“Cursed be the man who makes a graven or molten image, an abomination of Hashem... and places it in hiding...” (Devarim 27:15)
The Torah tells us of the blessings and curses that the Jewish People testified to. It was an awesome sight, to be sure. Half the populace stood on one mountain, and the other half stood on a different, nearby mountain. The Levi’im and Kohanim stood in between. They called out, “Blessed be he who does not make a graven or molten image...” and everyone on the mountains cried, “Amen!” Then they repeated it as a curse, as is written above and in the Torah, and again, the whole nation cried, “Amen.”
If they began with the blessing, why doesn’t the Torah mention it? Why just mention the curse? The Sforno points this out and says that the sins recounted here were actually committed, at a certain point in time, primarily by the corrupt Jewish leaders in power. The intent of this curse was to place the responsibility for their actions firmly on their own shoulders. Though we normally have a concept of arvus, responsibility for each other, since it was the leaders who sinned, the people then were unable to protest.
Further, the commentaries point out that these sins were between Man and Hashem. Though they truly affected others, they did these things secretly, such as hiding the idol or moving the boundary marker at night. Only Hashem knew what they had done, and they have no one to blame but themselves.
This may be another reason the Torah highlights the curse. The blessing seems unwarranted. “Blessed be the person who doesn’t demean his parents!” Well, sure. What kind of lowlife is ungrateful and would think ill of his parents? “Blessed be the person who doesn’t mislead the blind person.” Really? You’d have to be pretty rotten to do that. But if they actually do it? You know how bad it is, and how deserving of a curse the person is.
The Torah wants us to realize how far a person might fall, and in contrast, if he maintains his holiness and DOESN’T fall, that he is surely deserving of a bracha. At this point, we can go back and appreciate the blessing that was given and agreed to by the entire population.
There is one declaration, however, which doesn’t follow this pattern. There are a number of blessings/curses about inappropriate relationships, and then comes the final one: “Cursed is the person who will not fulfill the words of this Torah to do them.” There, we might understand that one who actually keeps the whole Torah is deserving of a blessing. What an achievement! But we’d be making a mistake.
Keeping the Torah is not only for the holiest of people. It’s for all Jews. If one misses that, and thinks it’s just admirable, then he will not be bothered if he, himself, doesn’t uphold parts of the Torah. Therefore, the Torah speaks it out as a curse, to let us know that not following everything means we have let our guards down and our standards fall. This is something we cannot take lightly. We have high standards because we are meant to live up to them.
R' Shlomo Zalman Auerbach z”l was once walking with a bochur on Shabbos and a car drove past them. The boy screamed at the driver, “Shabbos! Shabbos!”
R’ Shlomo Zalman looked at him and asked, “What are you doing? He can’t hear you; his windows are closed. And if he did hear you, do you think he’ll suddenly stop the car, get out and say, “Oh no! I didn’t realize it was a problem”?” The boy cast his gaze downward.
R’ Shlomo Zalman continued gently, “You SHOULD scream “Shabbos! Shabbos!” - but inwardly, to yourself, to remind you that it’s a desecration of the Kedushas Shabbos and it's not OK. But to him? That’s not for you to do.”
©2024 – J. Gewirtz
