A wife purchased a birthday card containing these words from a paraphrase found in this week's Torah portion, Ki Tavo.: “The Lord has rejoiced over you and has done such wonderful things for you” (Deut. 28:63). It was such a beautiful thought that she turned to the Humash to read more.
If she read further, she would have found
that the words printed on the card were only part of one sentence in a section
where God warned the Children of Israel what would happen if they turned away
from Him and disobeyed His commands. The entire verse reads, “Just as the Lord
has rejoiced over you and has done such wonderful things for you and has
multiplied you, so the Lord at that time (when you turn away from Him and His
mitzvot) will rejoice in causing you to perish and wiping you out; you shall be
torn from the land that you are about to enter and process.” (Deut. 28:63).
Now that would be an unusual birthday
greeting!
The experience reminded me how easy it is to
select pleasant phrases from the Torah while ignoring their context and
meaning. Rabbi Jules Harlow, editor of the Conservative siddur, Sim Shalom,
reported that the following typographical error appeared in page proofs of this
siddur: “Praised is the Lord by day and praised by night. Praise when we lie
down and praised when we wise up.” Perhaps what this Torah reading and the Al
Chet on Yom Kippur prayer are telling us is really very simply-to wise up and
become our best selves.
The Torah contains words of encouragement and
words of warning. It is important to appreciate both for their instruction as
we greet the New Year 5783
No comments:
Post a Comment