9-11-2025 Ki Tavo

Ki Tavo, meaning “upon your coming or entering into the  land,” is the name of this week’s parashah. You will find it  in the Book of Deuteronomy 26:1 – 29:8. The portion  begins in an unusual way. It starts with Moses instructing  the Israelites on how they were to offer their first fruits (bikkurim) to G-d. Reading this section, we might wonder  why the Torah would place so much emphasis, even in an  agricultural society, on the mitzvah of the first fruits. The  section’s beginning forces us to question if there are other  messages that lie beneath the surface of the text. Is the text referring only to first fruits or do the first fruits  represent something else?  

It is noteworthy that we read this week’s parashah during  the month of Elul. This month, just prior to the High  Holidays, is a month of reflection and self examination. These are the days when we begin our  yearly self-examination and take note of our individual and  collective success and failures. What might these days  have to do with the commandment (mitzvah) of the first  fruits?  

One possibility is that just as the farmer had to think about  this mitzvah while his fruit was still on the tree, we too  must use our present to think about our future. Living only  in the present without thinking about the results of our  present actions on our future is both dangerous and  irresponsible. Perhaps by emphasizing perishable  products such as first fruits, the text is hinting that the  present is fleeting and that it all too quickly becomes an  unchangeable past. 

From a discussion concerning the mitzvah of the first  fruits, the text moves to a more philosophical question: the  theory of “G-d-in-History”. Is it G-d who determines the  course of history and that both blessings and curses are  based on how G-d judges our actions? From this  perspective is there a relationship between the blessings  over the first fruits and the trajectories of history?  

This “either-or” view of history forces us to ask several  questions and to go beyond the plain (p’shat) meaning of  the text. For example, if G-d determines the course of  history, then is the text speaking to us on the micro level,  the macro level, or both? If G-d controls history then does  G-d keep both individual and collective records? Is the  idea of blessings and curses based on the principle of  what we individually or collectively do now, and do these  actions impact the way we live in the future? The text  does not define blessings and curses. Perhaps a curse is  a sense of helplessness, of being adrift in the sea of  history, of lacking meaning in one’s life. If so, then we might argue that a blessing gives us a sense of control, of  purpose and offers a vision for the next stage of our life. 

Perhaps the text is teaching us that although our actions  may not result directly in blessings or curses, the choices  we make affect the quality of our lives and that of those  with whom we live. This week’s parashah teaches us that  we must make choices daily and the choices that we make  play a part in our future blessings and curses. How do you  make choices?