Ki Tavo 5772 - English

by Rabbi Gustavo Kraselnik

Kol Shearith Israel - Panama

“Hapax Legomenon” is the technical term to designate a word that occurs only once in a text.  Because of this special feature, its meaning is often ambiguous, thus leading to different interpretations.

We find an example of this phenomenon in Parashat Ki Tavo.  It is the word HaSKet, usually translated as “be quiet” or “pay attention”, which appears just this once in the entire Bible, within a passage loaded with symbolism.

In the midst of Moses’ instructions concerning the laying of the stones and the building of the altar in Mount Eval, and the description of the ritual of the blessings and curses in mounts Grizim and Eval, the following text appears (Deut. 27:9-10):

Moses and the levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying: “HasketUshema Israel - Silence! Hear, O Israel! Today you have become the people of the Lord your God:  Heed the Lord your God and observe His commandments and His laws, which I enjoin upon you this day.”

Interestingly, the appearance of the word Hasket just before Shema Israel has reinforced, according to rabbinical literature, the idea that we must be focused when we recite the Shema.  In this sense, it would seem that the Hasket expression is more similar to “pay attention, focus” (Berachot 16a).

In an alternative interpretation (Id. 63b), the Talmud maintains that the expression Hasket and Shema Israel punctually refer to listening to the words of the Torah, transferring the interpretation to the practice of studying Torah.  Knowing that they were in the presence of an exotic word, the sages play with its etymology and offer three other meanings for Hasket:

• ASu KiTot - “form groups” and devote yourselves to the study of Torah, which can only be achieved through group effort
• KiTetu - “Strive” (“buck up”) in the words of the Torah, for only those who are willing to fight for the Torah are worthy of obtaining it
• HaS and then KaTet - “Be quiet and process later”; first we have to listen in silence, so we may later analyze what the Torah is saying.
• These three interpretations, not necessarily contradictory, set out in a creative way the method, the appropriate manner, for us to devote ourselves to the study of our sacred text.  And in this sense, they become relevant due to the words that follow in the verse: “Today you have become the people of the Lord your God.”

This is somewhat surprising.  Didn’t we become a people the moment we received the Torah, at the foot of Mount Sinai?  What is happening 40 years later, that allows us to affirm that on that day, the eve of our entering the Promised Land, we are becoming the children of God?

There are two possible answers.  The first is that, after forty years of keeping the mitzvoth, the seriousness of the people in their study of Torah is perfectly clear, manifested precisely in the actions inspired by it.  Accepting, studying and keeping the Torah are what defines us as a people.  In the words of Rabbi Samson Hirsch (Germany, 19th century): “The shared acquisition of the Torah is what makes us a people.”

The second is that the expression “this day” involves an invitation to reaffirm our commitment with the covenant, each and every day, through the study of Torah.  As is written in the same Talmud passage (id.) quoted above:  “This day”… comes to teach us that the Torah is appreciated by those who study it each day, as if it had been delivered at Mount Sinai that same day.

HasketUShema Israel, pay attention – or be quiet – and listen Israel, in groups, with effort, or in the silence that precedes reflection.  Be it as it may, but study Torah.  That is what makes us a people and invites us each day to relive the revelation experience at Sinai.

Shabbat Shalom,

Gustavo