Parashat Ki Tavo - Fourth Aliyah
Read the biblical text and try to understand it on your own, before reading the commentary.
Stones, an altar, and the day they became a people
The aliyah opens with a joint command of Moses and the elders of Israel to keep the whole commandment. Upon crossing the Jordan into the land, Israel are required to set up large stones, to plaster them with plaster, and to write on them the words of the Torah.
The stones are set up on Mount Eival, and there an altar to God is built as well. The altar is made of whole stones, without lifting iron upon them. On the altar they offer burnt offerings and slaughter peace offerings, eat and rejoice before God. That is, the entry into the land does not begin only with the dividing of territory and with settlement, but with the writing of the Torah, with offering, and with joy.
The Torah stresses again that the writing on the stones must be clear and well done. After that Moses and the priests, the Levites, turn to all Israel and declare that on this day they become a people to God their God. This declaration is joined at once to listening to the voice of God and to doing His commandments and His statutes.
Insights from the aliyah
The entry into the land begins with memory and not with ownership
Even before the people settle themselves in the land, they are commanded to place the Torah in the open space. At the level of the idea, the land is not only a place of dwelling or a national asset, but a place that must be built around identity and values.
To write on stone so that it will not be forgotten
Stone signifies stability and continuity. The Torah is written on something meant to remain, so that the message will not depend only on the memory of a single generation.
Whole stones for the altar
The altar is not built from stones shaped by iron. At the level of the idea, there is a picture here of service of God built out of wholeness and simplicity, without turning everything into a project of power and control.
Joy stands alongside the taking on of a yoke
The aliyah does not deal only with command and with obligation. Alongside the offerings appear eating and rejoicing before God. This teaches that the covenant is not only the weight of duty, but also a place of joy and belonging.
Clear and well done, a Torah needs to be understood
Technical writing is not enough. The Torah stresses clarity. At the level of the idea, a message meant to build a people needs to be accessible, understandable, and able to pass from generation to generation.
On this day you have become a people
Even after the exodus from Egypt, the standing at Sinai, and the years of the wilderness, the Torah describes a further moment of national coming into being. This teaches that the identity of a people is not a one time event, but something that renews itself at decisive junctions.
Being a people to God is tied at once to action
The declaration about the people does not stand on its own. Immediately after it come listening and the doing of commandments. That is, identity is measured not only by the name we carry, but by the way in which we live.
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