Ki Tavo: Crying through the parsha

Rav Johnny's original thoughts on the weekly parsha

I remember the last time I cried when I read a biblical verse. It was the 7^th of October, Simchat Torah morning. The sirens had woken us up early. I’d seen my neighbour get into his car while wearing his army uniform and quickly drive away. And then, having been told by the police who drove past my house that there were Hamas terrorists in nearby southern kibbutzim, that we were under attack, and that we should go into our houses and lock the door, I then ran inside, grabbed my Machzor and began to pray. Then, having finished the Amida, I decided to read the final lines of Sefer Devarim which we would have been reading in synagogue that day. And so it was that when I came to the words that ‘God should drive the enemy away’ (see Devarim 33:27) and that ‘Israel should dwell securely’ (ibid. 33:28) I shed tears while praying with all my heart that God do just this.

Of course, we now know the extent of the horrific atrocities committed on that day, while there remain some 101 hostages still being held in Gaza. Between now and then I have cried many many times. However, I don’t recall crying on a further occasion in response to a biblical verse – until now.  

A notable feature of Parshat Ki Tavo is that it includes a list of blessings and curses, and each year, when these verses are read, we hope for the realization of the blessings, while the curses which the Torah describes seem so shocking as to feel beyond the possibility of realization. But just now I read these verses, and I was genuinely brought to tears.

I began with Devarim 28:7 which states how, ‘if any enemies attack you, God will make them flee from you in panic.’ Sadly, this didn’t happen. I then moved onto Devarim 28:25 where we read how ‘God will make you panic before your enemies’ which causes me to remember the many heartbreaking stories of panic from October 7^th. However, the two particular verses which truly broke me were the following: ‘Your sons and daughters will be given to a foreign nation. You will see it happening with your own eyes and will long for them all day long’ (Devarim 28:32), and ‘you will have sons and daughters, but they will not remain yours since they will be taken into captivity’ (Devarim 28:41).

To be clear, I’ve never been the kind of person who claims to know when the word of God, as expressed in the Torah, is being manifest before our very eyes. Still, it is very hard not to read these verses without thinking about our current situation.

Of course, there will be those who claim that the only solution to our current situation is, as made explicit in Devarim 28:1, to increase our mitzvah observance.

Alongside this, there will be those who point to Devarim 28:52 in order to  stress that a further relevant lesson is that we should not exclusively rely upon certain border technologies.

However, perhaps the greatest lesson we can learn from Parshat Ki Tavo is the fact that it is written in the singular - which serves as an essential reminder that our greatest strength as a people is when we are united as a people.  

Shabbat Shalom!