When We Have Outlasted Our Punishment At the end of the Tochacha, after the Torah describes one horrible punishment after the next for not keeping the mitzvos, the pasuk (Ki Savo 28:61) says, “Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in this Torah, Hashem will bring upon you.” Was the whole Tochacha not enough? Does Hashem need to throw in a catchphrase for anything He may have missed? Rav Shimshon Pincus answers that the Tochacha is called “Divrei HaBris”. The suffering and tragedies themselves are the covenant with Hashem. Without them our bond would be severed, as we may leave the Torah way and distance ourselves from serving Hashem. It is only this painful rod that keeps us from abandoning Hashem, and forces us to come back after we have done so. What happens if the entire Tochacha befalls us, yet we do not return to Hashem? What will become of us? This last promise of throwing every imaginable punishment on us is our only consolation. Even if all the punishments end, there are still more. Hashem will never run out of ways to draw us back, no matter how much we have already suffered without remorse and no matter how far we have gone.
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Are Gog U’Magog Plain Stupid? “Yitein Hashem Es Oivecha HaKamim Alecha Nigafim Lifanecha.” (Ki Savo 28:7) Hashem promises us that if we do the mitzvos, the enemies that rise up against us will fall before us. Rav Shimon Schwab asks, “If we are doing Hashem’s wishes and are clearly blessed, why would an enemy be foolish enough to wage war with us?” He answers that it is part of the teva, the nature of the world, that Sheker despises Emes, bad hates good, and Tumah confronts Tahara. Whether they will be victorious or suffering a crushing defeat, the enemy will attack its natural enemy. “This,” says Rav Schwab, “explains Milchemes Gog U’Magog. Although during that time Hashem’s glory will be revealed openly to the entire world, nevertheless Gog U’Magog will gather their troop to wage war Al Hashem V’Al Moshicho. Although bad will never stop attacking good, we should all be zocheh to see the day that they will no longer be successful.”
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To Be Really Good Can Be Really Strange After we finish clearing out the Truma and Maaser for the past three years from our house we ask Hashem, “Hashkifa Mimi’on Kadshecha; Peer down from Your holy abode and see how we keep your mitzvos.” (Ki Savo 26:16) The Yerushalmi (Maaser Sheini 5) says that we see from here the enormous power of Osei Mitzva. The word Hashkifa is always used when Hashem looks at something bad. Yet, here our mitzvos are so powerful that even Hashkifa is good. If so, why does the Torah use the seemingly less appropriate word Hashkifa? Rav Chaim Kanievsky explains that Hashkifa is when you see something unusual. In Hashem’s eyes any injustice or wrongdoing is strange and unusual, therefore, the word Hashkifa is used, whereas, for good things which are completely normal, the word Re’ia or Habata is used. Here a person is saying Vidui Maasros, stating that he has kept all the mitzvos related to Maaser for the past three years. This includes not only being careful about gross violations but even minute Halachos D’Rabanan. If you violate any small Din like giving Maaser before Trumah you cannot say the Vidui. “This kind of strict adherence over a three year period,” says Rav Chaim, “is quite unusual and exemplary for a human being, and for that Hashem peers down in amazement, with Hashkifa!”
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Do As I Say, Do As I Do… The pasuk in the parsha (28:9) “V’Halachta B’Drachav”, to go in the ways of Hashem, is the basis for all good Middos Min HaTorah. Chazal tell us that thegemara says (Sotah 14a) that this mitzva teaches us to clothe the poor and visit the sick. Generally this Mitzva is used to teach us that kindness and compassion is Min HaTorah because by acting this way we are emulating Hashem. The MiShulchan Govoa says that the Brisker Rav understood thisMitzva to be far beyond the realm of compassion. Its root is Hashem’s will. The Gemara (Megila 13b) tells the story of Rochel warning Yaakov that her father Lavan is a crook and he will not give her to him to marry. Yaakov tells her not to worry because he knows how to deal with trickery himself. Rochel then asks him, “is it permitted for a
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tzaddik to deal with trickery?” Yaakov answers with the pasuk (Shmuel 2 22:27), “Im Navar Tisbarar V’Im IkeishTispatal” with the pure deal purely with the crooked deal crookedly. Even so the question remains, how can a tzaddik be crooked? The Brisker Rov answers that there is no such thing as absolute crooked and straight. Only the Ratzon of Hashem matters. Since Hashem commanded us to
follow His ways, when dealing with people whom the pasuk tells us that Hashem acts crookedly with the crooked, kiviyachol, so too, we must emulate his ways and act crooked at times. Middos are not an end to itself. Do not be holier than thou or more compassionate than Hashem. Do as he does and do not create your own Torah. The only benchmark we focus on, is the will of our creator!

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