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Torah Portion
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The Rest Of Ki Tavo
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the blessings of those who keep the
Torah, but the curses for those who
do not. Moreover, the Tochechah —
the terrible rebuke of the Jewish peo-
ple and the punishment we will
endure (and have) should we abandon
God — dominates the second half of
(With apologies to Paul Harvey)
the Torah reading. It's sobering and
aised in a household mired in
difficult to accept, and very troubling.
idolatry and paganism,
At the same time, the concept of
"Yoshi" had every excuse to
reward and punishment is very real.
turn out bad. His notoriously evil
"Acts of God" don't just happen on
grandfather ruled with an iron fist and
their own. If God acted, He did so for
during most of his lifetime had no tol-
a reason, and it behooves us to try and
erance or patience for God.
figure out why; to look at ourselves —
So deeply was he engrossed in his
our behavior as individuals, as corn-
evil ways that Yoshi's grandfather
munities, and as a country, to try and
burned every religious scroll he could
discover where we can improve, and
find. Yoshi's father followed in his
how we can do better.
father's footsteps, and continued to
"Yoshi" was really the King
worship the idols he grew up
Yoshiyahu, who lived in
with, until his henchmen
Jerusalem during the First
executed him.
Temple era, not long before
This left Yoshi an orphan
its destruction.
leader at the ripe young age
Following the exile of the
of 8. Somehow, though,
tribes and the destruction of
Yoshi persevered, determined
much of the Kingdom of
to abandon his family's evil
Israel, the city of Jerusalem
ways, and return to the path
was pretty much all that was
of righteousness.
left.
At the age of 16, Yoshi
What scroll did they read
RABBI
decided to pursue a life of
to
him?
They read him the
REUVEN
righteousness, and he discov-
Torah,
which
they found
SPOLTER
ered that his position
turned
to
the
Tochechah —
Special to the
demanded that he not only
the
rebuke
found
in this
Jewish News
pursue the proper path him-
week's parshah.
*self, but to try and root out
Hearing the harsh words of
the negative spiritual influences so
the Torah, he looked around him — at
pervasive in his land.
the destruction wrought on the Jewish
He worked hard to remove these
nation — and saw it described in vivid
spiritual dangers in their various
detail in the words of the Torah written
forms. He even decided to refurbish
over a thousand years before his time.
and upgrade his temple.
He understood that this Torah —
After raising sufficient funds (I guess
the only one to survive his grandfather
some things never change), he sent all
Menashe's reign, was miraculously
the money to the temple for safekeep-
turned to the terrible rebuke found in
ing. During the refurbishing process, as
our parshah to send him a message —
they removed some of the money
a message to repent, return, and
stored in the temple, the priest found a
redouble his efforts to remove the
long-lost scroll that had escaped burn-
idolatry in the land and return his
ing at the hands of Yoshi's grandfather.
people to God.
When they brought it to Yoshi,
Only now you know the rest of the
they opened that scroll and read to
story.
him the section it was turned to.
Hearing the words from that holy
scroll, Yoshi immediately tore his gar-
ments and cried out in mourning.
What did he read? Why did he cry?
Why are there blessings and
Let's be honest: Ki Tavo is no pic-
curses? What do they demon-
nic. While it might start out pleasant-
strate as to who we are as a peo-
ly enough, it clearly delineates not just
ple and what do they reflect
Shabbat Ki Tavo:
Deuteronomy 26:1
29:8; Isaiah 60: 1-22.
R
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COMPLIMENTARY GIFT WRAPPING
Reuven Spolter is rabbi of Young Israel
of Oak Park.
about ourselves?