We’re back! Almost!

Today is the final day of the Jewish month of Tishrei. For some of my readers, the mere mention of Tishrei will be enough to explain why I haven’t posted since late September. It is a holy, solemn month, and naturally it gets in the way of absolutely everything, doubly so if you happen to be a member of the clergy. It starts off with Rosh Hashana, followed by Yom Kippur (collectively called in English the High Holidays, or in Hebrew the yamim nora’im), and then continues with the week-long harvest festival of Sukkot, which is capped off with the holiday of Shemini Atzeret. (I recently heard a rabbi friend of mine explain it to a Christian thus: Imagine how it would feel if there were only seven days between Christmas and Easter, and if Easter were somehow followed by another Holy Week.)

I wasn’t even able to bake challot for Ha’azinu or Vezot Haberakha. No time, not my home kitchen, too much going on. I did get a chance to bake for Bereshit last week, but I didn’t have a chance to photograph anything. The theme was tohu vavohu (usually translated “without form and void”; I like Everett Fox’s “wild and waste”) and yehi or (“let there be light”).

Bread, blessings and curses for Ki Tavo

וְהָיָ֗ה אִם־לֹ֤א תִשְׁמַע֙ בְּקוֹל֙ יְ·הוָֹ֣ה אֱ·לֹהֶ֔יךָ לִשְׁמֹ֤ר לַֽעֲשׂוֹת֙ אֶת־כָּל־מִצְוֹתָ֣יו וְחֻקֹּתָ֔יו אֲשֶׁ֛ר אָֽנֹכִ֥י מְצַוְּךָ֖ הַיּ֑וֹם וּבָ֧אוּ עָלֶ֛יךָ כָּל־הַקְּלָל֥וֹת הָאֵ֖לֶּה וְהִשִּׂיגֽוּךָ:־

But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of Adonay your God, do not observe and carry out all his commandments and statutes that I command to you today, then all of these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. (Deuteronomy 28:15)

Parashat Ki Tavo is best known for its extensive listing of the rewards promised to the Israelites should they act according to God’s commandments in their new land (Deuteronomy 28:1-14), and for its even more extensive listing of the the punishments promised to them should they do something else (Deuteronomy 28:15-68). The latter passage, known as the tokhacha (תּוֹכָחָה, literally “admonition”), is read in the synagogue quickly and at a low volume, since we are obligated to read it as part of the weekly parasha but really don’t want to dwell on it. The language is extremely disturbing, and contains two words that are actually replaced with euphemisms because they are deemed unsuitable to be recited in a synagogue!

So the question naturally arises: What if the Israelites had followed some of the rules, but not all of them? Were they required to be good more than 50% of the time to fend off the curses? 65%? Or was nothing less than perfection good enough?