This sheet on Deuteronomy 27 was written by Bracha Jaffe for 929 and can also be found here
Imagine the scene:
Two mountains opposite each other with six tribes standing on each, spread along the mountaintop and all along the slopes. - Mt. Gerizim: green and flowering - Mt. Eival: brown and bare.
The six tribes on Mt. Gerizim receive blessings and the six tribes on Mt. Eival receive curses. How was this done? The Levites stand in the valley between the mountains and and turn to each side to proclaim the blessings and the curses.
In Chapter 27, the Levites turn to Mt. Eival and pronounced twelve curses to be showered on the Children of Israel if they violated certain transgressions. As one, everyone answered AMEN.
Why pick this particular list of twelve? Is there something special about them? Is there a lesson to be learned from this group in the list of curses?
The Rashbam (grandson of Rashi) points out beautifully that there is a thread that binds these transgressions: It is that they are performed in SECRET.
Rashbam: “Twelve sins for twelve tribes...being of the type that one commits in private… when one is unobserved and no witnesses are present.”
Here are some examples:
15 “Cursed is the man who makes a statue or a molten God...and places it in secret.”
18 “Cursed is the one who misleads a blind man on the road”
24 “Cursed is the one who strikes his fellow in secret”
25 “Cursed is the one who accepts bribery”
The Torah is giving us the message that - yes - it’s wrong to transgress but it’s much worse to do it in secret. Secrecy carries with it: shame and fear.
I think that there is more we can learn from this. In our own lives, secrets and secrecy can be a tremendous burden. Hiding our secrets can be exhausting. Secrets are shared.
Privacy is different. Privacy means that we choose where and with whom we unburden ourselves. Privacy allows us to share, and precisely that sharing can bring relief and peace.
Drawing on this message, let us look within and see what secrets are weighing us down, sapping our strength and joy. Let this be an invitation to open ourselves up: to God, to a family member, to a friend. Let us allow ourselves to release a secret that is burdening us and bring ourselves to a place of inner peace.
Two mountains opposite each other with six tribes standing on each, spread along the mountaintop and all along the slopes. - Mt. Gerizim: green and flowering - Mt. Eival: brown and bare.
The six tribes on Mt. Gerizim receive blessings and the six tribes on Mt. Eival receive curses. How was this done? The Levites stand in the valley between the mountains and and turn to each side to proclaim the blessings and the curses.
In Chapter 27, the Levites turn to Mt. Eival and pronounced twelve curses to be showered on the Children of Israel if they violated certain transgressions. As one, everyone answered AMEN.
Why pick this particular list of twelve? Is there something special about them? Is there a lesson to be learned from this group in the list of curses?
The Rashbam (grandson of Rashi) points out beautifully that there is a thread that binds these transgressions: It is that they are performed in SECRET.
Rashbam: “Twelve sins for twelve tribes...being of the type that one commits in private… when one is unobserved and no witnesses are present.”
Here are some examples:
15 “Cursed is the man who makes a statue or a molten God...and places it in secret.”
18 “Cursed is the one who misleads a blind man on the road”
24 “Cursed is the one who strikes his fellow in secret”
25 “Cursed is the one who accepts bribery”
The Torah is giving us the message that - yes - it’s wrong to transgress but it’s much worse to do it in secret. Secrecy carries with it: shame and fear.
I think that there is more we can learn from this. In our own lives, secrets and secrecy can be a tremendous burden. Hiding our secrets can be exhausting. Secrets are shared.
Privacy is different. Privacy means that we choose where and with whom we unburden ourselves. Privacy allows us to share, and precisely that sharing can bring relief and peace.
Drawing on this message, let us look within and see what secrets are weighing us down, sapping our strength and joy. Let this be an invitation to open ourselves up: to God, to a family member, to a friend. Let us allow ourselves to release a secret that is burdening us and bring ourselves to a place of inner peace.
(טו) אָר֣וּר הָאִ֡ישׁ אֲשֶׁ֣ר יַעֲשֶׂה֩ פֶ֨סֶל וּמַסֵּכָ֜ה תּוֹעֲבַ֣ת יְהֹוָ֗ה מַעֲשֵׂ֛ה יְדֵ֥י חָרָ֖שׁ וְשָׂ֣ם בַּסָּ֑תֶר וְעָנ֧וּ כׇל־הָעָ֛ם וְאָמְר֖וּ אָמֵֽן׃ {ס}
(15) Cursed be anyone who makes a sculptured or molten image, abhorred by the LORD, a craftsman’s handiwork, and sets it up in secret.—And all the people shall respond, Amen.
Rabbanit Bracha Jaffe serves as Community Educator and Director of Mercaz Center for Adult Education in Beth Tfiloh synagogue in Baltimore, MD.
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