KI TAVO_DEUTERONOMY XXVI:1-XXIX:8
Our biblical text includes the divine affirmation that the Hebrew people are Am segula: a “nation that is a treasure,” that fulfills its instructions and, therefore, will be a people consecrated to the Lord. This text highlights the uniqueness of the Hebrew people and served the Jew to tolerate and resist the adversities of History. While much of humanity viewed the Jew with rejection and disdain, the Bible considered them a “treasure”, a people chosen by God.
Sholem Aleichem, a man of letters of the last century who wrote in the Yiddish vernacular and on whose work, Toivi’e der milchiger, was the source for “Fiddler on the Roof”, puts on the lips of his hero Tevye: “Why don’t you choose another people for a while?”, in one of his frequent conversations with God. If the “election” produced persecution, Tevye is willing to give up this distinction, at least for a while.
There are those who argue that this “choice” also gave a feeling of superiority to the Jew, a fact that in turn produced a generalized rejection, because no people are willing to recognize the superiority, intellectual or spiritual, of another nation. A cursory review of human history precludes the conclusion that otherwise, the Jewish people would have been privileged; on the contrary, he was persecuted in an exemplary manner. However, there is no denying that Jews are stubborn people; in biblical language Am keshe oref, “a stiff-necked people” that does not bow to adversity. He was beaten and wounded by different armies and bandits, yet survived, while Medinat Israel assures its future.
The biblical narrative in Bereshit about the creation of one man, Adam, the father of mankind, prevents the Jew from claiming that he descends from more illustrious ancestors. The “choice” obviously cannot have a biological or genetic root. It is based on the fact that Avraham, father of the Jewish people, conceived the existence of one God, and that is the most powerful idea and has had the greatest influence on Humanity in all fields, including the scientific, that assumes the existence of universal norms that are not governed according to the whims of the different deities of idolatry. “God does not play dice with the universe,” Albert Einstein said. The idea of the existence of one God produces the corollary that there must be some reason for every phenomenon of nature.
To be a member of this “chosen” group you have to be born from a Jewish womb. The Jewish condition is transmitted through chromosomes. But there is a second way: conversion. A person who considers that the principles enunciated by Judaism respond to his personal spiritual concerns and manifests the will to govern his life in accordance with the principles and instructions of Judaism, can opt for conversion and demand insertion into that people “chosen” by God. It is clear that the choice is not racial, because if such were the case there would be no possibility for conversion.
Belonging is open to those who wish to enroll in a brotherhood that has a cardinal mission: the dissemination of the idea of the existence of one God and, above all, what this ideal implies for human behavior. It is not only an act of faith of an intellectual or theological order: it has a clear and definite implication for man. Faith in one God requires a behavior of solidarity with one’s neighbor, of assistance to the needy and the persecuted. At the same time, Judaism imposes a strict regime of personal conduct, the purpose of which is also self-discipline: “For man lives not only for bread but through the word of God man lives.”
When President Kennedy suggested to the American people, “Don’t say what the country can do for you, but what you can do for the country,” he was enunciating a basic principle of Judaism. Because being a Jew involves a series of obligations and duties, tasks and not privileges. Privileges and prerogatives weaken the individual and the nation. Tasks and commitments strengthen the character of the individual and the collective.
Challenges tempered the character of the Jewish people and allowed it not to bow to adversity, persecution, and even to the genocide of a third of its people some 70 years ago. The Jew was not created in the image and likeness of God: Adam, the first man, and father of mankind received the breath of the spirit of the Creator. This implies that every human being can return to the roots of his creation and that no one can consider that for some reason he is superior to his neighbor. Superiority, if there is such a concept, can only be a function of moral and ethical behavior that follows from the teachings of the Holy Scriptures, from the Tora.
Our chapters condition the conquest of the Promised Land by the Jewish people with behavior consistent with the Mitzvot. The fact that transforms a Jew into a “treasure” is a life governed by Mitsva, which changes what is worldly and daily into spiritual action.
MITZVAH: TORA ORDINANCE IN THIS PARSHA
CONTAINS 3 POSITIVE MITZVOT AND 3 PROHIBITIONS
606. Deuteronomy 26:5 Recite a statement as you bring the first fruits to the Temple
607. Deuteronomy 26:13 Recite a statement when bringing tithing to the Temple
608. Deuteronomy 26:13 Do not ingest the Second Tithe in a state of mourning
609. Deuteronomy 26:14 Do not ingest the Second Tithe while in a state of ritual impurity
610. Deuteronomy 26:14 Do not spend the money for food and drink for which the Second Tithe has been exchanged
611. Deuteronomy 28:9 Imitating God’s Ways by Fulfilling His Commandments
