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That's the circle of life
Torah Study
RABBI SHLOMO RISKIN
Ki Tavo/Deuteronomy 26:1 - 29:8
This week's portion begins with two speeches the Jewish farmer must publicly make - the first upon bringing the first fruits to the Temple and the second upon having fulfilled all of his tithe or charitable gift obligations.
In the second pronouncement, the Torah stipulates: "You shall declare before the Lord your God, 'I have cleaned out the consecrated portion from the house, and I have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow, just as you commanded me; I have neither transgressed nor neglected any of your commandments' " (Deuteronomy 26:13).
Last week's portion ended: "Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey, after you left Egypt - how, undeterred by fear of God, he surprised you on the march, when you were famished and weary, and cut down all the stragglers in your rear. Therefore ... you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!" (Deuteronomy 25:17-19).
Amalek represents all those who take advantage of and prey upon the weak and the disadvantaged, overpowering them through strength and brute force. Over the centuries his name changes, but his motto remains the same: "Might makes right." He aims his poisonous hate toward the weakest members of society - the stragglers, the lame, the blind, the old. Amalek's spiritual heirs created concentration camps and gas chambers.
Amalek's attack on the weak represents the very antithesis of the message that God has just given the Jewish people. The moral code of this nation of ex-slaves is never to forget their origins, and never to inflict upon others what they suffered. Throughout the Torah, the ethical ideal of the Israelites is to manifest sensitivity to the needs of others, especially the disadvantaged.
The sins of Amalek and the tithes to the Levites and the poor are intimately connected. If the farmer didn't neglect his responsiblity to help the underprivileged, then he did indeed remember to destroy Amalek. In giving his tithes, he destroyed Amalekism and did not forget the Divine's message. It is one thing to remember the evil of Amalek when you are a weak, poor stranger, and quite another thing to still remember when you've achieved freedom and material security.
To conclude, let me share the following story, which poignantly describes the importance of sensitive humility, and of never forgetting the precariousness of material well-being.
There was once a very wealthy man who was also a great supporter of Torah. His name was Reb Hershel. He had only one daughter, and when the time arrived for her to get married, it was no surprise that a match was made between the wealthy man's daughter and the most promising student in the yeshiva in the town.
When the day of the wedding arrived and it was time for the father of the bride to fill out the marriage contract, the wealthy man was nowhere to be found. People were searching frantically, until the rich man's wife appeared before the rabbi, her voice aghast in horror. "I'm afraid," she explained to the rabbi, "that something terrible has happened to my husband. I don't know if he's had a stroke, or if he's lost his mind, but he sits in a tiny room, moaning and groaning, repeating the same phrase over and over again."
Accompanied by the family, the rabbi stationed himself outside the room where the rich man could be heard weeping. The rabbi strained to make sense of the words until he was convinced that what was being repeated were the words, "Herr off dos raidel" (Stop the wheel).
The rabbi then turned to the assembled: "He's not crazy at all! He understands that life is a wheel. And right now Reb Hershel knows he's on top. He has everything God could possibly bestow: wealth, Torah, prominence. But Reb Hershel knows that whoever is up today could be down tomorrow. He is praying for the wheel to stop."
As long as he realizes that life is a wheel, Reb Hershel has not forgotten what is most important. And he therefore will continue to share his bounty with the less fortunate.
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is the spiritual leader of the Jewish community in Efrat, Israel.
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