“A Different Kind of If” Parashat Re’eh 5784

The Portion of Re’eh begins with a choice [Devarim 11:26-28]: “See, this day I set before you blessing and curse: The blessing, if you obey the commandments of G-d that I enjoin upon you this day; and curse, if you do not obey the commandments of your God, but turn away from the path that I enjoin upon you this day and follow other gods, whom you have not experienced.” Choose wisely and you shall surely be rewarded; choose foolishly and you shall surely be punished.

Freedom of choice is a recurring theme in the Torah. Twice, once in the Book of Vayikra [26:3-46] and once in the Book of Devarim [28:1-69], the Torah describes in glorious detail the blessings that will be bestowed upon one who heeds G-d’s commands: plenty, rain, and sovereignty, while at the same time describing in gruesome detail the punishments that will befall one who disobeys G-d: famine, drought, and exile. Similar verses are peppered all over the Book of Devarim. Why does the Torah repeat these promises and threats yet again?

The Torah provides an explicit answer: The blessings and curses in the Portion of Re’eh were to be given after the Jewish People had crossed the Jordan River into the Land of Israel, at a ceremony at the foot of Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal[1]. The ceremony would be presided over by Moshe’s disciple, Joshua. The Levites would shout out a litany of blessings and curses and after each one, the entire nation would shout “Amen!” But we’re just kicking the can down the road, aren’t we? The Torah has already spelled out the causal metaphysical relationship between action and reaction multiple times. What was the purpose of the ceremony at Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal? Why was it so vital to repeat in the Land of Israel what everyone already learnt in the desert?

Before we address this question, we will ask another one. The Hebrew word for “if” in the phrase “The blessing, if you obey the commandments” is different from the Hebrew word for “if” in the next phrase “If you do not obey the commandments”. In the context of the blessings, the word “asher” is used while in the context of the curses, the word “im” is used. Why use two different words? Rashi[2] is sensitive to this, and he notes that the word “asher” means “with the condition [that you should obey]”. How does this help us? To make things worse, in the blessings-and-curses in both the Book of Vayikra and the Book of Devarim, the Torah uses the word “im” exclusively. Why is this “if” different from all other “ifs”?

I stumbled upon a way ahead at a meeting in Sweden last week. We were negotiating a contract with a Swedish company on their use of our mission launchers. I attended the meeting along with my Director of Business and Contracts and my Legal Advisor. Much of the meeting was held in “Legalese” and so I relied upon my trusty companions to blaze the way ahead. At one point, both of my colleagues boisterously voiced their opinion that the words “subject to” in a certain location in the contract should be replaced by the words “pursuant to”. I had no idea what the difference was and I was the only native English speaker in the room. My colleagues explained to me that “subject to” means “as a result of” while “pursuant to” means “following”. “Subject to” indicates a causal relationship while “pursuant to” does not. Let’s fold this understanding back into our question about “if”. The way the Torah defines the correlation between action and Divine reaction appears overly simplistic: If you keep G-d’s commandments, then you will defeat your enemies and you will have bumper crops, but if you disobey, then your enemies will chase you and you will have no food. Rabbi YY Rubinstein[3] once spoke of a hypothetical experiment. On one side of a room sit righteous people and on the other side of the room sit some sinners. You tell them to return in twenty years and sit in the same seats. Twenty years later, on the righteous side of the house are people who have great jobs and perfect marriages, and perhaps have won the lottery a few times. On the sinner side of the house are people who suffer from leprosy and two or three divorces and who haven’t held down a job for twenty years. Comparing the two, would you ever sin again? Not if you have a positive IQ, you wouldn’t. But if things were so clearly defined, then the game of life would be too easy. Man would never truly be tested. He would keep the Torah not to please G-d and not to counter his evil inclination, but because not keeping the Torah would be sheer idiocy.

This kind of if-then relationship is the “subject to” kind of “if”. But if the “pursuant to” relationship is used, then the blessings and curses take on a very different meaning. G-d doesn’t cash in your good deed at some kind of reward centre. Rather, the reward follows the good deed in a way that is not necessarily causal. Perhaps the reward comes not overnight but over twenty years. Perhaps the reward does not involve breaching the laws of physics. Perhaps, over, say ten years, some defensive system operates thousands of times with a success rate of over ninety-five percent in combat conditions even though we have no right in the world to expect that kind of performance. Perhaps the sinners also receive rewards for their good deeds and the righteous are also punished for the sins they commit. A person who walks into Rabbi YY’s experiment and sees these kinds of results would have much greater difficulty deciding which path to choose. If he does end up choosing wisely, then it is a cause for celebration, at least as far as G-d is concerned.

This can help us understand the use of the Hebrew “asher”. “Asher” comes from the word “osher” – “happiness”. When the Torah speaks of the Jewish Leader sinning and the sacrifices he must offer, it states [Vayikra 4:26] “Where (asher) the leader sins”. What is so joyful when the leader sins? Nowadays, a leader caught sinning usually steps down. Our Sages in the Midrash teach that we are joyful because the leader has learned from his sins and desires to repent. Similarly, when a person recognizes the relationship between good deeds and reward, even though the causality is not readily evident, it is a cause for celebration.

Rabbi Tzvi Heber[4] offers a tremendous insight into the entire Book of Devarim. Much of the Book of Devarim is a recap of the forty years the Jewish People spent wandering in the desert: the giving of the Torah at Sinai, the places where they camped, the sin of the spies, and so on. Why was it necessary for Moshe to summarize the Torah before he died? Rabbi Heber explains that the purpose of the Book of Devarim is to transpose Judaism from a one-time experience into a way of life[5]. The time in which Am Yisrael wandered in the desert was non-stop shock and awe: from the splitting of the sea to the giving of the Torah at Sinai to the miraculous defeat of powerful nations. Their daily food rations – the manna – bent the laws of physics. It magically fell from the sky, it took on whatever taste a person desired, and it was completely digested. Their water came from a rolling stone. This kind of life might have been critical for the slaves that left Egypt but it was hazardous for a nation building their homeland brick by brick. The redeemed Jew cannot lead the life of a narcotic, living from hit to hit. He must maintain his faith and his way of life every day of his life, no matter how ordinary it might be. The people who had already entered the Land of Israel needed a different kind of “if”. They needed the pursuant-to “if”. And so in its discussion of an event that would take place only after they had entered a new “if regime”, the Torah uses the word “asher”,  but only in the context of reward. If a person can see what lies inside the black box, then this is indeed a cause for celebration.

Ari Sacher, Moreshet, 5784

Please daven for a Refu’a Shelema for Shlomo ben Esther, Sheindel Devorah bat Rina, Esther Sharon bat Chana Raizel, and Meir ben Drora.

[1] Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal are located near modern-day Shechem (Nablus).

[2] Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, known by his acronym “Rashi,” was the most eminent of the medieval commentators. He lived in northern France in the 11^th century.

[3] Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein, formerly of Manchester, England, currently lives in the U.S. During the time we spent in Manchester, I found his shiurim exhilarating and I would go to as many of them as I possibly could.

[4] Rav Heber teaches in Yeshivat Birkat Moshe in Maaleh Adumim..

[5] “Me’ha’chavaya el ha’toda’a”