Parashat Ki Tavo -5785

Teach Your Children Well

A D’var Torah for Parashat Ki Tavo

By Rabbi Greg Schindler

From the moment she stepped into the home in Tuscumbia, Alabama on March 3, 1887, 21-year old Anne Sullivan faced a daunting challenge.  Not only was her new 6-year old pupil blind (like Anne), but she was also deaf, mute, and very unruly.

Anne immediately began signing words into the child’s hand.  It took a month of constant repetition, but eventually the girl began to comprehend that the words drawn on her hand represented things in the world. Anne understood that teaching this child would best be achieved by focusing on touch, smell, and taste.  And so, many of their lessons took place outdoors where they could touch the animals, smell the flowers, and taste the fruits.

One concept, however, proved extremely challenging —  the difference between the “mug” and the “milk” that it held.  While she was washing one morning, the girl wanted to know the name for “water:”

“I spelled “w-a-t-e-r” and thought no more about it until after breakfast. Then it occurred to me that with the help of this new word I might succeed in straightening out the “milk-mug” difficulty. We went out to the pump-house, and I made her hold her mug under the spout while I pumped. As the cold water gushed forth, filling the mug, I spelled “w-a-t-e-r” in her free hand. The word coming so close upon the sensation of cold water rushing over her hand seemed to startle her. She dropped the mug and stood as one transfixed. A new light came into her face.” (Anne’s Letter to Sophia C. Hopkins (April 5, 1887))

Mark Twain would later call Anne Sullivan “the Miracle Worker.”

And her pupil was none other than Helen Keller.

This week’s Torah portion, Ki Tavo, sets forth four different rituals.

First, when we settle in the Land, we  should gather the first fruits of our harvest, place them in a basket, and bring them to the place that G-d will choose (i.e., Jerusalem). There, we give the basket to the Kohen (Priest) in charge, and recite words that have become enshrined in the Passover Haggadah: “My father was a fugitive Aramean. He went down to Egypt with small numbers and sojourned there; but there he became a great and very populous nation. The Egyptians dealt harshly with us and oppressed us…”  (Deut. 26:5)

This is followed by the laws of the tithing in the third year, which concludes with the declaration: “I have neither transgressed nor neglected any of Your commandments… I have obeyed my G-d, G-d.  I have done just as You commanded me.”  (Deut. 26:14)

The second ritual takes place when we cross the Jordan River and enter the Land.  We are instructed to take large stones, coat them with plaster, and inscribe upon them all the words of this “Torah” (Teaching[1]) very clearly.  Then we are to set up these great stones on Mount Ebal (Deut. 27:2-8).

The third ritual also occurs when we first enter the Land.  Six tribes are to assemble on Mount Gerizim and stand for blessings.  Across from them, on Mount Ebal, six tribes stand for curses.  In the valley between them, the Levites loudly proclaim a series of forbidden actions.  After each proclamation, the People on the two mountains exclaim, “Amen.” The rite concludes with an imprecation against  “[W]homever will not uphold the terms of this “Torah”  (Teaching) and observe them.  And all the people shall say, Amen.”   (Deut. 27:12-15)

Fourth, the Torah sets forth a long list of the blessings that we shall receive if we follow G-d’s Words.  This is followed by an even longer list  of what will happen if we do not follow G-d’s Words (these latter verses are known as the Tokhaha – the “Rebuke”). We read these verses every year in Parashat Ki Tavo.  (Deut. 28).

Interestingly, the words of this last ritual hearken back to the words of the first ritual (first fruits).  Each uses the extremely rare word טֶנֶא – “basket”.  This word appears only four places in the Torah – twice in the first fruits ceremony (Deut. 26:2,4) and twice in the list of blessings and curses (Deut. 28:5, 17).

It is almost as if the Torah created a “basket” to hold this unit of four ceremonies, perhaps clueing us in to their interrelatedness.  And, indeed, these four rituals share a common message: The central importance of observing G-d’s Words.

If they all teach the same thing, why do we need four rituals?

In the 1980s, Neil Fleming was working as an inspector for the New Zealand education system.  He was puzzled by the fact that some so-called “poor” teachers had success in reaching students whom so-called “great” teachers could not.  What was their secret?

Fleming determined that students exhibited four main learning styles, which he called the “VARK Model”:

• Visual learners, who learn best by pictures and diagrams
• Auditory Learners, who learn best by speeches and lectures
• Reading and Writing Learners, whose style leans toward reading texts and taking notes
• Kinesthetic learners, who do best with movements and hands-on activities.

Those teachers who tailored their lessons to the student’s learning styles could often reach students that other teachers could not.  These styles indicate learning ‘preferences’, and are not exclusionary; students may learn using an assortment of these approaches.

With this in mind, now consider our Parashah’s four rituals:

• Visual: The great stones erected on Mount Ebal, with the Torah “made plain.” [1]
• Auditory: The Levites loud recitation of blessings and curses at the two mountains, with the repeated Congregational response, “Amen”
• Reading: The long list of blessings and curses set forth in Deut. 28.
• Kinesthetic: Collecting first fruits, placing them in a basket, and carrying them to the Kohen in Jerusalem.

In Proverbs 22:6 we read: “Train a child in the way he ought to go; He will not swerve from it even in old age.” According to R. Adin Steinsaltz (z’l) this means that we should, “[T]each the student in accordance with his way, in a manner appropriate for him.  Only a method that suits the personality and character of a particular student will fully leave its mark.”

Thousands of years ago, the Torah understood what the great educators Anne Sullivan and Neil Fleming would come to know millennia later:  Understand the student’s learning styles, and teach accordingly.

Would we expect anything less from the Torah, whose very meaning is “Teaching”?

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On a personal  note, this is the time of year when the Academy for Jewish Religion invites a new cohort of rabbis and cantors to teach words of Torah in this space, commencing with Parashat Bereisheet.  This embrace of myriad views and approaches puts into practice the above lesson of Parashat Ki Tavo, and is a hallmark of AJR’s pluralistic Jewish community.

It has been my privilege to learn with you over the past three years.

 

• Rabbi Greg Schindler

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[1] According to most commentators, the word “Torah” is used with the meaning “Teaching” in this and the following usages.