Parsha Ki Tavo

Parsha Ki Tavo - Today’s the Day

By Dan Cohen

So many times, as my in-laws carved the chicken for dinner, their dogs sat next to the counter. Looking up at the cutting board, our family imagined the dogs saying, “Today’s the day,” hoping the chicken would magically fall to the ground. The possibility was in the air. They never lost hope.

A sense of possibility was also present in the Jewish nation in this Parsha. They’d been wandering for 40 years. They were encamped adjacent to the Jordan River, ready to cross. It’s easy to imagine them thinking, “Today’s the day,” we cross into Israel.

By this time, Moshe has offered his wisdom and his reflection of Gd's word. He described to the people what would happen when they crossed the Jordan. He explained that among our first tasks, we would gather upon two mountains while the Kohanim read us rebukes in the valley below. We would also collect huge stones from the Jordan River, cover them with lime, and write the Torah upon them.

Here are two distinct ideas about this moment in the Parsha that can help identify our personal and national purposes.

In Chapter 27, Verse 8, we read, “And you shall write upon the stones all the words of this teaching so they will be adequately understood.”

Rav Hirsch teaches that there is something universal in Moshe's command. In the Gemara in Sotah 32a, Hirsch identifies that the goal of writing and sharing the word of Hashem on the rocks was to expound on the Torah so all other nations would understand. 

He continues that our job as a nation has always been to help bring about ALL humanity's spiritual and moral salvation.  Now that the Torah has entered the land, that process began in earnest (and continues today).

Rashi adds that in the Gemara in Sotah 32, we learn that the Torah was written in the world’s 70 languages on the stones. That’s a lot of stones and a lot of languages. Ibn Ezra teaches that it was clear and legible to all. A miracle.

Hirsch also looks to Sotah 35b, which explains the expulsion of the Canaanite nation from the land. As if to preempt any territorial criticisms, Gd is making it clear that they need to go. However, Hirsch adds that there would be no reason to expel them if they pivoted to universal human laws like a singular Gd.

Perhaps what Gd is telling us is that while we may be the people of the Torah, our first actual step as a nation into our land is to commit to be a light unto all other nations.

The second big idea follows one verse later.  We read in Chapter 27, Verse 9, Moshe says, “…Pay attention and hear, O Israel: On this day you have become a nation to Gd, your Gd.”

Hirsch identifies a few key ideas. Upon our entry into the land, he says we formally adopted the mitzvot and served as keepers of the Torah.

But he points out that it’s not the entry and possession of the land that is paramount; instead, it’s our fidelity to the Torah.  Saying “on this day” illuminates a shared responsibility to the Torah and is a lifetime assignment for all of us - one day and then the next. 

This service to Hashem is the task that makes us a nation. Hirsch adds that the Torah remains our inalienable bond with Hashem wherever we are. This is the secret to our immortality as a people.

Taking these two ideas together, what can we draw? First, as a nation, we are called to show the world the light of Hashem. Second, the Torah, not the land, bonds us to Hashem.

The Stone Chumash says it plainly. When they entered the land, Moses wanted people to know that their past success and hope for the future depended on their loyalty to the Torah.  Inscribing the Torah on stones in many languages was a miracle and would spead our light. Accepting and living according to the Torah and mitzvot bound us to Him. The Alshich says these were to show us that obedience to the Torah was the only thing to preserve us in our new land.

We all know that chicken falling from the counter isn’t a miracle. But we also know the old adage that goes, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.”

Miracles were ever present during our 40 years in the desert and were set to continue in the land. All it took was for us to bind ourselves daily as individuals and as a nation to Hashem. 

I think that’s what Hashem wants from us. We live this miracle in real time today by living here in Israel and by our choices to cling Hashem. Now we need to continue to serve as a light to the world.