Parshat Ki Tavo
16 Elul 5763
September 13, 2003

Daf Yomi: Zevachim 96

Guest Author:
Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum

Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst, NY

 

As soon as the Jewish people arrived in Eretz Yisrael, indeed, on the very day we crossed the Jordan river, we marched through the Tirtzah Valley to Har Grizim and Har Ayvol. The Shevatim (tribes) of Shimon and Yosef, Yisochor, Yehuda, Levi and Benyamin stood on the green, verdant slopes of Har Grizim, while those of Naftali, Dan, Zevulun, Asher, Gad and Reuven were on the barren, rocky terrain of Har Ayvol. There we heard the Levi`im invoke the Klalot (curses) of the covenant we entered into in Arvos Moav, supporting the moral and ethical behavior of Am Yisrael in areas of both Mitzvos Bain Adam LaMakom (between Man and G-d) and Bain Adam LaChaveiro (between Man and Man).

In Masechet Sotah (37a) Rebbe Eliezer ben Yakov shows that the Ziknei Kohanim and Levi`im were lower-most on the mountain, while the other Shevatim were positioned above them.

Why this unnatural configuration? If the voices of Bnei Levi had to be heard by everyone in Klal Yisrael, then the Levi`im should have been on higher ground in order for their voices to carry? It's illogical for them to call out from below.

We recognize that the Brit (covenant) on Har Grizim was to be expressed and sealed in a manner totally different from the Brit at Sinai. At Sinai the voice of HaShem came from above:  "Vayered HaShem al Har Sinai el rosh Ha`har." But not at Har Grizim. The voices of the Levi`im had to speak to us from below.

It's justifiably so - for two reasons. Only HaShem Al-Mighty can address us from a plane of existence that is beyond and above us, too far away and exalted for us to hear and comprehend as we would hearing words spoken to us face to face. Only HaShem. When people speak to us, even the message of Torah, it must be served or presented upward. It has to be presented in a way which tells us, "we are speaking up to you, not down to you", with a message that lifts the Jewish people and manifests our worth and esteem. HaShem wants us to speak up to the people in order to lift the people. "Ha`al es ha`am hazeh."

The minhag of holding a cup for Kiddush or Kos Shel Bracha is to lift it from underneath rather than to hold it by our fingers from above. The reason is because we are lifted by the Shabbos, lifted by the Mitzva to an exalted place rather than dragged there from above. So too we speak to each other from a more modest and respectful position - "below" - and lift Klal Yisrael, with our message, even higher.

That's the first reason why, unlike at Sinai, the Levi`im spoke from below.

The second reason is, that standing at the foot of the mountain at Sinai, "b`tachtit ha`har," meant that HaShem really gave us no choice. "If you accept Torah, good and well with you. If not, you will not live another day. I will crush you all beneath the mountain", HaShem said. So we had no choice but to receive the Torah and choose to accept it and observe its comandments.

But when we speak to each other - even if it is a Rebbe or great scholar, or when Shevet Levi pronounced words of the Brit on Har Grizim, we still have a choice. We are not "b`tachtit ha`har". Even when HaShem says we have no choice, we find it hard to hear the message. So, between and amongst us, we certainly need to be afforded the dignity of making freely chosen, if well informed decisions concerning how we should live our lives. And, therefore, respect and understanding toward the listener is the most vital prerequisite to the successful reception of a message of Torah and Halacha that we may wish to share.

The tragedy of the schism between the Torah-observant community and the secular community has been not only the lack of communication but also the ineffectiveness of a message often spoken down by the Torah-community instead of up. Spoken in words of "you have to" and of coercion, and political power, instead of by persuasive love in the context of respect and accord, free of judgment, labeling and finger-pointing.

Laws of Torah and Hashkafa of all kinds must be conveyed in a manner that lifts us, without talking down to anyone. Direction in all areas of Jewish life has to be offered in a warm, positive, supportive, fashion that expresses dignity and a distinct respect for the listener. It must be free of coercive pressures. Only then will the eternal message of Torat HaShem be heard and appreciated in all its truth so it can be realized in our lives in all of its beauty. That is how the message of Torah was shared at Har Grizim and Har Ayvol on our first day in Eretz Yisrael.