם הַזֶּ֗ה ה׳ אֱלֹקֶיךָ מְצַוְּךָ֧ לַעֲשׂ֛וֹת אֶת־הַחֻקִּ֥ים הָאֵ֖לֶּה וְאֶת־הַמִּשְׁפָּטִ֑ים וְשָׁמַרְתָּ֤ וְעָשִׂ֙יתָ֙ אוֹתָ֔ם בְּכָל־לְבָבְךָ֖ וּבְכָל־נַפְשֶֽׁךָ׃
(יז) אֶת ה׳ הֶאֱמַ֖רְתָּ הַיּ֑וֹם לִהְיוֹת֩ לְךָ֨ לֵֽאלֹקִים וְלָלֶ֣כֶת בִּדְרָכָ֗יו וְלִשְׁמֹ֨ר חֻקָּ֧יו וּמִצְותָ֛יו וּמִשְׁפָּטָ֖יו וְלִשְׁמֹ֥עַ בְּקֹלֽוֹ׃
(יח) וַֽה׳ הֶאֱמִֽירְךָ֣ הַיּ֗וֹם לִהְי֥וֹת לוֹ֙ לְעַ֣ם סְגֻלָּ֔ה כַּאֲשֶׁ֖ר דִּבֶּר־לָ֑ךְ וְלִשְׁמֹ֖ר כָּל מִצְותָֽיו׃
There is a word repeated three times: Hayom – This day
Rashi teaches that that emphasis suggests that each day these words (God’s commandments) should be to you as something new (not antiquated and something of which you have become tired), as though you had received them that very day for the first time.
How do we build that into a practice? Especially nowadays, when it can sometimes feel like each day blurs into the next, this message is especially important. How do we return to what we once knew? How do we orient and reorient ourselves to the world in 5786?
This repetition of “this day” and the chance to start again feels even more important for the world after this week. Rabbi Klein asked me earlier this week if I was talking about the shooting on Shabbat and I asked, “which shooting.” What kind of world do we live in where in the same day students are shot in Colorado and Charlie Kirk assassinated in Utah in the same hour, and on Monday six Jews were murdered in a bus stop outside of Jerusalem. Parents of children, Rabbis, Doctors. It’s too much.
How do we make it stop? The world is filled with hate and vitriol. That is not the way. Tonight at the conclusion of Shabbat we will hold Selichot here at Agudas Achim. Selichot means forgiveness. These prayers are an act of intention. We don’t just show up on Yom Kippur expecting all to be forgiven. Each one of us must actively participate in the process of teshuvah, of repentance. How do we remove hate from our own hearts? How do we better engage in dialogue with those with whom we vehemently disagree? How do we choose a different path?
That’s actually what this month of Elul, and this Shabbat of Selichot are for. It’s for looking back and looking forward. For placing us in a moment in time and figuring out how to pick a better way. For each of us. For all of us.
Next week, right before Rosh Hashanah on Shabbat we’ll read these words from Parashat Nitzvaim, again highlighting that word Hayom
כי המצווה הזאת אשר אנכי מצווך היום לא נִפְלֵאת הִוא מִמְךָ ולא רְחֹקָה הִיא.
For this commandment that I command you today, it is not too baffling for you and it is not beyond your reach.
כי קרוב אליך הדבר מאד בפיך ובלבבך לעשותו
Rather, it is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to perform it! It is within your reach, says the Torah. Teshuvah is possible! It has to be. Another world is possible.
In Gematria, Hebrew numerology, the root word, “Shuv,” to return, is equal 308. The same as the word “Karov,” it is close to you. This returning, this creating yourself anew, is inherently close to you. All you have to do is direct your heart and create an intention around it. This other world, this other way, it’s right here next to us.
Our actions and intentions do not only affect us, but are connected to the world around us as well. In Rambam’s treatise on repentance, he explains that “It is necessary for every person to see themself throughout the whole year as someone evenly balanced between innocence and guilt, and look upon the entire world as if it also is evenly balanced between innocence and guilt; thus, if you commit one sin, you will overbalance yourself and the whole world to the side of guilt, and be a cause of its destruction; but if you perform one mitzvah, behold, you will overbalance yourself and the whole world to the side of virtue, and bring about your own and the world’s salvation.”
Our actions have ripples that reach far beyond what we can see with our own eyes. When we arrive at each new choice in our lives, it is as if the whole world hangs in the balance, waiting on us to choose a path of love, of kindness, of goodness.
Each year we approach Elul and the High Holidays and encounter the same liturgy, the same instructions to repent and return, the same words and melodies we beat our chests to. And that same feeling of not yet being home, not yet having returned to the promised land. Still in that period of Ki Tavo, of moving towards return.
We are not there yet. But as we approach Rosh Hashanah 5786, I want to ask us, how will we chart a new course for ourselves this year? Tonight at Selichot we’ll begin this exploration, and we really hope you’ll join us for an evening of song and prayer together.
Shanah Tovah and Shabbat Shalom.
