This week's parsha starts off with talk of a blessing (Bracha) and a curse (Klala). However, what are the mysterious blessing and curse? The Torah only tells us (Devarim 11:26-28):
These verses seem to tell us that there is a blessing and a curse that the Jewish people will receive, however, the Torah does not tell us what the blessing or the curse is, or does it? If the verse is telling us what the blessing and curse are then what exactly are the blessing and the curse?
Even though the verse seems to just be saying that the blessing will be given if one follows the commandments and the next verse seems to be telling us that a curse will be given if the commandments are not followed, I believe these verses are speaking about what the actual blessing and curse entail. Meaning, a superficial understanding of these verses seems to be that G-D is just telling us a condition, that we must follow His commandments in order to receive some blessing that is not specified and if we do not follow His commandments then we will receive some curse that is not specified. However, these verses seem to be telling us the actual blessing and curse and not some condition.
The verse about the blessing states, "The blessing, that you shall hearken unto the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day." And the verse about the curse says, "And the curse, if ye shall not hearken unto the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known." This is reminiscent of a Mishna in Pirkei avos (4:2) that says:
בן
עזאי אומר: הוי רץ למצוה קלה כבחמורה, ובורח מן העבירה,שמצוה גוררת מצוה, ועברה גוררת עברח. ששכר מצוה מצוה,
ושכר עברה עברה:
Ben Azzai said: One should run to perform a lenient commandment like it is a stringent one and one should run away from a sin. This is because a mitzva (performance of a commandment) leads one to perform more commandments, while a sin (transgression) causes one to perform another sin, because the award for performing a commandment is the ability to perform another commandment and the reward for the performance of a sin is the performance of another sin.
With this Mishna we can now understand the blessing and the curse that G-D is telling to the Jewish people. The blessing that G-D is giving us is that if we are deserving of blessing, aka we are following all the mitzvos (commandments), then our blessing will be to be able to perform many more mitzvos (commandments). However, the curse is that if we are underserving, aka we have not been faithful to G-D's commandments, then we will be punished by being led astray and committing even more sins. This is what the blessing and curse are all about, G-D will give us the strength to do the right thing if we want to do the right thing and He will drain us of the strength to do the right thing if we want to do the wrong thing. Basically, G-D will reinforce the decisions that we make in our heart. In the case of us wanting to perform Mitzvos, it is a blessing that G-D reinforces our desire, however, in the case that we want to sin, it is a curse for Him to reinforce our desire.
There is a very valuable lesson that I think we can all learn from in this idea. G-D's most valuable blessing and His most feared curse work through the human will. G-D's curse is if man wants to sin, then man will be allowed to sin. Not only will man be allowed to sin, but since human nature is such that man continues to act in the way that is normal for him, the man that sins will continue to sin. On the reverse side, if a man follows G-D's word then those positive actions will be reinforced and the man that follows G-D will continue to do so.
In essence, G-D is not telling us that He will intervene in a miraculous way to give us a blessing or a curse. He is telling us a reality that exists in the human condition. If we allow ourselves to sin and transgress the commandments it will be very difficult to turn ourselves around and start to follow the ways of the Torah again. In fact, we can see throughout the Tanach that when the Jewish people start sinning they turn themselves around only after great hardships. Many examples of this can be found in Shoftim, every time the Jews start sinning, they are oppressed by a foreign power and only then do they repent and merit a savior. Therefore, G-D warns us in this week's Parsha by telling us to be careful not to fall in this cycle of transgression.
However, the question comes to mind, why must we follow the commandments if the reward is that we will continue to follow the commandments? Doesn't that seem circular? The same is true by the curse. How is it a curse if the punishment is just that we will perform more transgressions?
There are two possible explanations that I can think of, one according to those that say the commandments were given with reason and the other idea is according to those that say the commandments were given and we can't understand their reasons.
According to the Rambam and Ramban, there are reasons for the commandments. What are they? For simplicities sake I will group them together and say that the reason for the commandments is in order that a Jew become a good person. Now, if the commandments lead a Jew to become a good person then following the commandments obviously makes one a good person. Therefore, if one does not follow the commandments they will not become a good person. This would then be the curse, if you do not follow the commandments, you will not be a good person. However, if you do follow the commandments, you will be a good person. Also, the Rambam and Ramban would say that only a good person is able to connect to G-D and live in the afterlife. (For a more thorough discussion of this see the Maharal's Tiferes Yisroel Chapters 6-8).
If we do not say there are reasons for the commandments then there is a simple explanation. The commandments were given to us by G-D. One who follows them will be close to G-D and live in the afterlife. However, one who does not, can not possibly live in the afterlife or come to know G-D. Therefore, one who follows the commandments is blessed and one who committs sins and transgressions is cursed.
Therefore, one who believes in G-D and an afterlife would most definitely consider these verses in the beginning of our Parsha to be discussing a most severe curse and a most magnificent blessing.
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