From Chabad.org: Ki Tavo in a Nutshell
Deuteronomy 26:1–29:8
The name of the Parshah, “Ki Tavo,” means “when you come,”.
Moses instructs the people of Israel: When you enter the land that G‑d is giving to you as your eternal heritage, and you settle it and cultivate it, bring the first-ripened fruits (bikkurim) of your orchard to the Holy Temple, and declare your gratitude for all that G‑d has done for you.
Our Parshah also includes the laws of the tithes given to the Levites and to the poor, and detailed instructions on how to proclaim the blessings and the curses on Mount Gerizim and Mount Eival—as discussed in the beginning of the Parshah of Re’eh. Moses reminds the people that they are G‑d’s chosen people, and that they, in turn, have chosen G‑d.
The latter part of Ki Tavo consists of the Tochachah (“Rebuke”). After listing the blessings with which G‑d will reward the people when they follow the laws of the Torah, Moses gives a long, harsh account of the bad things—illness, famine, poverty and exile—that shall befall them if they abandon G‑d’s commandments. Moses concludes by telling the people that only today, forty years after their birth as a people, have they attained “a heart to know, eyes to see and ears to hear.”
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1
With only a few weeks remaining in the festival of the Torah, Hillel the scribe has begun to lose hope. Today we find him on the comfortable rugs of the apothecary shop in conversation with his best friend Phaedrus.
Look, I understand that I sound redundant. But can you imagine what we are being asked? It isn’t just that we automatically have to give our very best food to the priests, we have to act like we like this.
Nobody really likes a complainer.
But we are talking about government’s relationship to its people.
I think you’re making your big mistake by considering this ridiculous nonsense we have a government. I think it’s worse if you think they see us as anything other than animals.
I just don’t understand the thinking. When you are working in a garden, something is either growing or it’s not. There are bugs on the plant or there are not. It needs something or it doesn’t. Everything is all black and white. But when we have these so-called leader types making decisions, they don’t think straight and they don’t talk straight. It’s infuriating.
This is where you make your big mistake. They are not here to govern anybody. They are here to make themselves rich. That’s the point of the relationship. They have the great ideas that will earn them some money and comfort and prestige and we do the work and make it for them. Don’t you get it? They are royalty and we are rabble.
It just doesn’t make sense. You can’t run any group of people by keeping them miserable and unhappy.
I’m sorry, did you say you can or you can’t?
I know it. It’s easier keeping people down. It’s easier destroying things. It takes years to build things up. Years of hard work and doing everything you can not to make mistakes. This thing that they do, it doesn’t take any style or taste. It’s all just smash and grab. It’s disrespectful as much as anything. And it’s not like we only disrespect the other people and respect ourselves. They treat us worse and they treat anybody.
Yes, we are the chosen people. How good it is to be so chosen.
Well how do you feel about this? Do you like walking around with a fake smile on your face?
I don’t really worry about the details as much as you. I understand you personally wrote all of these things. Firstly, I don’t even think people really read. I think if you asked everybody if they actually read any of the memoranda that came out 40 years ago, very few people ever did. We always figured it was a byproduct of not being asked. Because nobody cared what we thought, we didn’t really say anything. We thought this is the way it’s supposed to be.
I don’t know. I just remember when we were out in the desert that we didn’t have too many problems with bandits. I don’t remember getting rated or getting into any major wars. I remember having enough food to eat and pretty good trading partners. I think everybody felt good and it went on for a long long time. I’m sorry, I just don’t see the world through this ridiculous God is on our side and the only thing that matters is security. I’m just not into abusing people as a way to make money.
To be fair, you’re not really a money maker. You’ve never been in the marketplace. You only had one job in your life and you got kind of rich from doing it.
I’ve always had good penmanship.
I mean, you always showed up to work. Nobody is going to say that you didn’t put your body where it needed to be. Nobody hates you or thinks badly of you. I’m just saying that you’ve never really had to fight it out in any kind of marketplace. You’ve never had challenges to your business.
I don’t suppose Eva counts as something for something?
Not really. Most people figure that she was paying you money all along.
What? She never paid me. She put all the money in her pocket. The more money, the more freedom and the less I held any important. I don’t blame her I just didn’t appreciate it.
That’s what I’m saying. The government. They can say anything they want. They can make the world any way they want it to be and it doesn’t have to be based on any kind of reality. 40 years ago, you had access to the big guy and you brought some actual humanity and love out of him. But he was always an Egyptian and he always thought like an Egyptian and as he got older, he allowed more and more corruption to the point that there was nothing left because nothing ever worked.
But that’s when we bloomed. When they weren’t organizing us and telling us what to do, that’s when we lived.
And you can see how successful you have been with this argument. Telling the government that their job is not playing with people is only going to get a laugh from people who play with other people as a way of making a living. I doubt they would even hear words coming from your mouth. They would see a picture of you, decide your breed like looking at a dog and ask themselves if you were amusing to stare at. No one is ever going to listen to what you have to say because they have no concept of how to live as a human being in the world. All they know is power, corruption and coercion.
How many times have we talked about this?
Plenty.
Yeah. I’m noticing this about you. You really are becoming quite the talker.
I have a great teacher.
2
Tell the truth, how do you feel about charity?
I think Charity is the worst thing we could ever do.
Really? You don’t have any benevolence left for the world?
That wasn’t the question. The question was about charity.
Okay. What would be the definition?
I think it means you do something out of pity. It means that we have somebody who is pitiable or in a bad way and that we have to feel some kind of pity and do something for them. I’m not really convinced that this model works for anybody.
Of course it does. We have people who can’t function like normal people because of abnormalities and their body or their mind. We have all kinds of broken people. You wouldn’t give them anything and just let them die or become savages?
No, you misunderstand me. I didn’t say I’m against helping people who need help. I said I’m against pity. In order to have pity, you have to have one person be sort of the higher more put together person and then you have the other person who is lower to be pitied. I am against making these different levels for people to be at. I think it gets in the way of legitimate conversation and it has nothing but potential for unwanted drama or worse.
Oh, I get it. You were saying that we should just do something preemptively to help everybody and if someone needs help, they don’t even have to ask, they just come along and get what they need.
Yes of course. This is what we did during the 40 years. We had public houses. We all took turns cooking for each other. We had fun sometimes when someone came up with a creative idea and took over the kitchen. We all participated so we all ate. What great parties! But of course everybody eats. You can’t have a community unless everybody eats.
But what about pity? Don’t you feel something when you’re speaking to someone who is not as well off as yourself?
I don’t know. I suppose there is some emotion. It’s true. If we see who is the fastest runner, immediately we are all divided. Unless we run specifically as a team and work together, we are all individuals. And as an individual, how do I feel when someone is obviously less fortunate? Sure, but I think some people will use the advantage to be cruel. I always see this as a reason to be kind or kinder. I have seen people though use exactly the same situation to try and make themselves feel better by belittling someone. There are different sorts of people in the world.
So we just do our job, everybody gets fed, everybody gets taken care of and it’s just expected. I like it. I like Utopian thinking. It makes me happy to think of really good solutions for a better future.
I’m really not fond of beggars. I’m not fond of beggars at any economic level. I don’t really like when people schmooze me or try to work my emotions to get some kind of advantage or discount. I tell you, Hillel, it’s one of the things I’ve always most admired about you. You’ve never kissed my butt. You are always your own person.
Funny you should say that. I’ve been meaning to talk to you. It’s been embarrassing for me for a long time.
I’m sorry I said anything.
3
Today today, live like you want to. Let yesterday burn, throw it in a fire, in a fire, live like a warrior.
Yeah. Today is the day. Today is so super special I can’t believe it. I feel like a new person. I tell you, I’m tingling, Phaedrus. My heart is like a butterfly.
And what will you do? No matter what, you have already made your deal. You have everything. You live in sanctuary on the side of the hill in a beautifully built home with a crazy young girl who kind of loves you. You have enough to eat and no one wants to harm you. Why are you complaining?
Don’t you understand? They are selfish. The leadership. They think selfishly. They want power for themselves. They think me, me. But this is life at the top of the pyramid. At the bottom is a bulk of people who don’t have the power to create armies. How do we function together and how do we create success? This is the problem. The idea of being selfish in the actual population is going to do nothing but create disorder and unhappiness for everybody. Nobody wants to live in a dangerous situation. But that’s what happens when we all start thinking selfishly or that we are more important than others.
I would say that as a business person, I at least believe in the symbiosis of the marketplace. That is true in war or in peace. But as far as living selflessly, I think that’s a recipe for disaster. How on earth would anyone know who to follow if they were constantly looking around for other people to tell them what to do?
But that is what we are talking about. How many of us are actually followers?
That’s a good question. According to the government, everybody. We are all followers. We don’t have the ability to formulate laws or make moral choices. We need someone standing over us at all times because we don’t organize well. I personally don’t know why this doesn’t mean that we are not organizable and we shouldn’t even try. And if we’re talking about the 10 rules of how to live well, that’s pretty clean all things considered. I mean please, just remind yourself to be respectful of others. It’s not that hard and it works well in life and in business.
So then what is the point? We don’t live in Utopia. We work for a wartime government that believes the only way to make money is by stealing it from others. They are not interested in listening to us or even believing that we got along very well for 40 years without their help. They are not interested in any of our thoughts because it is not their job to listen to us, it’s their job to get us to listen to them.
Or they just kill you.
You have to admit, getting someone to be religious is really about getting them to accept the will of the strong. I think there is a big difference between some brute demanding that you work for them and a friendly contract between people to help out. I think there are different types of projects and I think the results are far better for human beings if we stay away from the brutality.
You seem surprised.
No, I’m not. I haven’t stopped being a vegan. I just understand things differently. You look at me and I have this comfortable lifestyle. That’s what you see. It’s a picture and you understand it because of the elements you see in the picture. A woman, a nice house, everything I need for myself. And you say that selfishly, I’m making a mistake in not being grateful for these favors. I say that the life of those less fortunate than me have to have some value. I understand that I at least hobnob with the elite class. I agree that I am connected to the intelligencia. But this also does not mean that I don’t care about the entire population. Everybody lives. It’s just a matter of what the minimum is. It’s just a matter of how big the safety net is and how much we keep people as slaves instead of letting them have their time to do what they want.
I know it. I think I was just playing with you. I feel it too. I can’t just take people’s money and not understand when it is difficult. According to you, I’m wrong, but I very often discount important medicines or just give them free. I know I could make a ton of money but I don’t exactly because I don’t want someone to die because they don’t have access to something that would normally be thought of as expensive. I think you for talking about medicine, sure, this is my business but I think we should remember what the business is about. If we’re going to be doctors, let’s be good doctors.
Maybe that’s the problem with all of this ridiculous obsequiousness. They just want to kill the entrepreneur.
I’m really not convinced who this God is but it does seem that independent thought angers him more than anything else. How interesting to be the god of all time and all the universe and be worried about what we are thinking. I can see how the Egyptian builder might be worried but I can’t see how you could attribute this to God.
Yeah, that’s the whole thing. We see God everyday. Moses never saw him even once.
No. I think we showed him God. We showed him how The love and the life and the light are everywhere. I think we showed him God.
Well God knows we gave him enough material.
Burning bush. I remember that stuff. Amazing flavor.
Yeah, right. That’s what I remember about it too.
4
You wrote this.
Yeah. You noticed.
You are so dramatic. You were just talking about feeding people. We have to feed people.
Sure. It’s not a joke. Even the Egyptian understands that you can’t have an army if you can’t feed them.
So we are just choosing one way of getting food. We take other people’s food. It’s not the only way to get food. It’s not the friendliest way to get food. In fact, it’s the worst possible way in the world to get food. It brings nothing but misery and murder and violence and unhappiness. It takes everything beautiful and breaks it down into complete ugliness that will never be put back together again.
I think it has something to do with God. Not God God, God. Do you know what I mean?
Yeah. Not this mystical character that the Egyptian theoretically drags around. Nature. The universe. The things that make all the beautiful changes every year. I understand you.
Could it be God?
What do you mean?
It’s an amazing series of events that give one person power over others. Whatever the truth is about how the Egyptian managed to get 600,000 Jews to go on a desert project with him is truly unknown. We know how the story was written but we don’t know how such a deal could have been. We don’t even know if the Egyptians were following them to kill them or simply giving them an escort to the edge of the sea. Life is one thing and the stuff that ends up in a book is a matter of author’s rights.
It is the victorious that writes history. The losers are forgotten unless they are really good at hiding their books.
Writing is a beautiful thing.
For you, obviously.
No. It is a remarkably beautiful thing to do. Motivation is an issue and the willingness to modify or rewrite or edit. Or even in my case, to be caught forever writing other people’s words and only having mild powers to try and move things in a better direction. But to actually put something in writing is amazing. And look at the power that they have now simply because they got to write in the book. It’s not even their book and they really should never have been writing any of this stuff. But they do it and now it’s forever.
I do like the interpretation of the real Torah. It ends up in the quandary that there really is no difference between dead humans and dead animals that we use for food. Technically speaking, there are some animals you eat and some animals you don’t eat if you follow the laws. But I’m not sure it’s specifically says anything about not eating other people.
No, it does. People are off limits. Don’t eat the meat of dead people. They say this absolutely clearly.
Well it’s good they have that distinction. Kind of. It does put the entire thing into perspective though, doesn’t it? I mean, you shouldn’t eat pigs but people eat pigs. Maybe it means something and they become gentile because of eating it, this is possible. All of the amazing flaws that we see in the gentile way of life is created because they literally ate food that was suggested they overlook.
Look, I sometimes get invited to parties and I eat what they serve at the party. What do you do?
I eat vegan. I eat everything on the table at the party that doesn’t come from an animal. Sometimes everyone seems to have wonderful dinners and I have a bunch of bread and veggies but I’m happy. If it’s good bread at least. I don’t mind that there is no blood in my diet and I don’t mind what happens to my mind without blood.
No. It’s antitrust. We are screwing everything up because we are a bunch of screw-ups. I agree. I should not be eating meat. I should just say no or do what you do and just smile. If they want to think about me, that’s their carnivore problems and not mine, right?
That you would even ask my opinion about your behavior should tell you everything you need to know.
You’re right. Life is better without. I quit. I hope they don’t kill me for this but you’re right.
I know I’m right. That’s why I wrote this.
5
It was noticeable. The blessing was like, eh. But the curse went on and on with all of its specifics.
I like when he got tangled up in sleeping with animals or different female family members. Does he actually believe that there is a difference in females dependent upon their job? I mean, I’m sure there’s some basic differences but is there some issue with understanding a woman being a woman?
I can’t listen to this. I know you are talking about a Utopian future where men and women coexist perfectly and happily with no unnecessary drama between us. But that makes you a complete fantasist. And I don’t mind this because I am a good apothecary and I know what you like. I’m just talking about the reality of keeping the noodles inside your brain cavity from leaking out your ear.
Noodles?
It’s like stretched boiled bread. You’ll like it. I got some in trade from some interesting looking people.
I understand.
Speaking of blessings and curses and sleeping with people you shouldn’t be sleeping with, how is your new wife?
I knew you wanted to ask me about that. And you need to know that I think about this. Do I wish to make these private things public? Am I living simply to share the stories from my life with you? Do you think saying the stories of my life somehow gives relevance to myself?
Yes. You’re dying to tell me.
What do you want to know? Are we doing the wangle jangle? Yes. I’m actually still quite good at it and it’s nice to have such a fresh partner. But no, I am an old man and when I am done with her, if there is no pressing business with household finances, she’s off doing whatever she wants to do. I believe she is the most ambitious woman I have ever met since my first wife.
You do have a unique talent for creating female explosions. You must have something magic in your wangle jangle.
I believe the word is imagination.
Those fellas we traded with gave me some kind of root that also does that. We can call that imagination. I forget what they called it.
I mean that it’s a particular style of improvisation. Everything’s going to be fine. You are as safe as if you are in your mother’s arms. And, you know, we can be animals given the opportunity and sometimes you have to let the dog out.
All right. Even though I have known you my entire life, I am going to allow you to stand there and tell me that you are just a wild stallion in the sack, the young wife is impressed and in love and you just don’t give a damn what happens in her spare time. You are the most perfect human in the world. Nothing can touch you. Do you have no emotions. You do not live lies. There is no drama.
Well at least I’m not obsequious.
Tell me the truth. Tell me the real truth.
What do you want to hear? When she’s around, we’re okay together. We have our common language. And yeah, sex is okay. And then she goes away and I have what the world is like without her. And I know what she’s doing and I know I couldn’t stop her if I tried. I see her as someone special and she sees me as one of many.
It is most ironic how closely the model of marriage replicates the model of government. As the wife lives over the husband, so the government lives over us all. And with the exact same logical skills and emotional ability to control itself.
That was kind of a bar thing to say. Do you want to get to some particular level? You’ve got me thinking about loneliness. I think we should definitely smoke on this.
Yes. Let us both smoke on this deeply.
6
So you are saying that mathematically speaking, the amount of blessing being inherently smaller than the amount of curse and that this ratio is identical in the male female relationship and in government. That’s fascinating. Where did you get your numbers?
Okay, I am being intuitive. But let’s see if this pans out. We are talking about the power relationship where one side is being completely exploitive of the other. In this case, we could say that both sides are exploiting the other to a certain level. But we might see the one side is proportionately over exploiting. And when you get to the math of that number, you will see that this ratio is the same for how the government does us.
This is the no respect ratio.
Exactly. You know, I saw some children playing this game today. One boy would throw a small stone and another boy would try to hit it with a stick as it went by. They didn’t try to hit each other with the stones but would instead try to throw each stone into a particular place and there the other boy would try and hit it with a stick. And then they would run around to different bases. It was a very intriguing game to look at.
Does this game of bases have a name?
I don’t know. Bases and balls and bats. Something like that. Bases and balls. Anyway, what I noticed was the success rate. When the fellow who through the stone had all of the power and the person with the stick could not touch him, this made for a very clean game. It was difficult to gain bases and hit the stone. But in games where everyone could easily hit the stones, it was very chaotic and not very meaningful to successfully gather the bases. In other words, the game itself relied on the fact that it was incredibly difficult to do. Do you see what I mean?
You married two women who were either already professionals or became professionals after being with you. If you are talking about this in some strange way, I don’t particularly get it.
No, it’s the percentage of what you must give away to others and what you get to keep for yourself. I’m saying it’s an inherently unfair amount. We are forced to give much more than we can receive. But we also have people who receive without giving. And by giving, I’m speaking of the physical labor that we do to make things happen in our world. Even if we have no craftsman and no tradesmen and we do not manufacture anything except swords, we still need this infrastructure and all the people who are the infrastructure or nothing works. Making the world vastly in favor of a tiny class of decision makers is inevitably going to make everybody miserable. And this is especially true if they don’t ask you to help but just take what they want from you. And they will.
No respect for the working class. They have all the money so they make all the purchases. What a difficult life. I think I’ll sit around and purchase things and make myself happy.
It’s hard to believe how workers can allow themselves to be so exploited. It would seem that it would only take an underground that actually worked and we could spread the news like wildfire.
What news?
I don’t really know unfortunately. Unfortunately I don’t know. I know that it was a very odd and circuitous way to get there and there were violent demonstrations and cruelties and hypocrisies. But then Miriam got sick and Moses went with her and all plans for rulers taking charge and making the rules sort of stopped. And we did live here and we did live quite well without anybody’s supervision and without any unnecessary reminders or judgments. People were not violent with each other, we were just strict about showing up for work and would ask for moderation when people partied. It was easy to see why we were successful.
But were you really successful? Couldn’t you really classify our lives as poverty?
There were as many people at the end as there were at the beginning. If you don’t think symbiosis is important to any society in terms of sustainability, you’re crazy. We lived here for 40 years and it wasn’t just mana. We grew everything. We grew everything and well more than we needed. We were fat and happy and sassy but we were respectful because we really felt we were the chosen people. That’s when we believed God was with us. Every time we put a seed in the ground and we trusted that we understood what the world would do, there was God agreeing that life was possible. Oh my goodness, and no blood for such a great percentage of us.
I just had a thought. It’s that percentage of carnivores. When we were at the peak of our civilization, the percentage of non carnivores was equal to the man in a male female relationship or people in their relationship with the government. I think that’s also the magic ratio.
Mathematically, I don’t believe in this magic ratio theory. I think the only thing you’re saying is that there are inherently one-sided relationships. And what else are you saying?
You need to get paid a lot more to be a bottom than a top but that’s not what happens, is it?
For an intellectual, I have to give you credit my friend. You don’t know nothing. You know something. You are good people.
7
Man, I don’t know what he is talking about. We ate bread. We drank wine. What is he talking about?
This is it. This is called government control. New speak. They control our minds.
I want to see something like we have created a monster but I’m thinking it might be too cliched.
I think it is a cliche. Egypt is not the only civilization in the world. They are not the only ones with a corrupt leadership. They are not even the only ones with Jews. Jews are everywhere. I don’t know.
I sometimes think I liked it better when we were in Egypt. It was just that you could get whatever you wanted. Yeah, the work was crap and we had the quotas and then they got all political on us towards the end and it was a matter of who was going to punish us last or more. But before all that, when we were the labor for us, we had plenty to eat. We grew our own food but we had plenty to eat. And we had a little money to spend. It was not such a bad life. A nice place to live, you could make a little family and you had plenty of friends to drink with. Sometimes I miss it.
We had that in the desert.
Yeah. I guess we did. I guess you’re right. I don’t miss Egypt. I miss what we created for ourselves based upon what we thought was the coolest thing we could do.
Now you’re talking. I think that’s what it’s really about. You think to yourself that something is the coolest possible thing you could do and then you do it.
What about getting paid? Don’t you need to get paid?
I don’t. Do you?
No. I’m kind of rich.
Me too.
So you’re saying we should just do this.
If we believe in our heart that the ratio of what we must give is too high and that we must demand to be heard as a group, I think we should not be silent.
Aren’t you afraid of losing everything you have?
Yes. Yes I am. I’m going to back out now. Thank you for mentioning that. I really thought we were going to be activists and start the newspaper again and I was really into it until you reminded me that I could lose everything I have by trying to be an activist with you again.
So basically you know every time that I come to visit you that I have an alternative motive. And yet you tolerate me all the same.
No, bro. You just need a friend. And we both prefer plants to alcohol. I don’t mind talking to you. You’re a great talker. You really should have been writing independently though. I think the world really should know what it is you do everyday. I think you’d be helpful to a lot of people who have a hard time understanding why their lives have to be so miserable. They don’t have your overview nor your strength of will.
Can we make a deal? Do me a favor and don’t kiss my ass until you’ve been vegan for at least a few days.
Does it really show?
It’s disgusting. You of all people should know better.
Yeah. I’m beginning to think this sellout for the money stuff is overrated. It seems to be a bit painful once you start taking a good look at it.
Genuine sobriety. It’s funny how that comes from reading the book. Even the fake book.
