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שבת שלום - פרשת כי תבא

Video Shiur

Click play to watch the video shiur by Rav Yosef Kaminetsky

News and Notes

On Wednesday, the entire shana alef of the yeshiva went on a day-long tiyul in and around Beit Shemesh, as they explored well-known historical and natural sites minutes away from their own neighborhood. They visited Tel Azeka, the Bar Kochva caves, the Bell Caves, and the Stalactite Cave. This Shabbat will be our second in-Shabbat of the zman, hosted by our menahel ruchani, Rav Moshe Simkovich. Rav Simkovich will be giving several shiruim, including a shiur entitled, "Is Belief in Moshe Rabbeinu Avoda Zara?" The oneg will be hosted by the Katz family in the Sheinfeld neighborhood. On Motzaei Shabbat, the yeshiva will begin its daily recitation of Selichot in preparation for the Yamim Nora'im. Rav Meir Arnold will be giving a sicha beforehand as our students prepare to experience the special atmosphere of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in yeshiva.

"You will be a parable..."
By Rabbi Wolicki

Among the many frightening and disturbing punishments listed in the Torah if Bnei Yisrael fail to live according to G-d's law, this one is particularly difficult to understand.

"You will be a source of astonishment, a parable, and a conversation piece among all the peoples where G-d will lead you." (Devarim 28:37)

What does it mean to be "a parable", "mashal" in Hebrew?

Rashi comments: "A parable: When a terrible affliction smites a person, they will say 'This is like the affliction of so-and-so'."

In other words, to be a parable is to be a paradigm or figure of speech for the purposes of exaggeration. Seen this way, the curse or punishment in the verse means that our suffering will be so bad that it will be the figure of speech used when describing suffering, i.e. "Like the suffering of the Jews."

We have unfortunately seen this fulfilled in our day when it seems that every tragedy is compared to the Holocaust - often inappropriately due to the extent of the exaggeration.

I'd like to suggest another understanding of this phrase "a parable". The verse specifically points out that this punishment takes place "among all the peoples where G-d will lead you." In other words, this punishment is carried out not in Israel but in the exile. This is notable as most of the punishments in the list are carried out in the land of Israel.

The word mashal implies not only a parable in the sense mentioned above, i.e. exaggeration. It refers also to parable in the sense of a fable or myth. Fables and myths are parables. They are stories that although they teach something are not factually true.

The Jewish people have a fairly unique relationship to history. Most peoples in the world today - certainly in the modern western world - do not see themselves as the direct descendants of any ancient person or persons in particular. For example, when people study the history of the Phoenicians, Vikings, or Ancient Romans there is nobody alive today who is conscious of their own descendance from these peoples. We are used to simply saying that these peoples vanished.

While it is an obvious point that everyone in the world today is a descendant of somebody from the ancient world, most people do not think that way. When Italian children study Roman history they don't find themselves saying "we" even though genealogically speaking it is true.

The Jewish people know themselves to be direct descendants of an ancient people. We are aware that Avraham is our great-grandfather, our ancestors left Egypt, and David and Shlomo were once our kings. More to the point, we know that Israel is our ancestral homeland and we have always stated that as a clear and open fact.

When we make these claims the rest of the world does not quite take it all seriously. If a leader of the State of Israel were to point out in the international media that our claim to Israel is due to the simple fact that our grandparents had the land stolen from them 1900 years ago, how many skeptics would laugh at that claim? It does not seem realistic to people because they see no connection between themselves and their own ancestors many centuries ago.

They look at our history - the Exodus, the Torah, the People of Israel in Temple times, - as a nice collection of fables. The see our own history as "a parable".

For this reason the Torah states that this punishment only occurs in the exile. Were we to have remained on our land since ancient times - like the Chinese and a few other peoples - our claims would be viewed differently. The very fact of the exile and the ensuing dispersion leads to the perception of our lack of genealogical connection to our ancestors who inhabited the land many centuries ago.

I'd like to suggest that this weakening of connection to our own history is, in fact, a terrible punishment. This is the meaning of the words, "You shall be a parable."

Our task is clearly understood. We must reconnect ourselves to the reality of our claim to our land and our history. We must solidify our own feelings of connection to the generations of long ago.

(I am attaching a link to a list showing the unbroken chain of Torah tradition from Mount Sinai up to this day. To deny the claim of Jewish tradition one must assert that something on this list is false. Where would such a denier draw the line? - rabbi.bendory.com/docs/shalshelet.php )