פרשת כי תבוא, תש"פ

When I think back to late March and especially April, my stomach starts to tighten. Every trip to the supermarket felt like war, as I memorized long lists, geared up, and tried to stay focused and move fast.

But in May, miraculously, the world seemed to come alive again, and slowly but surely, by the time we reached June, we were eating outdoors in restaurants and browsing bookshelves at Barnes and Noble.

Each re-opening was rolled out impressively, every detail of the shopping or dining experience choreographed to maintain hygienic standards and social distance. It seemed as though each entrepreneur had spent three months working out the Corona puzzle from every angle and was determined to succeed. They believed they could make it work.

It was nice, the feeling that maybe life as we knew it could be restored, but it also seemed a little wrong.

Yes, we want our enterprising business owners to have customers, and we want all of their hard-working employees to have jobs. But it's tricky. There's a fine line. We also want to be able to come out the other end of this tunnel not just triumphant, but educated. Chastened. Humbled. Awed by Hashem.

When Moshe delivers the תוכחה in parshat Ki Tavo, his perspective and focus is different from the warnings of Hashem in parshat BeChukotai.

Here's how Hashem introduces the curses at the end of Sefer VaYikra:

In his first person warning to B'nei Yisrael, Hashem launches straight into the gruesome punishments that await them if they turn astray. The list is long and frightening, and it encompasses every sphere of life - if illness doesn't descend, then enemies will attack, and if not, then drought will lead to starvation.

But when Moshe delivers his version of warnings, he tailors it to an audience that has perhaps become more jaded and more confident than their slave parents. He's talking to a group that feels strong, after braving the elements every day for decades and more recently conquering residents of the Jordan Valley. Moshe worries that a long list of threats may not be enough to wake them from complacency. So he warns:

If you don't watch your step, not only will these curses come your way, they will chase you down and "overtake you." It doesn't matter how smart you are and how many logistics you rearrange to overcome the latest disaster; you will not win unless God wants you to.

The curses Moshe envisions also strike this chord, reminding B'nei Yisrael over and over that their hard work, their ingenuity, their prestige, and their vast material gains will not shield them once they choose to forget Hashem:

On the other hand, if we learn the parsha backwards and return to Moshe's opening brachot, we see that being blindsided by events does not have to be a negative experience:

God wants to reward us beyond our wildest dreams. He wants to catch us off guard, when we least expect it, when we're not running after anything at all, and pummel us with blessings that we are powerless to refuse. And truly, He has.

The challenge Moshe leaves us with is to recognize the Source of our past blessings. If we want the ease, the security, the health, and the plenty to return to us, we cannot just chase after it. We will never be able to reach it, and we certainly will not be able to overtake it.

The trick is to run after the path Hashem has set for us by honoring His Mitzvot. After that, everything else will catch up.