Can Curses Lead to Blessings?

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin told the following story about a rebbe who survived the Shoah, known as the Klausenberger Rebbe. 

When he was a child, Rabbi Riskin was praying at the Klausenberger Rebbe's shul. The Rebbe had lost his wife and thirteen children in the Holocaust. He was one of the last to leave Europe, as he told people that a captain does not leave a sinking ship before the passengers.

He eventually got out, and on the Shabbat morning that Rabbi Riskin came to pray, something unusual happened: When the Torah reader came to the passage of tochecha, "rebuke," or curses that would befall the Jewish people due to our straying from the Torah and tried to read those verses quickly and quietly - as is the custom - the Rebbe said only one word: Louder!

The Torah reader was confused that the rebbe would go against tradition and decided to proceed quickly and quietly, assuming he had heard wrong, but then the rebbe turned around to the congregation with his eyes blazing and banged on the lectern, “I said louder!” he shouted. "Let the Master of the Universe hear!  We have nothing to be afraid of. We have already received all of the curses - and more. Let the Almighty hear, and let Him understand that the time has come to send the blessings!"

Rabbi Riskin was trembling, other congregants quietly sobbed. The Torah reader then read the verses loudly and slowly. At the end of the services, the rebbe turned back to the congregation with deep love in his eyes, "My beloved sisters and brothers, the blessings will come, but not from America. God has promised the blessings after the curses, but they will only come from the land of Israel. Let us pack our bags for the last time." Soon after that Shabbat, the Klausenberger Rebbe led his congregation to Israel, where they settled in Netanya. 

This morning, we read the tochecha, the rebuke.  We did it quietly, according to the traditional custom.  But the Klausenberger Rebbe’s angry request is understandable.  As was his insistence that his flock make aliya. 

Seventy years after the Shoah, the number of people who witnessed it continues to decrease.  And it seems pretty clear that a large segment of the Jewish world population will continue to live in the Diaspora, as has nearly always been the case.

It also seems clear that blessings and curses are to be found wherever we live – Israel or Diaspora.

This morning, I want to look at the tochecha, the list of Tochecha from a different perspective.  Not as a description of what ultimately occurred, but as a way of demonstrating the value and purpose of our tradition.  In a roundabout way, the curses delineate our blessings. 

Polarized or Unified? Depends Where You Look

Deanna and I spent July in Israel.  I participated in the Rabbinical Assembly convention, as well as the first part of the Rabbinic Leadership Initiative of the Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, which describes itself as a center of transformative thinking and teaching that addresses the major challenges facing the Jewish people.

Those who have spent time in Israel know that it is teeming, exciting and dynamic. 

When I was praying on our balcony, I couldn’t concentrate so well because there was construction going on, starting at 7 am, right across from where we were staying.

But I smiled to myself when I got to the phrase Bonei yerushalayim, acknowledging God’s role in the building of Jerusalem. 

There I was, praying about building Jerusalem while the crew across the street was actually doing it.

Building is taking place everywhere you look, as it always has.  Urban planners are urging greater building within the borders of Jerusalem so that a green belt, traversed by a relatively new bike path, can be preserved.  

Neighborhoods are being built and rebuilt, new urban spaces are being constructed.  Jerusalem’s version of the high line in NYC is the walkway and bicycle path on the former train tracks.  Many people joke that travel will be much faster now that it’s taking place on bicycle, as compared with the old train that took 2 ½ hours to get to Tel Aviv.

For now, I want to address a single theme, namely:  Although it often seems that Israel is more polarized than ever, with increasing disparate elements and more animosity between different groups, if you look more carefully you see  the emergence of much cooperation despite differences.