Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Ki Tavo Deuteronomy 26:1 -29:8 By Shlomo Riskin

Efrat, Israel – The following episode, taken from this week’s portion, Ki Tavo, raises several questions.

On the day that you cross the Jordan to the land which the Lord your G-d gives you, you shall set up great stones and plaster them with lime. And you shall write upon them all the words of this Torah...you shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in Mount Ebal. There you shall build an altar unto the Lord your G-d, an altar of stones; you shall lift no iron tool upon them. You shall build the altar of the Lord your G-d of unhewn stones; and you shall offer burnt-offerings on it unto the Lord your G-d. And you shall write upon the stones all the words of this law very plainly (Deut. 27:1-6)

Upon crossing the Jordan, why are the Israelites commanded to travel all the way up to Mt. Ebal overlooking Shekhem, 60 parasangs through the heart of enemy territory? After 40 years of wandering in the desert, what’s the rush to get to Shekhem? - and especially since they are almost immediately to return back to where they started from (see Rashi, ad loc)! And why is the first order of business to write out the Torah on 12 stones, and especially in Shekhem?

Abraham, we read in Genesis, heeds God’s commandment to leave his land, his birthplace, and his father’s home, taking with him ...his wife Sarai, his nephew, Lot, and all their belongings... When they came to Canaan, Abraham traveled through the land as far as Shekhem...He built an altar there to God who had appeared to him... ((Gen. 12:5-7)

The Gaon of Lutzk, Rabbi Zalman Sorotozkin, (1881-1966) author of Oznayim l’Torah, points out that by coming to Shekhem, the Israelites establish the fact they’re not newcomers to Israel, that their historical roots go back to Abraham. Egypt was a sojourn, but now they’re returning to re-establish Abraham’s legacy. The land’s fruit trees, vegetation, climate, topography or physical beauty is not what has brought them back to Israel. In addition, Shekhem is one of three locations, along with Hebron and Jerusalem, which was paid for in cash; Jacob, after his long departure from the land with Laban in Aram, returned and bought an open field, Shekhem, for 100 ‘kesitahs.’

This combination of tradition (Abraham’s first stop in the promised land) and law (Jacob’s purchase), makes Shekhem unique among Israel’s cities. Hence for the émigrés from the desert to first come to Shekem is like bringing visitors straight from the airport in Lod to the Kotel even before they’ve unpacked.

But it’s not just a history lesson. Past memory becomes future destiny when Jews are commanded to write the Torah on 12 stones plastered with lime, for although the Jewish right to the land may be historic, Jews will not be able to live on the land and hold on to it unless they keep the ethical, moral and ritual commandments of Torah. Plaster, subject to natural deterioration, needs the constant care of the people to prevent its being chipped away into dust.  The Torah is the means by which we guarantee that Israel will not be the mere gravesite of our past but will remain the homeland of our future.

Therefore, when they arrive at the Jordan terminal, they are transported (on their two feet) to Shekhem where there is a specific agenda. First, the forefathers and their footsteps; second, when the tour is over the Torah isn’t. And third, the Torah is a lot more than a tribal possession to be kept under lock and key.

The verses concerning the Jews setting up these 12 stones ends with the words ‘be’er hetev,’ which literally means ‘explained clearly.’ Quoting from the first Mishnah of chapter 7 in Tractate Sotah, Rashi comments that ‘be’er hetev’ means that the Torah was written “in 70 languages,” symbolizing the 70 nations. In other words, the sages understood that a further condition to settling the land was the obligation for the Torah to be extended into the world.

Israel as a nation-state has a specific purpose. The journey of Abraham may have begun with one family and extended to his descendants, but the instructions to the Israelites regarding the 12 stones now reaffirms the mission that Abraham’s message is necessary for all of humanity. This is therefore G-d’s third covenant with Israel: in the covenant “between the pieces” G-d established Israel, the nation; at Sinai, G-d established Israel, the religion; and with Shekhem, G-d established Israel, His witnesses to the world!

Commentators raise the natural question as to how it’s possible to write the entire Torah on 12 stones, especially in 70 languages? Nahmanides quotes two views. One holds that the 613 commandments were written down, not the whole Torah. And the second view holds that the entire Torah, from the first letter to the last, was recorded— and either the stones were enormous or it was a miraculous scribal feat. The Torah Temimah (Rabbi Boruch HaLevi Epstein) writes that only the 10 commandments were written down. It seems to be most logical that the “curses” which are the universal humanistic commands expressed in the context of this third covenant (Deut 27: 15-26) is what was written on the stones. These laws are mostly parallel to the Seven Noahide laws of morality. And finally, the Ktav VehaKabala, (Rabbi Jacob Zvi Mecklenberg) in the name of his son, writes that the Shema was recorded in stone.

This last interpretation is most striking. After all, the message of the Shema stipulates that our responsibility as a kingdom of priest-teachers is to see to it that G-d, who is now merely the Lord of Israel, be accepted by the entire world. Thus, whether we’re inclined toward the miraculous (the entire Torah in 70 languages) or the more rational that key selections such as the ten commandments, the “curses” or the Shema  were written on the stones,  it is clear that our destiny in this land is linked to that of the nations of the world. We must be a kingdom of priest-teachers, to bring a G-d of morality and peace to the world! Perhaps that is why the promised land is Israel, crossroads of the continents, and not Australia or New Zealand. From the very moment we crossed the Jordan, G-d taught us that we are here not for our sake alone but in order to perfect the world under the kingship of our G-d of love and universal law.