David Lander's presentation at BSKI Sept 9, 2006

Shabbat Sholom, Good morning and thanks for providing me this opportunity to participate in this Social Justice Shabbat.

This weeks parsha , Ki Tavo provides a wonderful lesson in Gods commitment to Economic justice, racial justice and social justice  as well as God’s and the Torah’s Advice, no not advice, but Commandments and orders to us as Jews that to serve God faithfully REQUIRES  a commitment to Work hard and consistently and joyfully and with gladness in our hearts to ensure these  values of economic justice, racial justice and social justice are a reality in our hearts, our households, our Communities, our Synagogues  our nation and our world.

That each of us must make it a priority in our lives to help that who are without and to help them help themselves. 

I would like to weave together several different segments of the Torah portion this Shabbat just weeks before the Days of Awe and talk them over, and share some of my thoughts and some of the commentaries that I have found helpful. 

Let’s begin by going over what we know to be the overall theme of the parsha and the circumstances in which it all takes place.

The Jews have been wandering in the dessert, for forty years after fleeing slavery in Egypt, and are about to leave the dessert and enter the Promise Land,   There is a recitation , at considerable length , of some of the rules by which they are to abide once they arrive.  This includes both blessings they will obtain by acting according to God’s orders,   and curses to which they will be subject  if they disobey or engage in bad conduct, which is spelled out in considerable detail..

The central rule is known as Bikurum and involves the sharing of the FIRST Fruit of their harvest, with God,  and with the needy.  This is the jumping off point for most of the commentaries and lays the foundation for God’s requirement that Jews must be a people who care about the needy and about the “stranger,” And that Jews must take the actions necessary to improve the lives of those who are needy and those who are strangers  and to teach and provide the needy and the stranger with the means to improve their own lives.

The central message is that just as the Jews would not have arrived in the promised land without God’s intervention and help, so we would not have arrived at our own good fortune today without God’s help.

Once we accept this central premise for the Jews in the dessert and for ourselves  today, that whatever good fortune we are blessed with is not solely the result of our hard work and brain power, but a combination of that work and skill and God’s help,
then we can begin to understand why they were required to be charitable and to be thankful just as it  is God’s will and order that We today  be charitable, care about those who are without and those who are different and oppressed, and find ways to improve their lives and create the wherewithal that will allow them to improve their own lives. 

We live at a time of unparalleled wealth for a small number of us, yet the income gap between the haves and the have nots is growing rather than narrowing. The walls that we Build around our own lives and homes and communities are growing taller and thicker and we must work To make certain that our good fortune results in the good fortune of those that are without and those that are oppressed and those who are other and different from us.

Now to the torah portion. 

As if for emphasis, this theme is at the beginning of the parsha, in the middle of the parsha and at the end of the parsha.

The  second verse states

“That you shall take of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you will bring from your land, which the Lord, your God is giving you, and you shall put them in a basket and go to the place which the lord your God will choose  

Several points here from the commentaries

A reminder that you are here because the Lord your God has brought you here and given you this land so now you must take the best, the first and give it to God for the needy.

When you give to the needy you must give the best, not the worst. 
Maimonides says,  “when one feeds the hungry he should fed him of the best and sweetest of his table and when one cloths the naked he should clothe him with the finest of his clothes.”  

Likewise Rav Sholom Schwadron zt”l, the Magid of Jerusalem was incredibly inspirational and wondered everywhere bringing wisdom. He lived modestly and loved the mitzvah of giving tzedakah with all of his heart.    On the eve of a holiday there was a knock at his door and a poor man was standing in the entrance. 

His son in law who relates the story next heard a soft cry and saw Rav Sholom’s daughter wringing her hands. “Look at what father is doing, why is he doing that “

What he was doing was unfolding a brand new shirt, the first he had in a long time and planned to wear on the holiday and showing it to the poor man at this door.  He then gave it to the poor man and said you should have a new shirt.

“But father way did you not give him one of you old shirts.  Why this beautiful new shirt from England.” 

Rav Sholom truly understood the mitzvah of tzedakah  and he did it joyously, not begrudgingly and not passively but joyfully. 

Indeed in line 11

“Then you shall rejoice with all the good that the Lord your God has granted you and your household, you, the Levite, and the STRANGER who is among you. 

So, if the giving of the first fruit represents economic justice and making certain that everyone has enough,  then the use of the  phrase “the stranger” here represents racial justice.  The person who is different from us, in our case African Americans and Muslims are two examples,  are part of God’s plan and part of the group we are ordered to help, to make certain that in our community, in our nation, all vestiges of racial prejudice are extinguished and that they should have the same opportunities that we have.

And noted here the word rejoice. Once again not begrudgingly but joyfully.

Here is a wonderful quote  from the Mishneh. (at laws of the festival 6:18)

“When one eats and drinks on the festival one must also feed the stranger, the orphan the widow, but one who locks the doors of the courtyard and feasts and drinks with his family and wife and does not feed the poor that is not the joy of mitzvah but the joy of the stomach.”

At 28 . 3  are the words
Blessed be you in the city and blessed be you in the field.  

Rabbi Bunim of Peshischa says,,,
There are two ways to get warm on a cold winter day,  build a fire, which warms everyone else in the room as well, or wrap yourself in furs, which you can afford and which conserves your own warmth, but does not generate any heat or warm anyone else, Thus the Chassidim would refer to a seemingly  “righteous” person whose only concern with his own righteousness as a “tzaddik in a fur coat. “

At 28.47   Because you did not serve God with happiness and with gladness of heart, in abundance you shall suffer want. 
IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO SERVE GOD AND DO THE RIGHT THING, BUT YOU MUST DO IT WITH JOY AND GLADNESS AND A SMILE ON YOUR FACE AND ON YOUR HEART.

In the first four books of the Bible JOY is mentioned only three times, Yet  in the Book of Deuteronomy it appears more than ten times, when the Torah describes the festival as they are to be celebrated and our state of mind when bringing the first fruit offerings.

At the end of the parsha the theme is that God has brought the Jews out of slavery,  fed them in the dessert made for their clothes not wear out during the forty years and brought them to a better place.

Now as they are to enter they have, as it were, new ears to hear, new eyes  to see and a new heart to feel and to know , and they are to appreciate them and all that God has done for them. They are to be grateful, and they are to be joyful and they are to serve god and be just.  I have the good fortune to have a hearing aid that helps me hear, many people have the various surgeries to see better, and there a\has been extraordinary improvement in heart treatments  so all of this is relevant today as well.

I think the lesson of this Parsha begins  and ends with gratefulness, for everything that we are able to enjoy in our lives.
It is not easy to say thanks and to acknowledge that hard as we work, smart as we are Strong as we are, our good fortune is not due solely to our hard work, our brains our strength, but that we owe much to God. 

Once there are thanks in our heart then joy and gladness can easily follow or be cultivated if it does not naturally follow.

Rituals are important in our lives as we approach the high holidays and days of awe.  One of these rituals involves the thanks and appreciation and using this gratitude to help us move beyond ourselves and our own comfort. Our comfort is increased by the good fortune of others, and we need to think of ways that we can give the first fruit of our harvest and be blessed in the city and blessed in the field.

Examples,

Supporting the efforts to raise the minimum wage in Missouri and in the U.S  Last spring, the Wash u students taught all of us a lesson. They put their academic careers in jeopardy  to make certain that the low wage workers, whether of wash u or contractors were paid a decent wage which allowed them after working hard to support their families with one job rather than two,  We can search ours lives  to see what each of us can do. 

The African American academic achievement gap.  Not only our own children's education but the education of the poor and those in the city, so they can learn and
Build their own lives and earn their own living as they want and are not
Dependent on our charity.

All of this with joy and gladness and a smile is what God and the torah require in this parsha  in order to truly serve God. This must be a priority.  THANK YOU. 

David Lander

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