Two Minute Torah Podcast

Ki Tavo 5770 by Rabbi Elyse Winick

Shalom. This is Rabbi Elyse Winick, Associate Director for KOACH in the Department of Youth and Young Adult Services of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. Welcome to KOACH's Two Minute Torah.

I'd like to dedicate this week's Two Minute Torah to all the students who are starting out on a new campus for the first time this year, be you a first year student or a transfer student. These are challenging and exciting days for you. It's a whirlwind, I know, but rest assured, it will soon settle into the most wonderful adventure.

This week we read from Parashat Ki Tavo, an instruction manual for how to manage the transition into becoming residents of our new home in the land of Israel. The text reads, "When you enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you possess it and settle in it, you shall take some of every first fruit of the soil, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, put it into a basket and go to the place where the Lord your God will choose to establish God's name."

How striking those words are. The fulfillment of ownership of the land, of the experience, is to celebrate what it yields. Note further the text to be recited at the moment that the harvest is presented. You may recognize it from the Passover Haggadah. "My father was a wandering Aramean. He went down to Egypt with meager numbers and sojourned there; but there he became a great and very populous nation." The proclamation concludes with a recognition of this harvest as the first fruits of the soil of a land to which we were delivered. But why start with the history at all? Isn't this moment more about the future than it is about the past?

I hear a very powerful message in these words. We cannot forge our future unless we embrace our past. That's a call to all of us, it's true, but new students on campus, I think that's a particular charge to you. You are embarking on a rich -- and somewhat unknown -- journey. This is a key to how to make that journey as thrilling as it can possibly be. Tell your story. Linking your past to your future will reveal all sorts of unknown treasures. Where you have been is a vivid backdrop to where you yet will go.

We at KOACH are particularly interested in hearing your story, in getting to know you, in being a signpost on the adventure which lies ahead. On your campuses, through our international programs, via our web connections. Tell us who you are. Tell us what you need. Let us be your partners in building a bright and beautiful future.

The parashah concludes with a dramatic series of curses which tell of the fate of those who do not follow God's instruction. But it also includes some very special blessings. One is a personal favorite, and I offer it to you now. "Blessed shall you be in your comings and blessed shall you be in your goings." You may be keenly aware of the world as it spins you on its axis right now, but fear not. You are not alone. And may all of your journeys be filled with blessing.