On Friday, September 20, this writer had the privilege to hear a shiur by Rabbi Berel Wein, well-known rav and author, in person at HaNasi Synagogue in Yerushalayim. Rabbi Wein speaks Friday mornings in that shul on the parshah.
He spoke about Parshas Ki Savo and also Parshas Nitzavim.
Parshas Ki Savo is a parshah of the covenant between Hashem and the Jewish people. The idea of a covenant between Heaven and Earth began with Avraham. The covenant between Hashem and the Jewish people is unbreakable, though it has been violated many times by B’nei Yisrael.
The first covenant was at Har Sinai. Hashem said: I will give you the Torah and you will observe it. That agreement was violated by the making and worship of the golden calf. In Parshas Ki Savo, which is 40 years later, Moshe says that we are renewing the covenant. He details this with 98 curses. Rabbi Wein lamented that we have seen these fulfilled.
The second covenant is with the Jewish nation. Nitzavim says Jews as an entity are bound by this covenant. This one is insufficient, as well. Moshe describes that when Jews settle in Israel, there will be a third covenant, which is the covenant received at Har Grizim and Har Eival. This third covenant differs, as it is individual and not national.
All the curses are singular. So, we have a national and a personal covenant. The personal one is deeply attached to the national one. Yet, Hashem divides the two covenants. This leaves room for how we see life. We’re all bound by the personal covenant and our personal one affects the national one.
The Torah doesn’t allow latitude to live up to one covenant and not the other. In Nitzavim, it says a national covenant will always drag the personal covenant along with it.
Chazal teach that if destruction is coming because of violation of the national covenant, then the personal covenant doesn’t apply. Everyone is judged the same. That is the power of the national covenant. So, we struggle when we see the national covenant is nonexistent, and we see a list of curses.
We realize the personal covenant won’t matter as far as consequences of violation of the national covenant. When we look in the Tanach, the N’viim speak about t’shuvah in terms of a national t’shuvah. They speak about a national consensus of an honest society that wants to do good. What does Hashem ask of you? You should pursue justice and not corrupt the judicial system. Love chesed and have modesty.
Hashem asks us to perform 613 mitzvos. The Navi outlines it in societal terms. On the afternoon of Yom Kippur, we read the book of Yonah. In the book, there was a national t’shuvah. Chazal point out that the cause of the destruction of the two temples was national transgressions.
Eliyahu HaNavi said at Har HaKarmel: Hashem is G-d. We don’t become more observant on an individual basis, but it’s a national commitment that Hashem is G-d. That is the central point of t’shuvah. The Navi says that t’shuvah is knowing that Hashem is G-d. Rabbi Wein noted that Hashem has His ways of bringing that about.
He pointed out that living in Israel for 30 years and visiting 20 years before that, he sees society is better in terms of connection to Hashem. Individually, so many are now shomrei Shabbos and learning Torah.
Is society willing to say that Hashem is G-d? That is the key. What is acceptable in society? What is the direction society is going in?
The third covenant of Grizim and Eival are in Israel. The other two covenants were made outside of Israel. The main one was made in Eretz Yisrael. “What happens in Eretz Yisrael defines Jews everywhere. What happens in Eretz Yisrael establishes what will be with the Jewish People!”
A pasuk we recite during the Yamim Nora’im states that “I will remember my covenant with Yaakov. I will remember my covenant with Yitzchak, and I will remember my covenant with Avraham, and I will remember Eretz Yisrael.” The mefarshim say this is the wrong order chronologically. Also, what does it mean that “I will remember Eretz Yisrael”? It’s a land.
The Netziv, based on Rav Kook, explains that the covenant with Yaakov was Torah, yeshivos, and the education system. The Navi says there will come a time when this will weaken. Today, most Jews are ignorant of Torah. This weakens first. He noted that some of the Torah scholars in the late 19th century became secular leaders.
The covenant of Yitzchak is avodah, prayer. People aren’t going to shul. Last year, they had to hold a prayer service in Tel Aviv on Yom Kippur in the street.
The covenant of Avraham is chesed. That also weakened. The Gemara says that when people eat nonkosher food, it hardens the heart. They don’t donate to tz’dakah.
The covenant with Eretz Yisrael remains. There are miracles every day in Eretz Yisrael. He noted the exploding beepers that occurred recently in Lebanon. That covenant unites the individual and the national, and that covenant binds us.
No one chose to go to war or what happened last year. The other part of the covenant is our survival and our ability to triumph and to continue. We have to appreciate it and strengthen it within ourselves.
This shiur can be viewed on TorahAnytime.com.
By Susie Garber
