Sources from essay by Rabbi Marla Joy Subeck Spanjer, DD
in The Mussar Torah Commentary
Mahatma Gandhi taught, "Earth...provides enough to satisfy everyone's needs, but not for everyone's greed."' Histapkut, from the Hebrew word for "enough," is the antithesis of greed. Where greed breeds insatiable desires, histapkut (הסתפקות, "simplicity") enables a person to experience satisfaction from having even the most basic needs met. It is contentment without complacency.
The paradox of histapkut is that when we give up things, we feel greater joy rather than increased yearning. Alan Morinis writes, "The primary target in sight here is to liberate yourself from the bondage of insatiable desire. And you are satisfied." This kind of satisfaction does not depend on accumulating objects or accolades.
-Rabbi Marla Joy Subeck Spanjer
(יד) וְאִם־לֹ֥א תִשְׁמְע֖וּ לִ֑י וְלֹ֣א תַעֲשׂ֔וּ אֵ֥ת כׇּל־הַמִּצְוֺ֖ת הָאֵֽלֶּה׃ (טו) וְאִם־בְּחֻקֹּתַ֣י תִּמְאָ֔סוּ וְאִ֥ם אֶת־מִשְׁפָּטַ֖י תִּגְעַ֣ל נַפְשְׁכֶ֑ם לְבִלְתִּ֤י עֲשׂוֹת֙ אֶת־כׇּל־מִצְוֺתַ֔י לְהַפְרְכֶ֖ם אֶת־בְּרִיתִֽי׃ (טז) אַף־אֲנִ֞י אֶֽעֱשֶׂה־זֹּ֣את לָכֶ֗ם וְהִפְקַדְתִּ֨י עֲלֵיכֶ֤ם בֶּֽהָלָה֙ אֶת־הַשַּׁחֶ֣פֶת וְאֶת־הַקַּדַּ֔חַת מְכַלּ֥וֹת עֵינַ֖יִם וּמְדִיבֹ֣ת נָ֑פֶשׁ וּזְרַעְתֶּ֤ם לָרִיק֙ זַרְעֲכֶ֔ם וַאֲכָלֻ֖הוּ אֹיְבֵיכֶֽם׃ (יז) וְנָתַתִּ֤י פָנַי֙ בָּכֶ֔ם וְנִגַּפְתֶּ֖ם לִפְנֵ֣י אֹיְבֵיכֶ֑ם וְרָד֤וּ בָכֶם֙ שֹֽׂנְאֵיכֶ֔ם וְנַסְתֶּ֖ם וְאֵין־רֹדֵ֥ף אֶתְכֶֽם׃ (יח) וְאִ֨ם־עַד־אֵ֔לֶּה לֹ֥א תִשְׁמְע֖וּ לִ֑י וְיָסַפְתִּי֙ לְיַסְּרָ֣ה אֶתְכֶ֔ם שֶׁ֖בַע עַל־חַטֹּאתֵיכֶֽם׃ (יט) וְשָׁבַרְתִּ֖י אֶת־גְּא֣וֹן עֻזְּכֶ֑ם וְנָתַתִּ֤י אֶת־שְׁמֵיכֶם֙ כַּבַּרְזֶ֔ל וְאֶֽת־אַרְצְכֶ֖ם כַּנְּחֻשָֽׁה׃ (כ) וְתַ֥ם לָרִ֖יק כֹּחֲכֶ֑ם וְלֹֽא־תִתֵּ֤ן אַרְצְכֶם֙ אֶת־יְבוּלָ֔הּ וְעֵ֣ץ הָאָ֔רֶץ לֹ֥א יִתֵּ֖ן פִּרְיֽוֹ׃ (כא) וְאִם־תֵּֽלְכ֤וּ עִמִּי֙ קֶ֔רִי וְלֹ֥א תֹאב֖וּ לִשְׁמֹ֣עַֽ לִ֑י וְיָסַפְתִּ֤י עֲלֵיכֶם֙ מַכָּ֔ה שֶׁ֖בַע כְּחַטֹּאתֵיכֶֽם׃
(3) If you follow My laws and faithfully observe My commandments, (4) I will grant your rains in their season, so that the earth shall yield its produce and the trees of the field their fruit. (5) Your threshing shall overtake the vintage, and your vintage shall overtake the sowing; you shall eat your fill of bread and dwell securely in your land. (6) I will grant peace in the land, and you shall lie down untroubled by anyone; I will give the land respite from vicious beasts, and no sword shall cross your land. (7) [Your army] shall give chase to your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. (8) Five of you shall give chase to a hundred, and a hundred of you shall give chase to ten thousand; your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. (9) I will look with favor upon you, and make you fertile and multiply you; and I will maintain My covenant with you. (10) You shall eat old grain long stored, and you shall have to clear out the old to make room for the new. (11) I will establish My abode in your midst, and I will not spurn you. (12) I will be ever present in your midst: I will be your God, and you shall be My people. (13) I יהוה am your God who brought you out from the land of the Egyptians to be their slaves no more, who broke the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect. (14) But if you do not obey Me and do not observe all these commandments, (15) if you reject My laws and spurn My rules, so that you do not observe all My commandments and you break My covenant, (16) I in turn will do this to you: I will wreak misery upon you—consumption and fever, which cause the eyes to pine and the body to languish; you shall sow your seed to no purpose, for your enemies shall eat it. (17) I will set My face against you: you shall be routed by your enemies, and your foes shall dominate you. You shall flee though none pursues. (18) And if, for all that, you do not obey Me, I will go on to discipline you sevenfold for your sins, (19) and I will break your proud glory. I will make your skies like iron and your earth like copper, (20) so that your strength shall be spent to no purpose. Your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit. (21) And if you remain hostile toward Me and refuse to obey Me, I will go on smiting you sevenfold for your sins.
Whether we perceive the circumstances of our lives to come from God, fate, chance, or other people, we often experience them as something thrust upon us without our doing. However, the ability to perceive acircumstance as a blessing is, in and of itself, a tremendous blessing, and Mussar calls that perception histapkut. By contrast, the perception of a circumstance as a curse is itself a torturous curse.
Specifically, the ability to find satisfaction when our basic needs are fulfilled can bring us calm and even joy, while the compulsion ot chase endlessly after al that we desire may cause more suffering and damage than the deprivation we fear so much. Moreover, the com- pulsive hoarding of resources stemming from such unfounded fear often leads to actual deprivation for others, making histapkut a crucial middah for us to cultivate.
-Rabbi Marla Joy Subeck Spanjer
Some verses even state explicitly that a given curse refers exuclsively to a state of mind...The impact of these curses is entirely on attitude or mental health. Nothing physical has been taken, nor has any external situation changed; yet these are among the most painful and debilitating of hte curses described in this parashah. Furthermore, these curses of the mind rather than the body invite us to reexamine some of the blessings that may otherwise have seemed to focus only on the body.
-Rabbi Marla Joy Subeck Spanjer
What layers of meaning can we find when juxtaposing the blessing with the curse?
(5) Your threshing shall overtake the vintage, and your vintage shall overtake the sowing; you shall eat your fill of bread and dwell securely in your land. (6) I will grant peace in the land, and you shall lie down untroubled by anyone; I will give the land respite from vicious beasts, and no sword shall cross your land.
What does the second blessing add that isn't present in the first?
Dayeinu, we say at the Passover seder—"It would have been enough." We say this about each one of the things God did for us as part of our redemption from Egypt, even though none of them alone would have been enough to make us a people free to live a life of Torah.
Saying that each of those gifts was enough means that any one of the miracles would have been reason enough for us to be grateful. Blessings do not lose their value when they are only part of a larger story. Even Moses does not get the ful experience, and yet whateh does get is sufficient.
From this perspective, any one of the blessings in B'chukotai would have been enough. We could feel satisfaction from rain coming down at the proper season so that the earth yields its produce and the trees of the field their fruit. Every one of the blessings listed in our parashah, like every one of the blessings we experience today, could lead us ot say, Dayeinu, "It would have been enough," and yet we yearn for so much more.
Our lives, we tel ourselves, wil not be livable unless we get into the right college (or any college), unless we get the perfect job (or tht one we want right now), unless we live where we want to live, unless other people do what we want them to do. The real blessing is to be able to live with what we have right now and to live with what we are right now. Our imperfect bodies, our imperfect minds, our imperfect lives can be enough, and when we know this, we are blessed beyond compare.
-Rabbi Marla Joy Subeck Spanjer
Questions to Ask
What can we learn from the progression of blessings—from climate to agriculture to nourishment, from safety and peace in the land to restfulness and confidence ni the body and mind, from a strengthened covenantal relationship to abundance and freedom?
Why might the conditional promise of blessings and threat of curses in B'chukotai be presented to us in the plural form? On what level of family or community does it ring truest to our experience of natural consequences? What enduring impact can an individual's words and actions have on the earth and its inhabitants, and how formative can a society's messages and actions be on an individual?