Speaking God, Speaking Humanity
What makes the Jews God鈥檚 people? On Yom Kippur, when we sing Ki anu amekha ve鈥檃tah Elohenu (For we are Your people and You are our God), what are we talking about? Is this triumphalism, elitism, exclusivity? Or could it be an ethic of communal, legislated kindness?
In the third aliyah of Ki Tavo, Moses begins his second retrospective discourse (of five in Deuteronomy) with the word hayom (today; Deut. 26:16). It is said for emphasis, to impress on the wandering tribes that the commandments they receive this day will be in full effect when they enter the Land.
In the next two verses, Moses uses a unique formulation of the verb 讗.诪.专/ a-m-r (鈥渢o say鈥� or 鈥渢o speak鈥�). He says this unusual word about both the Israelite people and about God:
鈥�Et Adonai 丑别鈥檈尘补谤别迟补&苍产蝉辫;丑补测辞尘鈥�&苍产蝉辫;(鈥淵ou have spoken God today鈥�; Deut. 26:17). 鈥�痴别鈥橝诲辞苍补颈丑别鈥檈尘颈谤别办丑补 hayom鈥� (鈥淎nd Adonai spoke you today鈥�; Deut. 26:18).
This is 濒别丑别鈥檈尘颈谤, a form of this verb found only in Ki Tavo. It is a transitive form, which wouldn鈥檛 be so odd, except as applied to a verb like 鈥渢o say鈥� or 鈥渢o speak.鈥� What does it mean 鈥渢o say鈥� or 鈥渢o speak鈥� a person? What does it mean 鈥渢o say鈥� or 鈥渢o speak鈥� God? These verses are usually translated as: 鈥淵ou have declared/promised this day that the Lord is your God.鈥� 鈥淎nd the Lord has declared/promised this day that you are . . . his people.鈥�
These translations are interpretations. They express Moses鈥檚 belief in the mutuality of the declared faith between the Israelite people and God, or his assertion of a mutual promise of enduring commitment of the people and God to one another.
But on a hunch that there may be poetry in a literal translation of 濒别丑别鈥檈尘颈谤 or even a poetic theology, we can ask, 鈥淲hat might it mean for one biblical character to 鈥榮peak鈥� another, whether God is 鈥榮peaking鈥� us, or we are 鈥榮peaking鈥� God?鈥�
An early morning prayer gives us a clue. Barukh she鈥檃mar vehayah ha鈥檕lam means 鈥淏lessed is the One who spoke and the world became.鈥� It praises God who created the world through speech in Genesis. When God speaks, whole worlds come into being: God speaks them into being. God鈥檚 speech is actually transitive at Creation, creating yesh me鈥檃yin (something from nothing).
What could it mean, then, when people speak God in Ki Tavo? And what did it mean when a later poet used 濒别丑别鈥檈尘颈谤 at the end of his poem for Yom Kippur: ki anu 尘补鈥檃尘颈谤ekha ve鈥檃tah 尘补鈥檃尘颈谤enu (鈥淲e are Your 尘补鈥檃尘补谤 [what-was-spoken], and You are our 尘补鈥檃尘颈谤 [the One Who-spoke-us]鈥�)? I wonder whether the poet who wrote the Yom Kippur prayer might have been thinking of a deed and words of ethical importance in Ki Tavo that immediately precedes Moses鈥檚 second discourse.
In Deuteronomy 26:12鈥�15, we read about ma鈥檃ser ani, the tithe of produce that future Israelite farmers will set aside for the poor in the third and sixth years of the agricultural tithing cycle, which will be established in the new land. Every farmer will be required to make a declaration to God upon tithing the ma鈥檃ser ani, which begins:
I have cleared out the consecrated portion from my house; and I have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow, just as You commanded me; I have neither transgressed nor neglected any of Your commandments. (Deut. 26:13)
The farmer will further declare, in verse 14, that he has not transgressed laws against ritual impurity or idolatrous worship of the dead; and he will assert that he has fulfilled God鈥檚 commandment.
Rashi imagines what the farmer is thinking at the moment of tithing for the poor: samahti vesimahti bo (I was happy and I made others happy in it). As a vintner in Southern France, Rashi knew the joy of a successful harvest and the joy of giving a portion of it to the poor.
As the declaration continues, the farmer petitions God:
Look down from your heavenly abode, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the soil You have given us, a land flowing with milk and honey, as You swore to our fathers. (Deut. 26:15)
The Keli Yakar, Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim ben Aaron Luntschitz notices the word hashkifah (look down). He says the Bible typically uses this word to describe God looking at us critically. The only exception is when God notices people giving gifts to the poor:
God looks at us in recognition of the positive value of human compassion when a person transforms cruelty in himself to compassion. So too, the Holy Blessed One transforms His anger to compassion.
Keli Yakar believed that we are noticed by God when we transform our attitude toward needy people from anger to compassion. Our actions can even transform God. Rashi expressed the joy that such action produces in the giver and the recipient of the poor tithe.
Perhaps the strange verb 濒别丑别鈥檈尘颈谤 teaches that God and the farmer speak each other into palpable efficacy in this world. God speaks us into the world through continuing creation, revelation, and redemption. We speak God into the world by vowing to care for others who need our help and by actually helping them.
Hayom (today) we can reenact the spirit of the farmer鈥檚 quietly great ethical moment by making it our regular practice to care for the poor, whether in the Promised Land or wherever we live. Then we will be Your people, and You will be our God, in a real and compelling way.
The publication and distribution of the 91快活林 Parashah Commentary are made possible by a generous grant from Rita Dee (锄鈥漧) and Harold Hassenfeld (锄鈥漧)
