Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8
In this week's portion Ki Tavo, we have a series of things to do after entering the land of Israel. After writing the Torah on a stone tablet, there is a set of curses for those who do wrong, and a set of blessings for the nation, and another set of curses for the nation. We start with the commandment of the first fruits.
1. And it shall be, when you come in to the land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance, and possess it, and live in it; 2. That you shall take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which you shall bring of your land that the Lord your God gives you, and shall put it in a basket, and shall go to the place which the Lord your God shall choose to place his name there.
Ki tavo is in some ways an interesting name for this portion, given last week’s Ki Tetze. Ki Tavo means when you go in while Ki Tetze means when you go out. They are a match set that way. And very much like that matched set, I got to witness another matched set this weekend, a lovely wedding weekend of two of my friends. From the uf ruf thorough the wedding and concluding at a sheva bracha, I attended each of these events, happy I could rejoice with such a holy bride and groom. It was the D'vrei Torah of myself and others that inspired me to write this week’s column. I can’t remember who said what, (if you’ve been to a sheva bracha you understand why) but I’m saying this as teaching in all of your names, and in honor of the bride and groom.
As several discussed at the table of the sheva bracha, we read in the text this week:
11. And you shall rejoice in every good thing which the Lord your God has given to you, and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the stranger who is among you. [Deuteronomy 26:11]
And we also read
And you shall offer peace offerings, and shall eat there, and rejoice before the Lord your God. [Deuteronomy 27:7]
The root word for happy here is S-M-cH, to gladden, rejoice or to make happy. It is from this root we have the word Simcha, a happy event. It also is the word used for rejoice or gladden in one of the seven blessings of the bride and groom, said at both the wedding and sheva bracha dinners after the wedding, originally found in the Talmud:
May You make the loved companions greatly to rejoice, even as of ancient times You did gladden Your creature in the Garden of Eden. Blessed art You, O Lord, who makes bridegroom and bride to rejoice. [B. Ketubot 8a]
Sameiach is not any kind of joy or merriment however. In a very interesting passage in tractate Brachot, expounding the passage in Psalm 2:11 rejoice with trembling, we have another interesting wedding tradition, though not by its current participant or place in the ceremony:
Mar the son of Rabina made a marriage feast for his son. He saw that the Rabbis were growing very merry, so he brought a precious cup worth four hundred zuz and broke it before them, and they became serious. R. Ashi made a marriage feast for his son. He saw that the Rabbis were growing very merry, so he brought a cup of white crystal and broke it before them and they became serious. [Brachot 30b-31a]
Four hundred zuz is a lot of money. It is the minim bride price for a maiden, and for those who remember Had Gadya enough to buy 200 goats. There are limits to the joy we can feel, if the rabbis in this story would break such valuables. So the question becomes not whether we should be happy and rejoice in front of the Lord, but how?
S-M-cH as a root has 192 occurrences in all of Tanach, with 9 of them in Torah and 55 of them in the prophets. Of the 128 found in the writings, 44 are in Psalms and 26 in Proverbs. The poetry of psalms and prophets often helps in determining how a word is to be used and much about it meaning. For example we have the following in Psalms:
2:11 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
9:3 I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O you most High.
32:11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, you righteous; and shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.
33:1 Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous; for praise befits the upright.
100:2 Serve the Lord with gladness; come before his presence with singing.
In Torah it is Sukkot and temple offerings which have this rejoicing attached to it.
Deuteronomy 12:7. And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, you and your households, because the Lord your God has blessed you.
Deuteronomy 12:12 And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you, and your sons, and your daughters, and your menservants, and your maidservants, and the Levite who is inside your gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with you.
Deuteronomy 14:26 And you shall bestow that money for whatever your soul desires, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatever your soul desires; and you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you, and your household,
All of these passages are similar to the verse we have in this weeks portion for the first fruits and for peace offerings, and thus not extremely useful in figuring out how to be joyous. They tell to do so but still don’t tell us how.
There is another word for happy, ashrei. As a wedding present, I gave the newlyweds a painting with that word for happy. The picture was a landscape of a road leading across a river and into the mountains. As a center piece of calligraphy of the painting, I quoted the beginning colon of Psalm 84: 5 Ashrei yoshvei betecha. “Happy is those who dwell in your house.” My intention was to exploit a multiple meaning of this phrase, as a blessing that the couple’s house should be a place of happiness, and in its original context in Psalm 84:5- 6 referring to the temple.
5. Happy are those who dwell in your house, ever praising you. Selah.
6. Happy is the man whose strength is in you; in whose heart are the highways,
Yet many will not think of verse 84:6 when seeing that verse, as 84:5 is part of the Shacharit psalms liturgy, followed by this verse from Psalms 144:15
15. Happy is the people to whom that is the case! Happy is the people whose God is the Lord!
This leads into a recitation of the acrostic psalm 145. But in both psalm 84 and psalm 144, we have this general formula, of using this phrase ashrei to describe someone who is happy. Indeed this pattern is consistent. The word ashrei shows up forty times in Tanach, but only once in Torah, (Gen 30:13) and a few times in the prophets. There are in Proverbs several cases with moral wisdom:
3: 13. Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gets understanding.
8:32. Now therefore listen to me, O you children; for happy are they who keep my ways. 33. Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. 34. Happy is the man who hears me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.
20:7. The just man walks in his integrity; happy are his children after him.
28:14. Happy is the man who fears always; but he who hardens his heart shall fall into mischief.
Most of the rest occur in Psalms and share this pattern of taking about ashrei as a consequence of doing mitzvot, being ethical and loving God and becomes a consequence of doing so. Some examples in Psalms include:
1:1-2 Happy is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scorners. But whose delight is in the Torah of the Lord; and in his Torah he meditates day and night.
2:12 Happy are all who put their trust in him.
31: 1-2. … Happy is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Happy is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
41:2. Happy is he who considers the poor; the Lord will save in the day of evil.
89:16. Happy is the people who know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of your countenance.
94:12. Happy is the man whom you chasten, O Lord, and whom you teach from your Torah;
146:5. Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God;
In our potion this week we have the blessing and curses. Blessed is he who… and cursed is he who… But what is more than blessed? Being happy. Stuck within Psalms and Proverbs is this formula for that kind of happiness, which can only be described by the holy righteousness of ashrei. Some may see it elsewhere, in a Buddha smile or in a self-actualized person. But for the righteous Jew, when we are that kind of happy, then we truly are joyous enough to give offerings, whatever they might be, in joy before the Lord.
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