‘Parsha Growth Spurts’
Rabbi Dani Staum
Parshas Ki Savo
“Hashem shall place you as a head and not as a tail” (Devorim 28:13)
Why does it matter if we are a head or a tail if the tail eventually arrives at the same place as the head?
Rav Shimshon Pincus zt’l explains that the greatness of man lies in his ability to ponder, contemplate, and decipher. The head is the source of all of those cognitive abilities. A tail on the other hand, is dragged along wherever the head decides to go.
It is analogous to a train with many cars. Prima facie, it is not clear which car houses the engine for it is possible that the final car contains the engine and is pushing all the other trains along. It is only when the cars are uncoupled from each other and one is still able to move that we can realize that it contains the energy for the entire train.
In all aspects of life there are followers and there are leaders. It is not sufficient to serve Hashem just because that’s what everyone else does. Such a person is a tail, pushed along by the rest of the train. Ultimately one must be like a head, in that he acts out of an understanding that he is connected to the truth and that serving Hashem is the ultimate good.
Rav Pinkus continues that one can learn and know all of Shas, yet when he arrives in heaven after leaving the world the celestial courts will refer to him as a tail. The reason is that he didn’t learn to satiate his soul and cling to the holiness of Torah, but rather because ‘everybody was doing the Daf.”
Similarly, it is not enough for us to be Torah observant just because that’s what our ancestors did. That too would render us mere tails of past generations.
One who is ‘a head’ has aspirations and goals for his spiritual future. He is never satisfied with his accomplishments and always yearns to grow in his Avodas Hashem.
This is the meaning of the tefillah we state on Rosh Hashanah eve “that we be for a head and not for a tail’. We daven that Hashem help us that our Avodas Hashem not be trite and stale, and that we not be mere followers of our parents, neighbors, and even of our ourselves. Rather, that we constantly feel vibrancy and excitement in our davening, mitzvos, and Torah learning.
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“Because you did not serve Hashem with joy and with a good heart out of an abundance of everything.” (Devorim 28:47)
Rav Dovid Feinstein shlita notes that the words rov (abundance) and kol (everything) have opposite connotations. [Eisav famously declared “I have plenty” while Yaakov declared “I have everything”.]
Someone who believes that his possessions are his alone can never be satisfied. Only one who views his possessions as a means to serve Hashem will be satisfied with what Hashem has given him.
This is what Moshe warned Klal Yisroel. If one isn’t happy when serving Hashem it’s because he views his possessions as being strictly for his own indulgence. He doesn’t feel he has everything he needs, but rather ‘an abundance of everything’, which implies that he could (and should) have more.
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“You shall observe the words of this covenant… so that you will succeed in all that you do.” (Devorim 29:8)
Rav Nissan Alpert zt’l notes that when a word ends with the letter nun – such as the final word of this verse (ta’asun- that you do) – it means to minimize whatever is being discussed.
At times, a relatively minor action can be as valuable as a greater action, because of its rarity and necessity. For example, if someone gives a few coins to a destitute person who is then able to buy some food which saves him from starvation, the contributor has saved a life despite the fact that he gave very little.
Moshe Rabbeinu was conveying to Klal Yisroel that after a period of tochacha (the fulfillment of the frightening rebuke delineated earlier in the parsha) merely preserving the covenant is itself profound. The ability to persevere in the face of terrible prosecution is heroic.
The generation of survivors, who we are still privileged to have met, are living fulfillment of this idea. Despite the atrocities they suffered they maintained their faith and have transmitted to us a conviction that defies all odds and logic. Our successes are solely due to their sacrifices.
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Sources: Rav Pinkus – Tiferes Shimshon; Rav Feinstein – Kol Dodi; Rav Alpert – Limudei Nissan