Come on in, the water’s great!  Just don’t forget to thank our host.  This is how our parsha (weekly Torah portion) starts out.  The parsha is called Key Tavoh which means, “Because you will come,” and begins by saying that because you will be coming in to the land haShem (god) promised to give you, you should take the first fruits of the ground and bring them to haShem’s house.  We then read of the thanksgiving ritual we do with these fruits.  We then read of the tithes of the 3rd year that are given to the tribe of Levi (because they have no land) and the stranger and the orphan and the widow, and how we ask god for blessings because of this tithe.

From here we read of the dedication/binding ritual we do between us and god on the day we enter the land.  This includes our writing the Torah into stone and building a stone altar without the use of iron tools.  The ritual includes accepting the laws of haShem and blessings and curses.  There are 12 things, we are told that will cause one to be cursed.  We are then told what the blessings will look like, and what the curses will look like.

After we hear about all this, we are told that this is the brit (covenant) that we are to make with god, along with the earlier brit we made at Chorev.  Moshe then reminds us of how god took us out of Egypt, and the fact that our clothes and shoes did not wear out (all the miracles god provided for us), and that we ate no bread and drank no intoxicants in order to know that haShem is our god/power.  We end by being reminded how we defeated the kings of Chesbon and Bashan, and to observe the words of this brit in order to put intelligence in all that we do.

Alright, this parsha has a lot in it.  The descriptions of the blessings and the curses are in graphic detail.  I didn’t go into them here because they would make for a very long blog.  Besides you can read about them in the Torah itself, and I am sure that is better than any summary of them I could write.  The question is, what can we learn from all this?  The answer is a lot.  A better question might be, what did haShem show me in this parsha that he wants me to share with you, and can I do so in a joyous manner? 🙂

Why did I phrase the question is such a strange way?  I could have said something like, “What did I learn from the parsha that I feel like telling to you?”  This second question misses one of the major points that the first part of the parsha is trying to teach us.  The part I am referring to is the ritual of taking of the first fruits and bringing them to haShem’s house (ie the temple).  We give the fruit to the cohen (priest) and then we give thanks to haShem for taking us out of terrible situations and giving us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and for the produce that we bring.  Then we rejoice with our families and the tribe of Levi that has no land of their own, and with the folks visiting the land, and with the needy.  In other words, it is not about us, it is about haShem. We are to celebrate what haShem gives us with everybody, no matter who they are.

Now the way I phrased the question reflects that it is haShem doing the action (of giving), and not me (of taking), and that my job is just to take what haShem gives me and happily share it . Why happily?  When you give something to another in joy, it is much easier to receive, and it makes the action about the gift and the receiver.  When you give in a non-happy way, all the attention shifts the giver and it makes it harder to receive.

However, this is not what I was originally going to talk about.  As I read the parsha, I was more struck by the very end of the parsha, not the very beginning.  Specifically the last line that reads:  and you will guard the words of this brit and you will do them in order to taskeeloo all that you do.

Now I did not translate the key word because I wanted to draw attention to it.  This word is a verb and means learn.  However, it is in a verb category (called causative) that implies that the action is being done on something, in this case the things one does.  An example of a verb in this category is the verb that means to bring, which is really about making an object come to a place.  I realize if you don’t know anything about Hebrew, this is not making a lot of sense, so let me just get on with the idea.

This is how I understand that last verse:  after all the talk of gratitude at the beginning of the parsha, and the details of the ritual we do upon entering the land, complete with details of what will happen, good and bad, we are told to act the way god has outlined, for we are filling our actions with our learning.

This verse is teaching us that when we do and when we guard, then this is putting our learning and intellect and attention into our actions.  In other words, if you act on automatic, you are NOT following any of haShem’s laws.  And this is the reason to study Torah:  to better apply this verse – to put more our knowing intellect into our actions, to have better awareness of god in our actions.  It (the study of Torah) is NOT to be divorced from our actions and is NOT higher than our actions; it is SUPPORT for our actions!

In other words the guarding and doing all that haShem wants us to do is in order that all we do is done consciously, with attention and informed with our intellect that is based on our experiences of life and what we have studied.

Another way to look at it is that the whole purpose of studying Torah is so our actions are in line with the way haShem wants us to act and to live.  The flip side of this is that if we act unconsciously, or on automatic, or without thought to what we are doing, no matter how much Torah we have learned, we are not fulfilling a single thing god has asked of us.

This week’s ideas, like last week’s ideas took a bit of effort to come out.  However I feel that they are important ideas.  I bless everybody with the strength to make the effort to consciously inform all your actions with divinity.

If you want to read what I wrote about this parsha last year, click here.

About the Author

Shmuel Shalom Cohen spent 10 years studying Torah in Jerusalem. Six years ago, he started Conscious Torah to help Jews connect to their tradition in ways they didn’t think possible. Shmuel also started, and is the executive directory of Jewish Events Willamette-valley, a non-profit whose mission is to build Jewish community, pride, and learning. In his free time, Shmuel likes walks in nature, playing music, writing poetry, and time with good friends.