But if you do not obey the Lord your God to observe faithfully all His commandments and laws which I enjoin upon you this day, all these curses shall come upon you and take effect. D’varim / Deuteronomy 28:15
Our teacher, Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai (the Chida)1, cites a rabbinic teaching which asserts that the horrors described in the curses that follow the verse above came to pass at the time of the destruction of the Second Temple. Through a creative interpretive process, the Chida asserts that any redemptive possibilities in that era were lost by the society’s persistent engagement in expressions of baseless hatred against each other. This, the Chida states, is the ultimate curse upon a society; when divisions become so embedded that discourse is impossible, dialogue is denigrated as an act of betrayal fostering a perpetual state of enmity amongst the silos of isolation.
The Talmud2 tells us that Ezra the Scribe decreed that, in perpetuity, these blessings and curses are to be read prior to Rosh Hashanah prompting the question, “why read this as we prepare for a new year?” One suggestion opines that reading these blessings and curses at a time when we are focused on imagining new and nobler versions of ourselves, and our communities, highlights the stark consequences of our choices. Our behavior, how we engage with each other, have real consequences for us, and our society.
Abaye, the early 4th century Babylonian sage offers a more optimistic response, “So that the year may end along with its curses.” We hope to leave our troubles behind us, begin the new year with a clean slate and without the negative baggage of the past. Attractive as Abaye’s suggestion is, we know that if we truly want to bring closure to negatives of the past we must confront them directly and honestly. To do so effectively, we must be willing to listen and hear painful truths from those around us whom our actions or inactions have harmed. We have to be willing to engage in difficult discussions and appreciate that we are all inextricably interconnected and can only move forward as a society if we do so together.
Shabbat Shalom –
Rabbi David M. Eligberg
1 Rabbi Haim Yosef David Azulai (1724 – 1 March 1806) commonly known as the Hida was born in Jerusalem the scion of a prominent rabbinic family. A Talmudist and a Kabbalaist, the Hida’s scholarship focused on the history of rabbinical literature, its authors and their texts, producing a biographical compendium of sages, Shem HaGedolim, (Names of the Great Sages) and Va’ad la-Hakhamim (Assembly of the Wise), containing the titles of rabbinic works through the ages.
Azulai’s renown as a scholar, along with his multilingual skills, led to his selection as an emissary of the Jewish community of Hebron. Azulai travelled extensively going as far west as Tunisia and Great Britain in the north visiting many significant libraries in France and Italy where he studied their Hebrew manuscripts.
The Hida’s literary legacy includes accounts of his travels providing great detail of the Jewish life he encountered, a prayerbook which he edited
(‘Tefillat Yesharim’) and a vast array of Halachic writings most notably a commentary on the Shulchan Aruch entitled ‘Birkei Yosef’.
2 Megillah 31b
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