by Rabbi Leonard Levy
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are that of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the Union for Traditional Judaism, unless otherwise indicated.
God and His ways are far beyond human capacity to understand or imagine. Yet we try to understand the ways God commands us to follow and our relationship with God by projecting images from our human experience. Thus when Moses tells the people of Israel
Behold I set before you today blessing and curse: the blessing – that [if] you will obey all of the commandments of HaShem your God which I command you today; and the curse – if you do not obey the commandments of HaShem your God and you stray from the path which I show you today…. (Deut. 11: 26-28)
The image that often runs through one’s mind is that of a king or parent promising a subject or child a reward for doing what he commands and threatening punishment for failing to do so.
Our Rabbis, however, paint two very different images through which we can reach a higher level of understanding of our relationship with God through observance of His commandments.
Sifrei Devarim (Paragraph 53) connects these verses with Deut. 30:19 (which is indeed the other book-end of the section we begin at Deut. 11:26)
I have witnessed against you today heavens and earth: I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse, and you should choose life in order that you and your seed shall live.
Sifrei develops from the connection between these verses the image of one sitting by a fork in a road telling all who pass: “You see this path which is straight and clear at the beginning, but after a few steps, it will be overgrown with thorns, and you see this path which starts with thorns for a few step, but after a few steps it will become a straight, clear path.”
Devarim Rabbah (4:3) also connects Deut. 11:26-28 with Lamentations 3:38:
“The evil and the good do not emanate from the mouth of the Most High,” rather, good happens automatically to those who do good, and bad happens automatically to those who do evil. The commentary Kli Yakar elaborates on this idea, connecting it with the constantly repeated word “hayom” – “today” or “this day” – which he takes to refer to the sun.
With the word “hayom” the Torah hints at the daily cycle and attaches it to the blessing and the curse to say that just as the sun is one [entity] that operates in two opposite ways, melting wax but hardening an egg, tanning the face of the launderer but bleaching [the color out of] the clothing, and all of these differences do not come from the sun but rather from those that absorb [its rays], so also the blessings and curses which come from God do not require any change on His part, as it is stated, “I am the Lord, I have not changed….” (Malachi 3:6) Rather, the difference comes from those who receive [what emanates from God], and “The evil and the good do not emanate from the mouth of the Most High.”
According to this image, God is constantly emanating, radiating some aspect of His presence into the world He created, just as the sun radiates light and heat onto Earth. Depending on how human beings act, this “radiation” can have a beneficial or a detrimental effect. God has revealed to us in Torah the set of actions – the path – which leads to beneficial effect and the path which leads toward detrimental effects. Moses opens this Parashah by telling the people of Israel, according to Sifrei, that the path toward the beneficial effect – the blessing – initially involves some difficulty and pain – thorns, but in the end becomes the clear, easy path to follow. But the path toward the detrimental effects – the curse – appears enticingly easy to begin, but leads to much greater difficulty and pain down the road. {Note: regarding the problem of bad things happening to good people, and good things happening to bad people, see full text of Sifrei Devarim #53, and see also Deut. 7:10 and Rashi thereon.}
This image also provides the key for understanding what I used to think was one of the most disturbing verses in the Torah, which appears in the delineation of the curses:
And as HaShem once rejoiced in making you prosperous and many, so will HaShem now rejoice in causing you to perish and wiping you out, and you will be torn from the land that you are about to enter and possess. (Deut. 28:63)
God is constantly radiating His joy into the universe. Creation is an expression of God’s joy, and the role of human beings is to act as partners with God to complete God’s creation. Torah is the blueprint for us to follow in that role. When we act in accordance with the blueprint, we ride the wave of God’s joy toward that ultimate destination. When people act counter to this blueprint, they stand in the way of that ultimate completion, and the wave of God’s joy ultimately washes them away.
God is teaching us through Moses that these are the unavoidable effects of the way He created the world and of His making us His chosen people by revealing Torah to us. These two facts and His exhorting us to choose the path of life are an expression of God’s love for us.
Shabbat Shalom!
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Rabbi Leonard Levy is on the faculty of the Institute of Traditional Judaism (מתיבתא למדעי היהדות), where he received yoreh yoreh semikhah (rabbinic ordination) from Rabbi David Weiss Halivni in 2009.
Rabbi Levy has been a member of the UTJ Board of Directors and Chair of the UTJ`s Publications Committee since 1986. He edited Cornerstone, vol. 1, Tomeikh KaHalakhah, vol. 2, and chaired the committee that wrote the UTJ`s Declaration of Principles.
Rabbi Levy earned his undergraduate degree in Biology from California Institute of Technology (Pasadena, CA) in 1979. He was first ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (New York) in 1984, where he also earned his Ph.D. in Talmud and Rabbinics with a concentration in Medieval Jewish Law in 2002.
He taught Talmud and Jewish Law at JTS for over a decade and served on Conservative Judaism's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards from 2004- 2006, during which time he authored an opinion for that Committee entitled “Same-Sex Attraction and Halakhah” before resigning in December 2006.
Rabbi Levy has also taught courses at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion (New York) and the Academy for Jewish Religion (New York). Rabbi Levy also served for many years as a congregational rabbi, most recently at the Jewish Center of Forest Hills West in Middle Village, NY from 1998-2008.
Rabbi Levy’s main research interest is analyzing the assumptions and principles behind various approaches of deciding Halakhah (Jewish Law). His dissertation focused the assumptions and principles behind the Jewish legal code of Rabbi Yitzhaq Alfasi (RIF) in the Eleventh Century. His most recent publication is “The Decisive Shift: from Geonim to RIF,”Tiferet Leyisrael: Jubilee Volume in Honor of Israel Francus (JTS Press, 2010), which demonstrates the shift in assumptions between the Geonim and the Rishonim.
Rabbi Levy is the founder of www.torahwithoutborders.org, a website dedicated to matching people with study partners and mentors to seriously engage with Torah through a text or topic of their own choice at a time of their own choosing. He currently lives in Forest Hills, NY, where he teaches shiurim and speaks in Orthodox congregations, mainly Queens Jewish Center and Havurat Yisrael.
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