Parashat Ki Tavo: Paying Attention This Coming New Year

(Torah study led by Rabbi J.B. Sacks on September 2, 2023)

We are all preparing for Rosh HaShanah. These preparations should include more than considerations of holiday dinner menu, getting apparel off to the dry cleaners, and making sure we return our forms from the High Holy Day packet. All of those are good things, but we should take time for our emotional and spiritual preparations. The time we take or don’t take may well define how we enter and maneuver through 5784.

Last night I offered several ideas based on the first three words of the concluding verse of the declaration that farmers made when presenting their bikkurim, their first fruits, to the priest.

This morning I would like to focus upon one verse in the Torah, with a view to what it means for us spiritual seekers, and then more briefly look at a verse from the haftarah which, in my view, seems to extend the spiritual message of the Torah verse.

Let’s look at the Torah verse:

 Deuteronomy 26:13

וְאָמַרְתָּ֡ לִפְנֵי֩ יְהֹוָ֨ה אֱלֹהֶ֜יךָ בִּעַ֧רְתִּי הַקֹּ֣דֶשׁ מִן־הַבַּ֗יִת וְגַ֨ם נְתַתִּ֤יו לַלֵּוִי֙ וְלַגֵּר֙ לַיָּת֣וֹם וְלָאַלְמָנָ֔ה כְּכׇל־מִצְוָתְךָ֖ אֲשֶׁ֣ר צִוִּיתָ֑נִי לֹֽא־עָבַ֥רְתִּי מִמִּצְוֺתֶ֖יךָ וְלֹ֥א שָׁכָֽחְתִּי׃

 I have cleared out the consecrated portion from the house; and I have given it

 to the Levites, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow, just as You commanded me

I have not transgressed Your mitzvot nor have I forgotten them

 This verse is not part of the declaration we examined last night at services. Rather, this verse is part of the declaration that the farmers would make when offering tithes.

The Chassidic master known as the S’fat Emet^[1] asks an appropriate question about the final phrase. If the  farmer has indeed done all the work of clearing out their house, presenting the tithes, and ensuring the proper distribution to those entitled to them, we can understand the phrase “I have not transgressed.” It seems that this farmer has done everything possible to ensure proper compliance with established protocol in this matter. But why would the farmer need to add that “I have not forgotten them.” It cannot be that the farmer is being overly humble and self-deprecating about the work they have done because this is a formal declaration that everyone would recite. Surely the Deuteronomic editors would not let stand a statement in a formal declaration to G!d that would not be true for every farmer.

Questions for Consideration:

• So, nu, why this phrase? What might the farmer have forgotten?
• What lesson(s) might be derived from this understanding?

On Shabbat we had robust discussion, with any number of possible reasons and messages given. One of those asked about whether the farmer might have forgotten the meaning of why they were doing tithes in the first place, what the import of making this declaration to G!d might be, and where G!d resided in the process.

That is, the farmer may have known how to do things but did not know why. But if someone does not know why they are doing a ritual or a mitzvah, it is quite likely that they are not getting the full experience. Something gets lost, or “forgotten.”

Alternatively, the farmer might have known why, but when they were doing the mitzvah, they were so wanting to get this done so that they could go back home to their families and lives, that they did not have any of the lofty reasons or goals that the experience of doing the ritual might provide. They were doing the mitzvah in a perfunctory manner.

Questions for Consideration:

• Can you think of a time when you did something without paying (full) attention?
• Why might the S’fat Emet think it important for us to pay attention while we are engaged in mitzvot?
• As we prepare for the High Holy Days, what do you need to “not forget”?
• What do you need to pay attention to more in 5784?

Let’s now briefly peer into a verse that is related in meaning to the way we have unpacked the Torah verse.

Isaiah 60:3

וְהָלְכ֥וּ גוֹיִ֖ם לְאוֹרֵ֑ךְ וּמְלָכִ֖ים לְנֹ֥גַהּ זַרְחֵֽךְ׃

And peoples shall walk by your light,

royalty by your shining radiance.

Sometimes we are better able to see light when we are in darkness. When we are in the midst of the daytime and the sun is bright, we might miss that we left on a porch light overnight, because its light gets lost in the brightness of the day. At night however, we can easily spot stars, for their light is easily seen, and it can move us, inspire us, and direct us on our path.

What’s interesting about this verse, and something we do not think about enough, is that sometimes people in darkness look at our shining radiance. It is our radiance that can move, inspire, and help renew others’ zest for life. The verse states that even royals can gain inspiration from us.

Certainly we have not considered how our model of faith might ennoble and empower someone else. We often do not know, for example, who in our synagogue family is inspired by your example, your story, your model, your wisdom, your spirituality. We sometimes forget that we are light, and that others continue to look to us for our light.

We do so, because like the farmer offering their declaration for tithes, we have sometimes forgotten ourselves, our power, our glory. We get distracted from living our fullest lives.

Previously we discussed why people get distracted from being fully in the moment when we perform life’s tasks, live our lives, do an act of kindness, or support social justice. Now, as a corollary, we consider how that distraction affects us, and keeps us from radiating outwards our best and sweetest selves.

Questions for Consideration:

• What things do you think require a person’s undivided attention?
• What things might distract a person?
• What techniques might we use to prevent distractions from interfering with our focus?
• How might you be more focused and present at shul during these High Holy Days?
• How might you be more focused and present during 5784?
• What do you need to do to tap into your sweetest self and to radiate more brightly this 5784?

May this year we give to life and to those around us our bikkurim, our first fruits.

May this year we be more present–more fully and more often.

May we be less forgetful of the things that matter most.

May we be less distracted and more attentive.

And throughout 5784 may we shine brightly, so that we radiate to others our goodness, our sweetness, our wisdom, and our love.

Amen.

Shabbat shalom!

^[1] Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter (1847-1905) led the Gerer Chassidim. His works deal with the Talmud, Midrash and the Zohar. However, his most famous work was his Torah commentary, S’fat Emet, hence his the use of this title as a moniker.