Illustration credit: Noa Kelner
יִפְתַּח יהוה לְךָ אֶת אוֹצָרוֹ הַטּוֹב אֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם לָתֵת מְטַר אַרְצְךָ בְּעִתּוֹ
וּלְבָרֵךְ אֵת כׇּל מַעֲשֵׂה יָדֶךָ
וְהִלְוִיתָ גּוֹיִם רַבִּים וְאַתָּה לֹא תִלְוֶה׃
וּנְתָנְךָ יהוה לְרֹאשׁ וְלֹא לְזָנָב
וְהָיִיתָ רַק לְמַעְלָה וְלֹא תִהְיֶה לְמָטָּה
כִּי תִשְׁמַע אֶל מִצְוֺת יהוה אֱלֹהֶיךָ
אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּוֹם לִשְׁמֹר וְלַעֲשׂוֹת׃
God will open for you God’s good treasury – the heavens – to provide rain for your land in season and to bless all you do.
You will lend to many nations, but you won’t borrow.
God will make you the head, not the tail.
You will always be at the top and never at the bottom—if you listen to the mitzvot of God your Lord that I am commanding you today, to keep and to observe.
- What do you notice? What’s the big idea here?
- Why is it a blessing to be a lender and not a borrower? Do you ever get to use that blessing?
- What is God’s “good treasury”? What does it mean to be “the head, not the tail”? Why do you think the Torah uses these different symbols? What do they represent? How do they help us understand the big idea?
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