Parshat Ki Tavo

There is a human need for novelty. People travel to new places on their vacations, seek out new forms of recreation and buy new cars in order to satisfy this need to escape the tedium of the familiar.

Chazal knew that we have a tendency to grow tired of the old and familiar, so in this weeks‘s parsha Rashi repeats the drasha that he already mentioned (11:13) in parshat Ekev. On the words (26:16) “On this day Hashem commands you…” Rashi writes:“Every day they should strike you as being new; as if on this very day you were commanded to observe them.”

The Sfat Emet in his opening Torah on this week’s parsha discusses the idea of novelty as it relates to fulfillment of the Torah’s commandments. Rashi’s drashot are not mere pep-talks. There is a renewal of the Creation every day by Hahsem, but this renewal is hidden by the repetitiveness of the natural laws (and this is the meaning of the verse in Kohelet 1:10, that there is nothing new under the sun).

So how can we discover the new which lies dormant in every new day? We can uncover it by the performance of mitzvot. The first mitzva in this week’s parsha is the mitzva to bring the first fruits of the new harvest to the Temple. Sadly we no longer have a Temple but we have two mitzvot that allow us to uncover the new and fresh in the Torah. One, the Sfat Emet says, is prayer. Once we brought the first of our labors to Hashem, now with prayer , we bring our thoughts and feelings to Hashem.

The other way to see the new is via the Shabbat. Most people see the Shabbat as a huge “thou shall not.” They see it as time for doing nothing. But the Sfat Emet teaches that this view is painfully superficial. While it may be that we don’t perform physical tasks on Shabbat it is however a day for spiritual activity.

The Sfat Emet sees a profound linkage between the physical performance of mitzvot during the week and the spiritual activity of Shabbat. Many and perhaps most people don’t get an immediate spiritual boost from performing mitzvot. But as long as the person believes (to quote the Sfat Emet“…she’kfi ma she’ma’amin sheyeash bechina genuza…”) that there is a hidden quality to everything in this world Hashem will show him that which is hidden. Shabbat is the day that Hashem reveals that which is hidden. So on this day, free from physical toil, we are meant to contemplate the creation and how Hashem renews it. What we discover on Shabbat we apply during the week.

And this is the cycle by which we grow. The mitzvot that we do, even if they are done initially in a mechanical fashion without feeling, give us the merit to discover on Shabbat, the truth hidden in the material objects of this world. And with these truths we perform our mitzvot with more kavana and with a greater appreciation of Hashem’s presence.

A desire for spiritual gratification is not to be diparaged. In another Torah from the parsha (from the year 5682) the Sfat Emet discusses the punishment of galut. Hashem tells us (28:47) that since we did not serve Him with a sense of joy when were at peace in our land we will serve the Gentiles in a state of horrible destitution. Bikkurim was a mitzva meant to be performed joyously. The Mishnayot of masechet Bikkurim describe the parades that accompanied the bikkurim to Jerusalem. A sense of joy is an important component of the mitzvot (see the Rambam at the end of Hilchot Lulav). When we had the Temple and were at peace it may have been easier to feel joyous when serving Hashem. But our current state should not be viewed as purely a punishment according to the Sfat Emet. Rather we as Hashem’s people are expected to show how to serve Hashem under all circumstances and now our task is to show how to perform the mitzvot without a Temple under less that ideal circumstances. It is hard to find joy in this sort of world, but we must try, and pray, as the Sfat Emet does at the end of this piece of Torah, that Hashem will return us joyously to our first state.