Hagaon
Rav Yehuda
Aryeh Leib of Gur zt”l on Parshat Ki
Tavo
(from
Sfat
Emet on Ki Tavo, year 5657, "Pasuk Uva'u", pp.58a,
b )
All
of the Blessings
Print
Version
Before listing the specific blessings that come
upon the people of Israel, the Torah says, "All
of these blessings will come to you and overtake
you when you listen to the voice of Hashem your
G-d." (Devarim 28:2)." What are "all of these blessings"?
According to the Sfat Emet "all of these blessings"
is not merely a vague reference to good things,
but to "the source of all blessings". What is "the
source of all blessings"?
The Zohar (this selection is printed in siddurim
and bentchers before the Shabbat meals) asks how
the Shabbat can be considered blessed by the manna
if the manna did not even fall on Shabbat? It answers
that all blessings depend on the Shabbat. Even though
the manna did not actually fall on Shabbat, the
blessing behind all of the manna that fell the whole
week came down on Shabbat.
When the Torah here says, "All of the blessings
will come to you" it is referring to the blessing
of the Shabbat. It therefore immediately follows
with a list of six blessings: in the city, in the
field, children, produce, coming in, and going out
- each one corresponding to one of the days of the
week. This might be the reason why there is a custom
to read these verses on Motzaei Shabbat (as part
of Veyiten Lekha - this was also pointed out by
Rav Hirtz zt"l in his siddur).
These blessings only come about to the people of
Israel that listen to the Torah and keep the Shabbat
(the two mitzvot limited to Jews) as indicated by
the end of the verse: ". . . . when you listen to
the voice of Hashem your G-d."
[prepared
by Eliezer Kwass]
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