In Ki Tavo, which we will read this coming Shabbat, Moses’ long speech – the Speech of the Commandments – comes to an end. Immediately after, we will read another, shorter speech in which Moses provides practical instructions for entering the Promised Land and the ceremonies that will accompany the Israelites’ entry into the land.
The second part of the parsha describes the “Covenant of the Plains of Moab” – a parallel covenant to the one Moses made with the Israelites about 40 years earlier, at the foot of Mount Sinai.
Moses concludes the Speech of the Commandments with the following solemn words:
What did Moses say in his long speech?
“This day, the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances; you shall therefore observe and do them with all your heart, and with all your soul.
“You have selected the Lord this day to be your God, and to walk in His ways, and to keep His statutes, and His commandments, and His ordinances, and to obey His voice. And the Lord has selected you this day to be His treasured people, as He has promised you, and that you should keep all His commandments; and to make you high above all nations that He has made, in praise, and in name, and in glory, and that you may be a holy people unto the Lord your God, as He has spoken” (Deuteronomy 26:16-19).
Moses explains the mutual choice: The people of Israel chose God, and God chose the people of Israel. However, Moses doesn’t stop at a brief presentation of this mutual covenant; he elaborates on what this choice entails. The people of Israel chose God – “to be your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, and His ordinances, and to obey His voice.”
The first step in this choice is “to be your God.” This is the acceptance of the yoke of the kingdom of heaven. The people have accepted the obligation to God. From here, and only after accepting the entry into the covenant with God, the details of this covenant can be explained.
First, one must “walk in His ways” – what does it mean to walk in God’s ways? Maimonides, following a famous rabbinic teaching, defines this succinctly:
“Just as the Holy One is called merciful, so you shall be merciful; just as He is called gracious, so you shall be gracious; just as He is called righteous, so you shall be righteous; just as He is called devout, so you shall be devout” (Sefer Hamitzvot, Positive Commandment 8).
Before anything else, good character traits are the foundation of serving God. “Decency [derech eretz] precedes Torah.” Being merciful, gracious, righteous, and devout (i.e., doing justice and kindness) is the way to walk in God’s ways. Now we move up a level and arrive at the detailed commandments:
“To keep His statutes, His commandments, and His ordinances” – Rabbi Chaim ben Attar, the 18th-century commentator known for his work Or Hachaim, explains that there is a deliberate progression in this verse. First, the statutes are mentioned – these are the commandments whose reasons are not known to us, and we observe them solely due to our commitment to the yoke of the kingdom of heaven. After the statutes, the commandments that are more understandable to us are mentioned, followed by the ordinances, which are grounded in human reasoning.
The final step is “to obey His voice.” After we have committed to observing the commandments, what remains is to listen to God’s voice. The Or Hachaim explains that this refers to the study of Torah. When a person studies Torah, he hears God’s voice speaking to him. Our way to connect and hear the word of God is through the study of the holy Torah.
This final stage brings us back to the initial encounter – the choice. Torah study and listening to the word of God reconnect the person with the original choice of loyalty and commitment. Within this framework, the person is called upon to refine his behavior and observe the commandments. ■
The writer is rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Sites.