Ki Tavo: Blessings
Rabbi Yaakov Mutzafi zy”a was one of the last spiritual leaders of the ancient Iraqi Jewish community. Upon arriving in Eretz Yisrael, Rabbi Yaakov became the leader of the Sephardic Edah Charedit. He would often sit, adorned in his traditional jalabiya, in the Shemesh Sedaqah Synagogue on Rechov Haggai in Yerushalayim, teaching Torah, giving guidance, and distributing blessings to petitioners of all stripes. He was known for his fiery drashos on the importance of emunah. In the course of one drasha, he shared the following story of a family from his hometown.
A baby born to a sweet and righteous couple was suffering from an extreme case of colic, crying all day and night. None of the doctors or specialists could figure out the cause of the incessant crying. After exhausting all medical options, the parents consulted with Chachamim and holy people and tried various segulot and remedies, but to no avail. The child continued to scream, and his worn-down parents felt helpless.
One day, while walking in the market, the mother found a page of sacred writing laying in the dirt. Though illiterate and unable to identify what it was, she recognized it was a davar shebekedusha and quickly picked it up out of respect. When she got home, the righteous woman cleaned off the page and thought to herself that perhaps Hashem was sending her a healing message for her ailing son.
With simple faith, the mother put the crumpled page under her crying baby’s pillow and spoke directly to Hashem: “Ribbono Shel Olam, You know very well that I can’t read or write. But I do know that this page is holy. Master of the World! In the merit of this holy page, may my son be healed from his suffering!”
That night, for the very first time, the baby slept soundly. This miracle was a complete surprise to the child’s father (and neighbors) who had become used to the non-stop crying. After a few days of peace and quiet, the baby’s father reflected on the amazing turn of events and wondered aloud as to what had changed. His wife heard him, went to the crib, pulled out the page from under the pillow and showed her husband, saying, “Is there any segulah in the world greater than words of Torah?” The husband grew pale as he scanned the page. Trembling he shouted, “Do you realize what you have done? This is a page of the Tochachah, the rebukes and fearful punishments… this is what you put under our child’s head!”
Smiling, she responded, “My dear husband, you know I can’t read… how could I possibly know what’s written there? All I know is that it is from the Torah, the sweetest gift that our Father in Heaven has given us as an expression of His love. And look! In the merit of the Torah, Hashem has sent a complete healing to our son!”
When the great maggid of Brooklyn Heights, Reb Yitzhak Buxbaum, zy’a, shared this story of temimus, sincerity, and simple faith, he added: “How great is the power of faith that turns Hashem’s judgment to mercy and turns curses into blessings!”
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Our sedra lays out the multitudes of blessings inherent in living a life of following Hashem’s will, including health, happiness and peace of mind:
“And all these blessings will come upon you and hisigucha (cleave to you), if you obey Hashem your G-d…” (Devarim, 28:2)
It is interesting to note that parallel language frames the ramifications that will befall us in the Tochachahif we turn our backs on Hashem:
“And it will be, if you do not obey Hashem, your G-d, to observe to fulfill all His commandments and statutes which I am commanding you this day, that all these curses will come upon you and hisigucha (overtake you).” (Devarim, 28:2, 15)
In both passages there are two steps: first the blessings or curses “come upon you” and then “hisigucha,” they “cleave to you” or “overtake you.” The word hisigucha is a construction of the verb “lehasig,” meaning, to grasp or to understand, and also to reach or to acquire. This alludes to our process of interpretation. First something comes upon us, and then we acquire an experience of it according to our hasagah, our understanding. The way we reach out and interpret phenomena is the same way we acquire and experience them. Whether something is a blessing or a curse depends on our daas, our consciousness. This is illustrated in a story of the Alter Rebbe, Reb Shneur Zalman of Liadi:
The Alter Rebbe was the regular baal koreh in his shul. It happened that one year that the Rebbe was away for Parashas Ki Savo, and someone else leined instead. That week after kriyas haTorah, Dov Ber, the Rebbe’s twelve-year-old son, fell ill, and it became clear that the cause had been the stress and heaviness of the reading of the Tochachah. The effect upon little Dov Ber was so intense that his father was even hesitant to let him fast on Yom Kippur almost a month later. The doctors were astounded at the physiological response, and asked the boy, “But don’t you hear the Tochachah every year?” Dov Ber responded, “When my father reads the Tochachah, you don’t hear curses!”
The days of Elul revolve around Teshuva, the premise of which is our emunah peshuta, wholehearted and simple faith in Hashem’s promise for forgiveness: “Vayomer Hashem, salachti k’devarecha—And Hashem said, ‘I have forgiven them in accordance with your word.’” (Bamidbar, 14:20). With our own word, our own compassionate understanding, and interpretation of the mistakes that have come upon us, Hashem will forgive us.
Then, when we approach the Compassionate One with emunah peshuta in honest teshuvah, the words of Selichos can turn our aveiros into an expression of yearning and even closeness to Hashem. Indeed, how great is the power of simple faith in Hashem’s desire to forgive us, heal us, and draw us close, for it turns curses into blessings!
May we all experience a year of revealed health, blessings, and closeness to Hashem.
Excerpted from Baderech: Along the Path of the Torah, forthcoming (Mosaica Press, Elul 5786).
Rabbi Judah Mischel is Executive Director of Camp HASC, and Mashpiah of OU-NCSY. He is a member of Mizrachi’s Speakers Bureau at www.mizrachi.org/speaker.
