Category: Jewish holidays

Last week, I was struck by a word choice in the book of Job, chapter 1. It states in Job 1:11

וְאוּלָם֙ שְֽׁלַֽח־נָ֣א יָֽדְךָ֔ וְגַ֖ע בְּכל־אֲשֶׁר־ל֑וֹ אִם־לֹ֥א עַל־פָּנֶ֖יךָ יְבָרְכֶֽךָּ׃ 

But lay Your hand upon all that he has and he will surely blaspheme You to Your face.”

In the Hebrew verse, the word used for blaspheme is the word for blessing. In reflecting on the use of the word for blessing as a substitute for the word for cursing, I began wondering if there is a message in using a positive word to denote a negative word when it comes to blessings and curses. This thought led me to Deuteronomy 11:26-28, the first three verses in this past week’s Torah portion. 

רְאֵ֗ה אָנֹכִ֛י נֹתֵ֥ן לִפְנֵיכֶ֖ם הַיּ֑וֹם בְּרָכָ֖ה וּקְלָלָֽה׃

 See, this day I set before you blessing and curse:

אֶֽת־הַבְּרָכָ֑ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר תִּשְׁמְע֗וּ אֶל־מִצות֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֧ר אָנֹכִ֛י מְצַוֶּ֥ה אֶתְכֶ֖ם הַיּֽוֹם׃

blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I enjoin upon you this day;

וְהַקְּלָלָ֗ה אִם־לֹ֤א תִשְׁמְעוּ֙ אֶל־מִצְות֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶ֔ם וְסַרְתֶּ֣ם מִן־הַדֶּ֔רֶךְ אֲשֶׁ֧ר אָנֹכִ֛י מְצַוֶּ֥ה אֶתְכֶ֖ם הַיּ֑וֹם לָלֶ֗כֶת אַחֲרֵ֛י אֱלֹהִ֥ים אֲחֵרִ֖ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר לֹֽא־יְדַעְתֶּֽם׃ {ס}

and curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn away from the path that I enjoin upon you this day and follow other gods, whom you have not experienced.

Moses presents the Israelites with a simple, yet profound choice. One either chooses a blessing or a curse, which are both contingent on one action, following or not following the commandments. In other words, the difference in the positive or negative outcome seems to boil down to a simple equation of listening or not listening. The imagery this closely resembles is describes by Maimonides in the Mishneh Torah, Laws of Repentance 3:1: 

כָּל אֶחָד וְאֶחָד מִבְּנֵי הָאָדָם יֵשׁ לוֹ זְכֻיּוֹת וַעֲוֹנוֹת. מִי שֶׁזְּכֻיּוֹתָיו יְתֵרוֹת עַל עֲוֹנוֹתָיו צַדִּיק. וּמִי שֶׁעֲוֹנוֹתָיו יְתֵרוֹת עַל זְכֻיּוֹתָיו רָשָׁע. מֶחֱצָה לְמֶחֱצָה בֵּינוֹנִי. וְכֵן הַמְּדִינָה אִם הָיוּ זְכֻיּוֹת כָּל יוֹשְׁבֶיהָ מְרֻבּוֹת עַל עֲוֹנוֹתֵיהֶן הֲרֵי זוֹ צַדֶּקֶת. וְאִם הָיוּ עֲוֹנוֹתֵיהֶם מְרֻבִּין הֲרֵי זוֹ רְשָׁעָה. וְכֵן כָּל הָעוֹלָם כֻּלּוֹ: 

Each and every one of the sons of man has virtues and vices. He whose virtues exceed his vices is a just man, and he whose vices exceed his virtues is an evildoer; if both are evenly balanced, he is mediocre. Even so is a state. If the virtues of all of its inhabitants exceeded their vices, it is, indeed, a just state; but if their vices exceeded, it is, indeed, a wicked state. Even such is a standard for the whole world.

Maimonides has us imagining a balanced scale and how one positive action will tip it towards blessing, and one negative action will tip it towards a curse.  This tipping of the scales represents the constant human struggle. In essence, life can always be seen in balance and each choice leads us down one of two paths until our next point of choice, when another path opens up. 

Yet, for most of us, choosing one path over another doesn’t seem like a simple, easy, two sides of a coin decision. Rather, it seems like a huge leap. I think this is symbolized in the immediate aftermath of Moses’ words of choice to the people. Immediately following Deuteronomy 11:26-28, Moses commands the people that upon entering Canaan, they are to stop and offer blessings and curses to each other, standing on the opposite mountains of Mount Gerizim and Mount Eival.  In picturing this communal event, we are left with another image of blessings and curses, namely the chasm between the two, as symbolized by the valley that stands between the two mountains. It is symbolic of huge differences between blessing and cursing.  How do we experience a blessing vs a curse?  What does it mean in life to feel blessed vs cursed?  

To summarize, in examining the images of blessings and curses as being a choice before oneself and something separated by a valley, we get a sense of the dialectic nature of these two terms. They exist simultaneously as both a mirror image of one another and as total opposites with completely different characteristics. 

One potential approach in reflecting on these dual images from a similar duality described in BT Sukkah 52a about the evil inclination:

כִּדְדָרֵשׁ רַבִּי יְהוּדָה לֶעָתִיד לָבֹא מְבִיאוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְיֵצֶר הָרָע וְשׁוֹחֲטוֹ בִּפְנֵי הַצַּדִּיקִים וּבִפְנֵי הָרְשָׁעִים צַדִּיקִים נִדְמֶה לָהֶם כְּהַר גָּבוֹהַּ וּרְשָׁעִים נִדְמֶה לָהֶם כְּחוּט הַשַּׂעֲרָה הַלָּלוּ בּוֹכִין וְהַלָּלוּ בּוֹכִין צַדִּיקִים בּוֹכִין וְאוֹמְרִים הֵיאַךְ יָכוֹלְנוּ לִכְבּוֹשׁ הַר גָּבוֹהַּ כָּזֶה וּרְשָׁעִים בּוֹכִין וְאוֹמְרִים הֵיאַךְ לֹא יָכוֹלְנוּ לִכְבּוֹשׁ אֶת חוּט הַשַּׂעֲרָה הַזֶּה וְאַף הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא תָּמֵהַּ עִמָּהֶם שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר כֹּה אָמַר ה׳ צְבָאוֹת כִּי יִפָּלֵא בְּעֵינֵי שְׁאֵרִית הָעָם הַזֶּה בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם גַּם בְּעֵינַי יִפָּלֵא

The Gemara answers: This can be understood as Rabbi Yehuda taught: In the future, at the end of days, God will bring the evil inclination and slaughter it in the presence of the righteous and in the presence of the wicked. For the righteous the evil inclination appears to them as a high mountain, and for the wicked it appears to them as a mere strand of hair. These weep and those weep. The righteous weep and say: How were we able to overcome so high a mountain? And the wicked weep and say: How were we unable to overcome this strand of hair? And even the Holy One, Blessed be He, will wonder with them, as it is stated with regard to the eulogy: “So says the Lord of hosts: If it be wondrous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, it should also be wondrous in My eyes” (Zechariah 8:6).

In the above scenario, the imagery of choice making is contingent on the chooser. For some, the choice of not choosing an “evil path” should have been simple, easy, like pushing aside a strand of hair. The choice of blessing and curse was just to flip the coin to the other side. For others, there is a sense that each choice is not simple, but in fact massive, like traversing a valley. 

The choice between blessing and curse is a similar metaphor in that for those who fall into the trap of the curse, there will come a point in which one will sense of how easy it could have been to choose differently, like the strand of hair, like the tightrope.  For those blessed, the grandeur of the blessing will be such that it will be experienced as if one overcame so much to be able to receive this blessing.  

I believe this duality also explains the linguistic question from the book of Job. The text uses the language of blessing to speak of curse so as to cause us all to pause and reflect on the “test.” The goal was to push Job to see life through a darker pair of glasses via taking away all the good he had. Yet, in a backhanded way, I think the word usage, blessing, is implying how small the difference really is between that and a curse (there is another way to explain this with regard to how the Bible at times will avoid using “negative” language – BT Pesachim 3a). 

Today is the first day of Elul, which in the Jewish calendar signifies we are now one month from Rosh Hashanah. The tradition is that this month is a month of soul-searching and introspection, in preparation for the judgment of the world on Rosh Hashanah. Growth and change are hard work like climbing a mountain. For many, this sense of feeling one is fighting an uphill battle is so strong there is a tendency to just give up. Yet if we don’t climb the mountain, we might very well look back and wonder why we didn’t realize how easy it was to actually climb the mountain because the mountain was really not a mountain but rather it was a straight and smooth path.