D’var Torah for Parshat Ki Tavo

            Ki Tavo reminds us that God is not an abstraction, not distant, not aloof. God cares how we behave. God responds to prayer. God blesses obedience to his law and punishes the wicked. But importantly, we learn that God chooses to act through human beings.

            The beginning of the parsha records a declaration that each person is required to recite when offering their first fruits. This declaration is an abbreviated history of the Israelites, remembering the slavery in Egypt, the Exodus, and God’s fulfillment of the promise to bring them into the land. This history of God’s loving care is the stated reason for bringing the offering. Because of what God has done, we must respond in gratitude and joy.

            The declaration serves another purpose also. It is a way of reinforcing our connection with the events of the past. It wasn’t just what God did for our ancestors; it was what God did and continues to do for us. God not only answered the prayers of the past with blessing, God continues to do so.

            In addition to this declaration, there is another for when the tithes are offered in the 3^rd year. This one is a statement of obedience, that we have fulfilled the commandment. Importantly, this declaration explicitly mentions provisions for the Levite, widow, orphan, and stranger. This show that God continues to care and provide for the poor and the weak. But interestingly, this care is tasked to human beings. We must be the ones who give to them out of what God has given to us. This is yet another reminder that the land belongs to God. Just as we were sojourners in Egypt, we are sojourners in Israel. Just as we were Pharoah’s hands, doing his work, now we are God’s hands, doing God’s work. Just as God acted through Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, God acts through us.

            Following the overview of first fruits offerings, we read the long lists of blessings and curses. If we obey God, we’ll be blessed. If we disobey, we’ll be cursed with subjugation and exile. The choice is ours. The Torah is teaching us not only ethical responsibility, that our actions have consequences, but that God responds to us. He responds to our prayers and our actions. There is a moral order to the universe, in addition to the natural order, and both come from God. The fact that God is responsive and acts through human beings is explicit.

            These ideas are expressed in Jewish Science with the idea of the Divine Mind in humanity. The age of miracles, if they were real, has ended. God no longer sends plagues or splits seas. Instead, God acts through us, through acts big and small, when we respond to the inner Light, the still small voice, the Torah within us. It is up to us to be kind, patient, just, and merciful; to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and house the homeless. If we have received blessings, we must in turn bless others. If we have received curses, we must learn to respond and turn them to blessings through obedience to the Divine within us. The declarations at the beginning of the parsha are important in reminding us of our blessings and obligations to others. They open us up to the influence of God in our lives, just like our affirmations and prayers do today. Affirmations, declarations, prayers are not magic. They’re psychological tools that help us to recognize and respond to the Divine, which is important if we want the Divine within us to find expression in the world. God responds to our prayers because God is near to us, around us, within us, but God only responds when we obey his commands to serve the Good with all our hearts, souls, and strength.