By Rabbi Michael Werbow
This week’s Torah portion Ki Tavo: Deuteronomy 26:1 — 29:8
We often see that for a single Hebrew word in the Torah there can be multiple ways of translating it and therefore different understandings of what is being said. This week’s parasha, Ki Tavo, ends with such a situation. Several translations give “that you may succeed” as the translation for “taskilu.” But if we look at some other possible interpretations, we note that it is less about winning or prospering and much more about understanding.
The full verse in the original translation is saying, “Therefore observe all the terms of this covenant, and you will succeed in all that you do.” Here there is a direct line between following the covenant and being successful. However, looking at the other translations, we will see that there can be a different meaning and therefore a different theological outcome.
One translation, presented by Dr. Everett Fox, is, “So, you are to be careful regarding the words of this covenant, and are to observe them, in order that you may act wisely in all that you do.” What, according to Fox, is the outcome of observing the covenant? It is that using the covenant as a guide, we make good decisions. Not that we will necessarily be successful in all that we undertake but that we will have a guide through which we can filter the decisions we have to make.
Our tradition holds much wisdom and this translation is encouraging us to use that wisdom when facing difficult decisions. The covenant rooted in the Torah is therefore a solid base upon which we can rely for guidance. We can expand from this teaching the verse from Proverbs 3:18: Aytz Hayim He L’Machazikim Bah — “It is a tree of life to those that hold fast to it.” The Torah is a source of life. It is a guide to the decisions we make in our lives. Successful or not, we are encouraged by knowing that we rooted our decisions within this covenant.
Another translation we can look to for insight is from Dr. Richard Elliott Friedman. Friedman translates taskilu as “you will understand.” He points out in a note that this is only the second place this verb is used in the Torah, with the first being in Genesis 3:6. The previous use is when Adam and Eve gain “understanding.” There, the understanding is what got them booted from the garden. The understanding gained in the Garden of Eden enabled them and us to appreciate the vastness of God.
Some posit that this was the intention of there being a forbidden fruit to begin with. It is suggested that God enticed Adam and Eve to eat of the fruit in order to have reason to kick them out and move the relationship from one of God providing everything for us to one where we have to work for things, which includes working for our relationship with God.
This idea is then expanded when seeing our verse, this week, in the same way. Through following the covenant, we better understand God. By better understanding what God wants us to do, we better understand what God values. We know and understand people through their values, and we gain an understanding of God the same way.
The wisdom, sechel, gained in the Garden of Eden gave us the capacity to make real choices. Now, through the covenant, the Torah gives us the insight (taskilu) to make the right ones. Success isn’t guaranteed by external rewards. It is found in the clarity, wisdom and depth of understanding we bring to all that we do.
Rabbi Michael Werbow is the rabbi at Tifereth Israel Congregation in Washington, D.C.
