פרשת כי תבוא תש"ב - הברכות והקללות

And Moses and the priests the Levites spoke unto all Israel, saying: ‘Keep silence, and hear, O Israel; this day thou art become a people unto the LORD thy God.

לברך את העם [THESE SHALL STAND UP …] TO BLESS THE PEOPLE — The procedure was as is found in Treatise Sotah 32a: Six tribes ascended the top of Mount Gerizim and the other six the top of Mount Ebal, the priests, the Levites and the Ark remaining below in the midst (i.e. in the valley between). The Levites turned their faces towards Mount Gerizim and began to recite the blessing: “Blessed be the man that does not make any graven or molten image etc.”, and both these and those (the tribes on Mount Gerizim and those on Mount Ebal) answered “Amen”! Then they turned their faces towards Mount Ebal and began to recite the curse, saying: “Cursed be the man who maketh any graven [or molten image]” — and so in the case of all of them (the curses set forth here) till the last: “Cursed be he that does not uphold [all the words of this law to do them]” (cf. Rashi on Deuteronomy 11:29).

shall respond see my comment on “You shall reply and say” [26: 5]. Our Sages, of blessed memory, have asserted [Soṭa 32a] that this verb indicates that they also uttered blessings corresponding to each of the curses (e.g., “Blessed be the man who does not make a graven or molten image”, et cetera ). But the plain sense of the passage is that the abovementioned “blessing” [: 12] refers to the passage “Blessed be you in the city…” [28: 3 ff] whereas the “curse” refers to the contrary passage [28: 16 ff]. There is also a passage in the Book of Joshua [Joshua 8: 34] which indicates that the “blessing” was something that was explicitly written in the Torah.

shall respond see my comment on “You shall reply and say” [26: 5]. Our Sages, of blessed memory, have asserted [Soṭa 32a] that this verb indicates that they also uttered blessings corresponding to each of the curses (e.g., “Blessed be the man who does not make a graven or molten image”, et cetera ). But the plain sense of the passage is that the abovementioned “blessing” [: 12] refers to the passage “Blessed be you in the city…” [28: 3 ff] whereas the “curse” refers to the contrary passage [28: 16 ff]. There is also a passage in the Book of Joshua [Joshua 8: 34] which indicates that the “blessing” was something that was explicitly written in the Torah.

ושם בסתר, there are a total of 12 “curses” corresponding to the 12 tribes, all of the sins mentioned in them being of the type that one commits in private, when one is unobserved and no witnesses are present. I will explain all of them. There are only two of these which are sometimes committed in private and sometimes in public. These are idolatry and striking one’s fellow Jew. This is the reason that the Torah mentions the word בסתר specifically in connection with thee two sins that are listed here. The reason is that for sins committed in public there is no need to utter a curse as people sinning in public are not frightened of the curses either. Not only that, the court has a chance to deal with crimes/sins committed in public. This is the message in 29,28 הנגלות לנו ולבנינו עד עולם, we are forever obligated to deal with publicly committed offenses. Only when crimes are committed in secret do we leave punishment of the sinners to G’d, i.e. הנסתרות לה' אלוקינו, “secretly committed sins are left to G’d to avenge.” (same verse) This includes the whole range of punishments to which the sinner had made himself liable, not only for sins carrying the death penalty.
You will note that the Torah does not write ארור שוכב עם אשת רעהו, as normally when one enters another’s house this does not go unobserved. Sleeping with one’s mother-in-law, however, is different, as both parties usually dwell in the same house. (verse 23). Insulting father or mother (verse 16) is something normally done in one’s parents’ home, where strangers are not present. The same is true of someone moving boundaries in the field; (verse 17) it is done at night away from prying eyes. If the one doing it were to do it in full view of his neighbour, surely he would be challenged. The same applies to misdirecting the blind, (verse 18) or someone sleeping with a beast (verse 21). Naturally, all forbidden sexual unions are naturally performed by consenting adults, each one making sure he or she is unobserved.
Verse 20 speaking of someone sleeping with his father’s wife (former, not his mother) is also something which normally occurs in the male’s home, the place he grew up in, where he is not an intruder. Intercourse with animals clearly occurs in the privacy of the home or the animal’s pen, no one wanting to take a chance at being found out in such depraved behaviour. All other incestuous couplings are presumed to take place at home and with consent of the second party.

Cursed be the man that maketh a graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and setteth it up in secret. And all the people shall answer and say: Amen.

ארור האיש, all of the “cursed be” mentioned here had first been intoned as a blessing for all the people refraining from becoming guilty of the sins that are mentioned here. (compare Sotah 32) This is also the reason why the Torah commences the paragraph with the words אלה יעמדו לברך את העם, “these are the people who take up position to bless the people.” The principal reason for these lines is to curse the sinners who violate these commandments, so that they alone will bear the burden of their guilt, the people at large not sharing in that responsibility. The reason is that the sinners referred to were in the main the leaders of the people, so that the ordinary Israelite did not have the power to protest the carrying’s on of their leaders. This thought has been stated clearly by Ezekiel 22,6-7 “every one of the princes of Israel in their midst used his strength for the shedding of blood, etc. etc.” In that same chapter the prophet specifically singled out most of the (12) sins listed in our paragraph here. These obscenities were all carried out in Jerusalem; however, this does not mean that all the inhabitants of the city were guilty of these iniquities, mostly it was the highly placed members of society who were guilty of them. When the sins of the population at large are mentioned, these sins are generally attributed to the city in which these sins have been carried out. Compare verse 8 in that chapter of Ezekiel. [the reference to the “city “ as the place where all this had taken place is found in verse 3 of that chapter. Ed.]

Cursed be he that smiteth his neighbour in secret. And all the people shall say: Amen.

מכה רעהו בסתר [CURSED BE] HE THAT SMITETH HIS FELLOW SECRETLY — It is of slander that it here speaks (slander may be termed “smiting in secret”) (Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 53). — I have seen in the Work of R. Moses the Preacher; There are here eleven verses beginning with the words “cursed be” corresponding to eleven tribes. In allusion to Simeon, however, he (Moses) did not write down a formula beginning with “cursed be”, because he had no intention to bless him before his death when he blessed the other tribes (the tribe of Simeon is the only one not mentioned in chapter XXXIII. which contains the blessings that Moses bestowed on the tribes), therefore he did not want to curse him either.

Cursed be he that taketh a bribe to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say: Amen.

According to many people, he who takes a bribe denotes a judge; but in my opinion, it denotes a false witness.