Timeless Torah

If it’s ‘light reading’ you’re after, don’t bother with this week’s Biblical portion. Ki Tavoi is dominated by the Rebuke; Moses’ admonition that there will be great suffering if the Jews abandon Torah. Notwithstanding the literal text that outlines dozens of catastrophes in store for the errant Israelites, the Zohar writes that great blessings are concealed beneath its surface. Let us examine one specific scenario. “Hashem will smite you with blindness...You will grope at noontime as the blind man gropes in the darkness.”
It’s sad, but true. Most people only turn to G-d when they feel trapped, with no where else to turn. But for the spiritually blind; darkness reigns constantly. They grope by night as well as by day. So why does the verse describe our groping as, “The blind man in the darkness?” The answer is because by day, although the blind see nothing, others can, and it is they who help him reach his destination. But in the darkness, with no one to come to his aid, the blind man gropes alone.
Herein lies the hidden blessing. “You will grope at noontime” - noontime is a metaphor for light. It represents good times. The Torah blesses us that even at the height of our success, we realize that in fact we are groping “in the darkness,” in full realization that we have no one and nothing in which to place our trust, save the Almighty. This awareness is more vital than ever. As the Torah indicates with a cryptic warning a mere five verses later, “You will go mad from the sight of your eyes that you will see.” The timing of this threat is strange, for were we not just struck by blindness?
Perhaps this loss of sight is symbolic of some deeper curse, an allegorical ‘blindness’. Also, why does the verse conclude with the phrase, “That you will see?” If we were blind, how can we see?
Society has long viewed a “life of blessing” as synonymous with a “life of more.” The more one has of any given commodity, the greater the blessing. More money, more blessing. More possessions, more blessing. More food, more space, more clothing, more information, more communication, more time, more stuff - the more we are blessed. We are enticed to buy foods because of size; as the ads cry out, “Now 35% More!” or, “Extra-Large pizza (soda, etc.)!”
Most teenagers today have more general knowledge than their parents did when they got married. Aren’t our children then blessed? Today, we know everything going on, in every nook and cranny of the globe, with a speed that’s simply mind-numbing. No longer do we have to miss important calls while praying, our cell phones keep us connected us to friends even as we connect with Hashem. We shop 24 hours a day. We prepare for hurricanes in advance and empty the supermarkets even as we fill ourselves with anxiety. We seem to live a blessed life; we have everything our grandparents never dreamed of, and so much more!
There is a sefer (Jewish book) titled Niflaos Mi-Torasecha (Wonders from Your Torah). In it, the author painstakingly numbered, in order, every verse in the Torah and connected each sentence with its corresponding year.
Listen to this wonder: Thomas Alva Edison is often credited with the invention of the light bulb in 1879 C.E., which corresponds to the Jewish year 5639. So what is the 5639th pasuk in the Bible? “You will go mad from the sight of your eyes that you will see.”
Once upon a time, when night fell, people went home and went to bed. After all, there wasn’t all that much one could do. Today, the world’s light bulbs illuminate the night. No longer are we restricted by the natural phenomena of darkness. We’ve got more time, more light, and as a result, more to do...and we’re overloaded. Our senses have been dulled. The sad thing is, we know it’s so, yet we don’t know how to stop. We know we’re going mad, yet we continue to look, to see, and crave.
Perhaps Elul is just the right time for us to close our eyes and contemplate where our priorities lie; where we’ve overdosed, and where we’re sorely lacking. So turn out the lights, make a sincere self-reckoning, and set ourselves straight, so that when we greet the Days of Judgment, we do so with a pureness of heart and clarity of vision.