This week’s parsha, KiTavo, ends with the declaration, “Yet, to this day, the Lord has not given you a heart/mind to understand, or eyes to see or ears to hear.”
Our commentators, however, considered this verse to be more of a question: “You saw all that God did for you—when you were in Egypt—the sign and wonders—did he not give you heart, eyes, ears?”
Abarbanel, the 15th century biblical scholar asked, “Wasn’t the people’s rebelliousness prompted by God? He answered his own question with, “All is in the hands of heaven save the fear of heaven.” God may be the prime cause of things—but free choice is given to man. Abarbanel goes on to say that the Israelites perceived all that had happened and the people were given the chance, through these experiences, to ground themselves in faith and obedience to God. They did not and they failed to learn the lessons of God’s actions and the miracles performed on their behalf. The innate abilities were there for them to learn and understand; However, they chose otherwise.
It is at this point that we detect Moshe’s exasperation as he addresses the Israelites, listing the blessings the people would enjoy if they kept God’s commandments, and the punishments they would suffer for disobeying them. It is clear, however, that they still had not fully learned what was expected of them, and did not fully appreciate all that God had done—hence this reminder lesson and what is apparently a renewal of the brit milah, the sign of the covenant between the Jewish people and God.
Had the 40 years in the desert not taught them that there are consequences for their choices—blessings or curses? At the end of this week’s parsha, they are again reminded to “Observe faithfully all the terms of the covenant that you may succeed in all that you do.”
The message is undeniably clear: Life comes with choices and consequences!
We are reminded of this every single day when we recite the first paragraph of the Shema.
“And these words which I command you this day shall be on your heart.” The Kotzker Rebbe points out: “We teach our children truths and values everyday, surely they should be in our hearts (not on).”
From these words we learn that our hearts are not always open. So for all of us—we need to learn and relearn—repeat what we learn and then, in the moments when our hearts are open, wisdom will sink in.
Like the Israelites, and everyone else, we choose if and when we want to be receptive; we are free to decide when we want to open our hearts to knowledge, truth, goodness and doing the right thing.
As Jewish parents and educators,we need to model the behaviors we want our children to emulate and we must repeatedly create opportunities for learning, for we can never know when the heart will be open; when the choice will be to let it in. The same must be consistently reinforced in our Jewish day schools and yeshivot.
This time of year keenly reminds us that we are responsible for our choices and that there are consequences to the choices that we make.
Steve Freedman is the head of school at the Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County. Previously, he served as head of school at the Hillel Day School in Farmington Hills, Michigan for 16 years, and was a member of the board of the Association of Independent Michigan Schools (AIMS). Steve is a graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary. Among his proudest accomplishments are his family; together with his wife Joan, he is the father of four and grandparent of three.
