Dear TBZ community:
This week’s parasha, parshat Ki Tavo, begins with instructions to the Israelites to express their gratitude to God for their bountiful harvests and freedom from slavery by tithing ten percent of their crops for the Levite, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow. This instruction is then followed by the section of blessings and curses: The Israelites are told that if they obey God's mitzvot faithfully, they will receive every blessing imaginable. They are also told that if they do not fulfill their covenant with God, many curses will descend upon them. The parasha ends with Moses reminding the Israelites of the miracles they witnessed in the wilderness and commands them to observe the terms of the covenant so that they may succeed in all that they undertake.
This parasha feels like a roller coaster -- blessing and curse, gratitude and despair, possibility and dead-end -- the way that many of us feel these days.
As part of the blessings we read the following on verse 28:13:
וּנְתָֽנְךָ֨ יְהֹוָ֤ה לְרֹאשׁ֙ וְלֹ֣א לְזָנָ֔ב
וְהָיִ֙יתָ֙ רַ֣ק לְמַ֔עְלָה וְלֹ֥א תִהְיֶ֖ה לְמָ֑טָּה
The LORD will make you the head, not the tail
you will always be at the top and never at the bottom
In the context of a blessing and its literal understanding it seems that the verse tells us that if we follow the mitzvot and listen to God’s commandments we will succeed over others. These words seem to say that to be on top, others must be below; we will be more powerful than others.
I have always been troubled by the notion that to succeed means someone else has to fail. I am not naive, and I understand that this is, in many ways, how this world works. I win over my enemy, then my enemy loses. In a competitive world, a world divided, a world of good and bad, for the good to win, the bad needs to fail.
But perhaps there is another way to read this verse. Perhaps being the head, not the tail, of being at the top and not at the bottom, is about aspiration, about rising, about rising from the wreckage, rising with tears and with courage. Perhaps being the head, not the tail, is about the act and the practice of overcoming, and of becoming who we are supposed to be in this world.
One of the songs that has inspired me this past year and a half, as I have felt many times that the bottom can’t be deeper and harder, is We Rise, by Batya Levine. Batya, beautifully invites us and encourages us to rise from the places of wreckage in hope and in prayer.
In hope, in prayer, we find ourselves here
In hope, in prayer, we’re right here
We rise, humbly hearted
Rise, won’t be divided
Rise, with spirit to guide us
Rise!
We rise, all of the children
Rise, elders with wisdom
Rise, ancestors surround us
Rise!
We rise, up from the wreckage
Rise, with tears and with courage
Rise, fighting for life
We rise!
Batya Levine writes:
“This song came through right after the 2016 election. It was a moment of deep fear and despair, as we watched a campaign built on white supremacy and racism win. The results came in a few weeks after I had returned from Standing Rock, and in the wake of the election, I felt a profound sense of hopelessness. I needed to believe that collective power and resistance was possible in the face of such great unknown. I reached inward for a prayer, for a shred of hope, and what I found was the powerful and prayerful resistance I had witnessed and experienced at Standing Rock. In that moment, I started to sing, praying into my bones that vision of holy resistance”.
As we near the upcoming High Holy Days and we pray for a better year, for a year of sweetness and blessing, a year of health and peace, perhaps we can read the verse of this parasha, as an invitation to rise. To know that even when we are at the bottom we can work towards the top, even when we are the tail, we can become the head, our own journey of rising over our own selves. This is true as a collective and as individuals.
As Batya further writes: “No matter what struggles lie ahead, may we keep fighting and rising for and with each other”.
This song is one the songs Noah and I are inviting you to listen to ahead of the Holidays as we plan to sing together at TBZ.
Below is our recording of this song. And HERE you can find Batya and the Rising Song community.
May this Elul journey be one of meaning and purpose, so we can arrive ready for Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur.
May this Shabbat bring renewal and blessings to all of you and your loved ones.
May we find strength, courage, and patience, and open our hearts with generosity.
May all those who are ill find healing of spirit
May we have a joyful and restful Shabbat!
Shabbat Shalom
