Blessings and Curses. So much of the theology embedded within our text wants us to believe in a binary existence – something is either good, or it’s bad. If good, it was earned by right action. If bad, it was a consequence of wrong action. But we don’t live in a world that sustains this hypothesis. Our reality is such that, as the adage goes, “bad things happen to good people,” and, much to our chagrin, the opposite does as well . So what do we do with this deterministic, limiting, Deuteronomistic world view?
As we prepare to enter into the yamim noraim, the Days of Awe, set aside for contemplation and transformation, I see a seasonally appropriate interpretation. The first list of curses in this week’s parsha all refer to what will happen unless we focus our attention on right relationship with one another. “Cursed be the one who misdirects a blind person.. Cursed be the one who subverts the rights of the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow…” (Deuteronomy 27: 18 – 19) I hope we can all agree that these are noble sentiments. If we remove the word “curse,” and replace it with “diminished,” or “irresponsible,” or even “culpable,” we get a set of real-world consequences to replace the idea of some divine punishment to be determined at a later date.
The work of the ten Days of Awe is to get right in our relationships with each other; from the most intimate to the most distant. We exist within an interconnected web. Ki Taco serves to remind us that our actions have reverberations throughout that entire web of humanity, and that our impact is up to us.
– Rabbi Callie Schulman