Kol

Ki Tavo

In Ki Tavo we read the second set of "curses" in the Torah. In the middle of the horrific curses, HaKadosh Baruch Hu pauses with a very important pasuk, telling us why we are incurring the curses "Since you didn't serve Hashem your G-d in joy, with a good heart and mei'rov Kol" (Devarim 28:47).

How does one translate "Kol?" Onkelos had a problem translating the meaning of Col, he instead just repeats it in his Aramaic translation ("Chola"). The Targum Yonatan (who Rashi quotes), translates it as "Kol Tuv," everything that is good. You declined to serve HaKadosh Baruch Hu in joy and with a good heart, when everything you had was good!

The problem with translating the word Kol is that there is no single word to define it, it is a very deep concept, which the Ramban says is a “profound principle and one of the deepest secrets of the Torah.”

The Malbim (Vayikra 2:1) says that the word Col is a universal “inclusor” – in the “every” sense (for example in Birkat HaMazon – "Hazan et ha'Kol") and also a universal “exclusor” – in the “any” sense (for example, after the war with Midyan following Baal Peor, Moshe asks why they left any of the Midianite women alive, using the word Kol).

The Hebrew alphabet comprises 22 letters. Kabbalistic sources say that half the letters (aleph-caf) belong to the lower world and the other half (lamed-tav) to the upper world. If you simultaneously ascend from the letter aleph and descend from the letter tav until you meet midway, the meeting point forms the word Kol (caf lamed), the meeting point, the gateway, between the two worlds.

R’ Tzadok HaKohen from Lublin says that if you want to understand something, you examine the first time it is mentioned in the Torah. This applies equally to letters and words. The first time the letter lamed appears in the Torah is in the word E-lokim ("Bereishit bara Elokim"). From this we clearly see the connection between the letter lamed, the tallest of all letters and HaKadosh Baruch Hu. The next time the letter lamed appears is "Al (lamed) pnei tehom" – from the highest heights to the lowest depths. Similarly with the letter caf, except in the opposite direction. The first letter caf in the Torah is "ve'Choshech (caf) al pnei tehom." The next caf is "Et ha'or ci (caf) tov" – from the lowest depths to the highest heights. Therefore, the word Col, made from both these letters, embodies the same duality, a mirror image of the most positive and the most negative, the all-inclusive vs. the all-exclusive.

Not surprisingly the first two times the word Kol appears in the Torah is in the pasuk (Bereishit 1:21) referring to the creatures at the lowest depths (sea/land) and at the highest heights (sky).

The pasuk (Bereishit 1:31) says that after the sixth day of Creation, HaKadosh Baruch Hu looked back on all ("Kol") He had created and it was very good. Was everything that HaKadosh Baruch Hu created “good?” Amongst all the “good” things, HaKadosh Baruch Hu also created hell, the yetzer hara, darkness, angels of destruction, etc. How can these be good? With our limited perception, it is difficult to conceptualize these “negative” forces as being good. The concept of Kol teaches us however, that even the things that we perceive as “not good,” are all part of the truth of HaKadosh Baruch Hu.

The three Avot, Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov all reflected this concept of Kol. With Avraham it says "ba'Kol" (Bereishit 24:1). With Yitzchak it says "mi'Kol" (Bereishit 27:33). With Yaakov it says "Kol" (Bereishit 33:11). This is why we say in Birkat HaMazon – "Ba'kol mi'Kol Kol."

The beginning of our parsha deals with the mitzvah of Bikkurim. If you were a farmer with thousands of acres of fig tree and pomegranate tree orchards, Bikkurim was understandably a big deal – this was your “bread and butter” and worth the effort. But what if you were a simple cobbler, blacksmith, merchant, with one or two trees in your back yard? You had to take off one month from work, walk by foot all the way to Yerushalayim and back – just for 10 shekels worth of fruit that was not even your livelihood? For what?

Bikkurim was the one time in the year you dropped everything and went to the Beit HaMikdash, simply to say thanks! Yes, you are a lawyer and not a farmer, and it is only two measly figs, but that was not what you were thanking HaKadosh Baruch Hu for. The fruit was just the excuse. You were thanking HaKadosh Baruch Hu for everything else!

For that sizable sum you made in that law suit you won against a large company, for the new grandson that was born this last year, for the two masechtot you managed to finish learning, for the extra support your family gave you when you broke your leg, for the refund from the IRS that you were not expecting, that you noticed that leaky pipe before you went on vacation and did not return home to find water damage to your home, etc. etc.

What if there was nothing to thank HaKadosh Baruch Hu for that past year? It was a “bad” year with nothing but problems and trouble. Chas ve’chalila you slipped a disc in your back, the bank foreclosed on your mortgage and froze your bank account, your best friend died, your car’s gear transmission malfunctioned and needed a major overhaul, your mango tree got a virus and wilted, etc. etc. Do you still have to go to Yerushalayim and give thanks? The answer is – yes!

This is what the principle of Kol teaches us. There is no bad! The fact that we perceive it as bad is a failing on our part. We fail to understand that nothing HaKadosh Baruch Hu does to us is bad! The good and bad are mirror images of the same thing!

When the Mashiach comes, the Yfei Toar says that all the individual sacrifices will be cancelled, except for the Korban Toda. Why will we need a Korban Toda at all in the time of Mashiach?

The Yefei Toar says the reason that people will bring a Korban Toda in the time of the Geulah is because they will be able to reflect on their lives before the Geulah and in retrospect and with the insight they acquire as a result of the Geulah, they will realize and understand that all the things that occurred during their life that they perceived as bad, were in fact for their own good in the bigger picture and for these things they will give thanks.

It is not incidental that parshat Ki Tavo and the parshiyot of the Bikkurim and the curses are read two weeks before Rosh Hashanah. We need to arrive at Rosh Hashanah with a deep sense of gratitude – for "Kol."

Parshat HaShavua Trivia Question:  Which six tribes stood on Mt. Grizim (for the blessings and the curses)?

Answer to Last Shiur’s Trivia Question: How many mitzvot are mentioned in parshat Ki Teitzei? 74. It the single parsha with the most mitzvot in the Torah.