We see this whenever the Torah describes a covenant. The classic example is marriage. Before a wedding, you have two separate people walking down the aisle. After a wedding, you have one. When Hashem created Eve and showed her to Adam, he said
“And Adam said ‘This is the time! This is a bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh! She will be called “isha” (woman) because from “ish” (man) she was taken. Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother and cleave to his wife and they will be one flesh.” (Bereishit 2:23).
When a husband and wife get married they form a covenant and each cuts out a piece of themselves and gives it to their partner, and they become one.
That is the relationship we have with Hashem. That’s why the Torah uses the word “cut” to describe the building of our covenant with Hashem. At first Hashem set up this covenant with us at Mt Sinai, but we lost it, if not entirely then almost entirely, when we sinned with the Golden Calf. So this time, Hashem made it with us again, but this time it can never be broken. These curses we read this week are not punishments – they are a built in mechanism. It’s just simply not possible for the Jewish people to exist outside of our covenant with Hashem. It’s who we are. That’s why our Sages explain that really, according to what we’ve said, we see the love that Hashem has for us more in the curses than in the blessings. Because in them we see that even in the time that we separate ourselves from Hashem, that covenant continues. Even then Hashem waits for us to return to Him and live out that relationship as it should be.... But it never broke, and never will. The love and connection He has to us exists no matter what. It’s only because of that love that He tries to show us we need to return to Him.
May we all be able to recognize and feel that ‘brit’ that we have with Hashem in every situation and every time and place, and keep in our minds the verse we read this week:
“This day, Hashem, your God, commands you to perform these statutes and the laws, and you shall observe and perform them with all your heart and with all your soul. You have distinguished Hashem today to be a God for you, and to walk in His ways, and to observe His statutes, His commandments, and His laws, and to listen to His voice. And Hashem has distinguished you today to be for Him a treasured people, as He spoke to you, and to observe all His commandments, and to make you supreme over all the nations that He made, for praise, for renown and for splendor, and so that you will be a holy people to Hashem, your God, as He spoke!” (Devarim 26:16-19)
