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Chassidic insight into the curses of the admonition in the Torah

by Rabbi Yossi Marcus

  

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Question:

Why are there such harsh curses in the admonition in the Torah?

Answer:

The Admonition appears in the Torah twice: once in the end of Leviticus, and a lengthier version in Parshat Ki Tavo (toward the end of Deuteronomy). I can understand your reaction. In fact, traditionally, this section is read quickly and in a lower tone than the rest of the reading. No one is invited up to the Torah for this section. The reader unceremoniously recites the blessings before and after reading it, but he is not “called up.”

Let’s start with a story: As a child, Rabbi DovBer of Lubavitch, along with the rest of the congregation, would listen to the weekly Torah reading read by his father, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi. One year, his father was out of town for a Shabbat when the Admonition was read. After hearing the Admonition read by the substitute Torah reader, the child was so emotionally upset that even a month later he had not fully recovered. The child was later asked, “Why were you not disturbed this way when the admonition was read in past years?” The child replied, “When Father reads it, no curses are heard.”1

On the conscious level, these verses appear to be curses. On the subconscious level, the soul level, these curses are really blessings.
“In truth, they are nothing but blessings,” writes Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi of the Admonition.2 He quotes the Zohar,3 which speaks of a hidden and revealed reality. G-d, Torah, and man exist on a conscious and subconscious level. On the conscious level, these verses appear to be curses. On the subconscious level, the soul level, these curses are really blessings. When a Tzadik, a saintly individual like Rabbi Schneur Zalman reads these verses, one hears their subconscious meaning, in which they are blessings.

The most sublime blessings are couched in most dreadful terms. This is because whenever a blessing is bestowed by heaven, it must first pass through the heavenly court, where the prospective recipient is judged as to whether or not he is worthy of the blessing. When the blessing is “disguised” as a curse, however, it “bypasses” the forces of strict judgment and can make its way straight to its recipient.

In the Talmud4 we are told that Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai (author of the Zohar) sent his son, Rabbi Elazar, to receive the blessings of a few of the sages. They bestowed upon him what sounded like a string of curses: “May it be the will [of G-d] that you sow and not reap…let your house be destroyed…let your table be disturbed, and may you not see a new year.” His father, expounder of the soul of Torah, revealed to him the meaning of their “blessings,” the soul of their words. These sublime blessings had to be couched in terms that seemed to be the opposite of blessing.5

Footnotes

  • 1. Hayom Yom 17 Elul
  • 2. See also Siftei Kohen, Deuteronomy 28:15: “On a revealed level these are admonitions and on the hidden level it is G-d’s love, words of love…on the hidden level it is all consolation.” Siftei Kohen explains the entire Admonition in this way.
  • 3. Zohar vol. 3 p. 73a
  • 4. Moed Kattan 9b
  • 5. Article based on Likutei Sichot vol. 7 p. 233

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Torah » The Bible » Five Books of Moses
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The most basic work of Jewish mysticism. Authored by Rabbi Shimeon bar Yochai in the 2nd century.
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Deuteronomy
The fifth of the Five Books of Moses. This book is a record of the monologue which Moses spoke to the Israelites in the five weeks prior to his passing.
Tzadik
(fem. Tzidkanit; pl. Tzadikim). A saint, or righteous person.
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G-d
It is forbidden to erase or deface the name of G-d. It is therefore customary to insert a dash in middle of G-d's name, allowing us to erase or discard the paper it is written on if necessary.