Weekly Message 09.12.2025 Parashat Ki Tavo
- jccwestpasco
- Sep 11
- 4 min read
Parashat Ki Tavo (when you come) Deuteronomy 26:1 - 29:8
HafTorah Isaiah 60:1 - 22
Dear friends,
I have just returned from an incredible journey to the Puglia region of Italy where my father spent the first couple years rehabilitating after liberation from the horrors of the Holocaust. In addition to being the location of many of the Displaced Persons camps such as the one my father resided in the city of Bari on the Adriatic seacoast, the area is steeped in history with hundreds of ancient cities up and down the coast. I am looking forward to sharing this experience with you. I will be staying in New Jersey this week for our annual month of Elul cemetery visitations and will be back in Florida on September 15th.
I hope to see you throughout the upcoming Holy Days which are now less than two weeks away! We begin with a social hour, Havdalah and Selichot on the evening of Saturday, September 20th followed by cemetery visitations on Sunday, September 21st, erev Rosh Hashanah dinner on Monday, September 22nd; Rosh Hashanah services and Tashlich on September 23rd; and Shabbat Shuva services on Saturday, September 27th at which time we will mark the 6th anniversary of our adult Bar/Bat Mitzvahs Ana Calderon, Barbara D Johnson, Barbara E Johnson, and Art Simon with a celebratory Shabbat luncheon. Details on the times of all of these and information on Kol Nidre, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Hoshana Rabba, Shemini Atzeret, and Simchat Torah can be found in this month's Schrier and other synagogue mailings.
As I will still be away, I will be joining you tomorrow evening virtually at 7:30 pm and tomorrow (Saturday) morning for Shabbat services. In this Shabbat's third triennial Torah portion of Ki Tavo in the Book of Devarim (Deuteronomy) 27:11-29:8 we are once again confronted with blessings and curses.
The Israelites are told that if they obey G-d's mitzvot faithfully, they will receive every blessing imaginable. They are also told that if they do not fulfill their brit with G-d, many curses will descend upon them. (28:1-69)
Moses reminds the Israelites of the miracles they witnessed in the wilderness and commands them to observe the terms of the covenant so that they may succeed in all that they undertake. (29:1-8)
This of course can be a difficult concept to understand and tempts us to "blame the victim" when disasters occur. A better way to come to grips with the "curses" is to know that when societies as a whole do not follow the mitzvot when they destroy the environment, wage war, and treat others poorly, curses will occur. When the opposite takes place, we are blessed with harmony. Each of us has a responsibility to help bless our world with our own individual acts of kindness, charity, and caring. Ultimately, this has the potential to multiply as more and more of us practice living in this manner. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true as is evident in the current state of crises and environmental disasters.
Finally, Moses reminds the Israelites of the miracles they witnessed in the wilderness and commands them to observe the terms of the covenant so that they may succeed in all that they undertake. (29:1-8) The people will no longer have Moses leading them so it is most critical that they (and we) now take on the responsibilities personally.
Following the Torah study, we chant the 6th of the 7 Isaiah authored Haftorahs of Consolation with Chapter 60 of his prophecies. Only one more before Rosh Hashanah! Isaiah assumes that the blessings of Ki Tavo will be chosen rather than the curses and thus he envisions a world where righteousness prevails.
לֹא־יִשָּׁמַע־עוֹד חָמָס בְּאַרְצֵךְ שֹׁד וְשֶׁבֶר בִּגְבוּלָיִךְ וְקָרָאת יְשׁוּעָה חוֹמֹתַיִךְ וּשְׁעָרַיִךְ תְּהִלָּה׃
לֹא־תִהְיֶה־לָּךְ עוֹד הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ לְאוֹר יוֹמָם וּלְנָגְהַּ הַיָּרֵחַ לֹא־יָאִיר לָךְ כִּי־יְהוָה יִהְיֶה־לָּךְ לְאוֹר עוֹלָם וֵאלֹהַיִךְ לְתִפְאָרְתֵּךְ׃
לֹא־יָבֹא עוֹד שִׁמְשֵׁךְ וִירַחֵךְ לֹא יֵאָסֵף כִּי יְהוָה יִהְיֶה־לָּךְ לְאוֹר עוֹלָם וְנִשְׂבְּעוּ יְמֵי אֶבְלֵךְ׃
וְעַמֵּךְ כֻּלָּם צַדִּיקִים לְעוֹלָם יִירְשׁוּ אָרֶץ נֵצֶר מַטָּעִי מַעֲשֵׂה יָדַי לְהִתְפָּאֵר׃
הַקָּטָן יִהְיֶה לְאַלֶף וְהַצָּעִיר כְּגוֹי עָצוּם אֲנִי יְהוָה בְּעִתָּהּ אֲחִישֶׁנָּה׃
Violence shall no longer be heard in your land, neither robbery nor destruction within your borders, and you shall call salvation your walls and your gates praise.
You shall no longer have the sun for light by day, and for brightness, the moon shall not give you light, but the Lord shall be to you for an everlasting light, and your God for your glory.
Your sun shall no longer set, neither shall your moon be gathered in, for the Lord shall be to you for an everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be completed.
And your people, all of them righteous, shall inherit the land forever, a scion of My planting, the work of My hands in which I will glory.
The smallest shall become a thousand and the least a mighty nation; I am the Lord, in its time I will hasten it.
Shabbat Shalom!
Ron Becker,
Spiritual Leader
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