Dr. Rochelle Brand
In this week’s Parsha, Ki Tavo, we are taught that as soon as we arrive in the Land of Israel we should demonstrate our gratitude to Hashem for all of the gifts He has bestowed upon us. We express how thankful we are by offering the Bikurim - the first ripened fruit. The parsha continues with details of the various tithes, מעשר, and the additional commandment to articulate how appreciative we are of the fruits of our labor. All of this should be done with joy “ושמחת לפני השם אלוקך”. Furthermore, throughout the parsha we find the word היום- today. Hashem has given us the mitzvot TODAY, we should express our gratitude TODAY. Why the emphasis on today, right now, immediately? Because, and I think we can all relate to this, if you don’t do something now, if you push off until tomorrow, you may not get to do it. Life gets in the way of living or giving.
So let me share with you a little story of what happened last Friday when we were in New York. My husband and I were running an errand - it was Friday afternoon, and he gets a phone call from an unknown number. This is not unusual but to be sure who and what the call is about, he waits to call the number back. It turns out it is a collection agency! It seems that someone who had driven our car had received a parking ticket in 2018 and had never paid it. A $45 dollar ticket now had to be redeemed with all the penalties attached. We asked if we could just pay the fine without the penalties because we had no knowledge that we had gotten a parking violation. The voice on the phone said, “you can fight it in court, go before the judge.” The closest traffic court to where we were was downtown Staten Island near the ferry - and the offices close at 4:30 pm on Fridays. We looked at the time - it was ten minutes to four - would we make it? We decided we would take the chance and stand before the judge. Long story short - we told the judge we had no knowledge of the ticket. He said that he has in the records that letters were sent to us three times. Seems the letters went to 953 Westwood, our former address, and were never forwarded to us! The judge said he would deliberate and render his decision in a few minutes. Maybe it was a good thing that it was literally right before the doors were closing - maybe not - but the judge declared that the fine in its entirety must be paid. (There goes buying a few new dresses for the Chag!) We paid up and walked out with a clean slate. I said to my husband, that this should be a “kaparah”/atonement - if we had to receive consequences for something we did wrong, it’s only money.
But what a lesson we can learn from this. This coming Motzei Shabbat Ashkenazim begin saying slichot (prayers of supplication asking Hashem to forgive us) before Rosh Hashana. Sefaradim have been saying these prayers since Rosh Chodesh Elul. Hashem gives us this opportunity to pay our fines, to do teshuva, to set the record straight. And even if it is right before closing time, just a few weeks, days, minutes, just before the doors are closing, we are given the chance to make things right. All of us make mistakes, there are various transgressions that we commit throughout the year. We can pay up right away or we can procrastinate. Had we paid the fine the day we got the ticket - it would not have incurred further fees and penalties. Hayom - TODAY - take care of what you need to do now - don’t wait. Our Torah knows that we are human and fallible but we can learn from our mistakes. Don’t wait for the “debt collector” to come calling; set the record straight immediately. And if there are going to be additional penalties, let them be bearable, inconsequential, and serve as a “kaparah” for all misdoings. Even if we do not know that we did something wrong, we still can ask the Judge to forgive us - in Shmoneh Esrei everyday we say ” סלח לנו מחל לנו”. Let’s really mean it!
Just one more thought. David Hamelech says in the Perek of Tehillim which we recite from Elul through Hoshana Rabba - ה’ אורי וישעי- There is just one thing that I ask of Hashem אחת שאלתי מאת ה- To sit in His House- שבתי בבית ה’ כל ימי חיי. Without going in to what that may mean I pose this question for discussion at your Shabbat Table - if you could ask Hakadosh Baruch Hu for just one thing, what would it be?
Have a Shabbat Shalom
Rochelle Brand, Ed.D
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