Parashat Ki Tavo
Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8
One theme that recurs in our Torah portion is that of being happy. We learn that God desperately wants us to be happy and dreads our failure to be happy. Why is happiness so important? And what is this happiness that God desires for us?
Being happy is mentioned three times in our reading. The first mention is in the opening section of our portion. After the farmer brings their offering of First Fruits to thank God for their harvest, the Torah releases the farmer to go out of the Temple and to celebrate – to “be happy” with family, friends and strangers, for God has given so much good to enjoy. (Deut. 26:11)
The second time we are bidden to be happy is after we fulfill the commandment to erect monumental stones as a witness to our entry into the Promised Land and to our covenant with God. After the stones are set up, we must build an altar and bring sacrifices to God. These include “Wellbeing” sacrifices., animal offerings of which the largest part is enjoyed, not by burning on the altar, but by sharing it as a feast with family and guests. “And you shall rejoice before the Eternal, your Almighty God.” (Deut. 27:7)
The final occurrence of this theme is found in the Torah’s explanation for the horrific sufferings that may come upon the Jewish people. Such terrors, says the Torah, “will be a consequence of your not serving the Eternal, your Almighty God, with happiness and good-heartedness, from the abundance of everything.” (Deut. 28:47)
Each of these instances places our happiness within a distinct context. In the first example, it is as if God were saying to the farmer, “I know how happy and relieved you are to have brought in your harvest. You should look forward to rejoicing with everybody! But first, please just bring Me a small gift basket to acknowledge My help. Then, by all means, go and be happy!” The happiness follows after a ritual. But the party itself is completely up to the farmer.
In the second instance, the rejoicing is incorporated into a ritual setting. The menu of the party is sacralized. It is a sacrificial meal experienced “before the Eternal, your Almighty God.” Yet, even here, there is also a sense of God’s Own satisfaction in watching us rejoice, as a parent might enjoy watching their child being happy before them.
The last instance darkly contemplates the absence of delight that was so hopefully anticipated in the first two instances. It imagines that we have simply not taken joy in serving God, despite all the bounty we have been blessed with. The Torah gives no explanation for why we have not been joyful. It does not actually understand how we could not be joyful, given everything we have. But the Torah knows that She cannot guarantee our joy or prevent our failing to be happy. And such an imagining of our failing to take joy in life leads the Torah to imagining – not simply lack of joy, boredom, or sadness, but – horror, pain and even death.
How could lack of joy have such drastic consequences? Perhaps we may learn something from the first two examples in our reading. Those instances of being happy are not simply a report of an individual’s emotional state. Joy is not a solitary phenomenon. The two instances picture being happy as an expression of two components – gratitude and sharing. If people cannot be grateful for what they have and cannot enjoy sharing their blessings with others, then the Torah cannot imagine anything other than the tragic collapse of society.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi David Greenstein
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Thank you to John Lasiter for suggesting the title and selecting an image for this Torah Sparks – Rabbi Greenstein
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