SEDRAH SELECTIONS PARSHAS KI SOVO 5765 BS"D

This seems to only explain this section of "viduy" of our verse, but not the rest.

Ch. 26, v. 14: "Lo ochalti v'oni" - "V'oni" can be read as "v'ani," and I. It is human nature to give oneself a pat on the back when after going through the rigours of agricultural farming, fraught with many difficulties and opportunities for crop failure, and finally bringing his crops home for consumption, to credit himself. The farmer therefore proclaims, "I have not eaten from my crops "with ANI," accrediting myself, but rather, recognizing that success is totally in the hands of Hashem. (Shaa'rei Simchoh)

Ch. 26, v. 15: "Hashkifoh mim'one kod'sh'cho min hashomayim" - Look from Your abode from the heavens - "Hashkifoh" has the numerical value of 500, the number of "walking-years" from the heavens to the earth. (Nirreh li)

Ch. 27, v. 15: "V'som baso'ser" - And place it in hiding - Of all the 11/12 "arurim" of these verses, only this one of creating an idol, and the sin of "hitting one's friend" (verse 24) mention doing them clandestinely. This is because these two sins can be done overtly or covertly. However, all the other sins mentioned here usually remain a secret. Behaving disrespectfully towards one's father is done privately in the home, and the father will likewise be ashamed to publicize the behaviour of his son. "Hasogas g'vul," moving a land marker dividing between properties is seldom noticed. Misleading a blind man does not lend itself to publicizing, as the blind man is often not aware of who did him the disservice. Unfair judgment of the underprivileged goes unnoticed, as they have no means nor courage to fight back. Adultery with a father's wife takes place in the home and if publicized would be a stigma for the whole family, bestiality with an animal, the victim cannot talk, incest with a sister, again takes place in the home, and she would not want to publicize this and spread shame on the family or herself, even if done against her will. Taking a bribe is done privately and not publicized by either the giver or the recipient. (Rashbam)

Ch. 27, v. 26: "Orur asher lo yokim es divrei haTorah hazose laasose osom" - Cursed is he who will not uphold the words of this Torah to fulfill them - This seems to be a general exhortation. However, the Ibn Ezra cites three opinions. The first is that it is indeed referring to upholding every mitzvoh of the Torah. The second opinion is that it refers only to those mitzvos mentioned on Har Grizim and Har Eivol. The Ibn Ezra disagrees with these two, and posits that it refers to the negative precepts mentioned here, and also to not fulfilling positive mitzvos where no one sees your lack of action. He says that the latter is indicated by the word "LAASOSE."

Ch. 28, v. 63: "V'hoyoh kaasher sos Hashem a'leichem l'heitiv es'chem .. kein yosis Hashem a'leichem l'haavid es'chem" - And it will come to pass that just as Hashem has rejoiced for you to do good to you .. similarly Hashem will cause to rejoice for you to destroy you - Why by the positive aspect does the verse say that Hashem Himself will rejoice, and by the negative that He will CAUSE to rejoice? This is the silver lining in the cloud of punishing us through the hands of the nations. Hashem will bring them to rejoice so that they will be in violation of "Binfole oyivcho al tismach pen yi'rah Hashem v'heishiv mei'olov apo" (Mishlei 24:17). (Ksav Sofer)

Ch. 28, v. 66: "V'hoyu chayecho tlu'im l'cho mi'neged ufochadto layloh v'yomom v'lo saamin b'cha'yecho" - And your life will hang across from you and you will fear night and daily and you will not believe in your life - If a person fears a situation at hand and has a strategy to alleviate the difficulty, there is no place for fear. He should just act. If there seems to be no way to defend against it, then fear is in place.

The Torah is the elixir and life-force against all problems. It is standing in plain view in front of your face. If you are still frightened, it is because you do not believe that the Torah is your life-force. (Rabbi Shlomo Kluger in Imrei Shefer)

Ch. 28, v. 68: "Veheshivcho Hashem Mitzrayim .. v'hismakartem shom l'oyvecho laavodim" - And Hashem will return you to Egypt .. and you will attempt to sell yourselves there AS slaves - This is the common translation of the prefix letter Lamed of "Laavodim." However, Ho'rei V'somim translates this as "to your enemies TO the slaves." The Egyptians, descendants of Chom, are slaves. When a slave becomes a master it is a most pitiful situation for the slave's slave.

Ch. 28, v. 68: "V'ein koneh" - And there will be no purchaser - Based on the words of the previous offering, there will be no purchaser, because even if the Egyptians, who themselves are slaves, will purchase you, it is not a binding transaction, as all the resources that a slave owns really belong to his master. (Va'y'da'beir Moshe)

Ch. 29, v. 4: "Lo volsu salmoseichem mei'a'leichem v'naalcho lo volsoh" - Your garments have not disintegrated from upon you and your shoe has not disintegrated" - Why are the garments and you in the plural form, and the shoe and you in the singular? This is because when a garment falls apart it is visible to all, hence the plural form. When one's shoe develops holes in its sole it is the distinct pleasure of the wearer alone to note it. (Rabbi S.R. Hirsch)

Ch. 29, v. 5: "Lechem lo achaltem v'yayin v'sheichor lo sh'si'sem l'maan teidu ki ani Hashem Elokeichem" - Bread you have not eaten and wine you have not drunk so that you should know that I am your G-d - Did the bnei Yisroel have absolutely no read or wine in the desert? We see that Nodov and Avihu, the sons of Aharon drank wine, as mentioned in parshas Shmini (also see Dvorim 2:28,29). The Ramban tackles this problem and answers that there was not enough bread or wine to sustain them. Their main sustenance came from the manna, heaven-sent. This is the continuum of our verse.

Perhaps we can explain this verse in another manner. We find that after the battles with the four kings, whom Avrohom vanquished, he met with Malki Tzedek the king of Salem. Malki Tzedek offered Avrohom bread and wine (Breishis 14:18). This was a gesture of unity with Avrohom, showing that he was pleased that Avrohom was the victor, and not the vanquished. This is an opening of creating an alliance with a king.

The next verse relates that we conquered Sichon and Og. Our verse says that we did not have bread, nor wine offered by any kings in the region, as did Avrohom. There is no hope of creating an alliance with any of the surrounding nations. Therefore you should realize, "l'maan teidu," that "ki ani Hashem Elokeichem." You have only Me upon Whom to rely. (Nirreh li)

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See also Oroh V'Simchoh - Meshech Chochmoh on the Weekly Parsha and Chasidic Insights