Making Sense of the Sedra: Ki Tavo
The way you see is not the way everybody sees
On my first day of secondary school I sat at my desk at the back of the class, and looked around the room. Everybody was writing. I whispered to my friend sitting next to me: “What are you writing?” She told me she was copying what was on the board. I looked at her, confused, and asked: “Can you see that?” Now it was her turn to look confused, as she asked me: “Can you not see that?”
I remember being blown away when I came out of the optician wearing glasses for the first time. I could see individual leaves on the trees! Unbelievable! I just thought that things that are far away look blurry as that was my experience; it hadn’t occurred to me until then that I was shortsighted, and that other people could see further than me.
In this week’s parsha, Ki Tavo, at the end of 40 years travelling in the desert, Moshe recounts the open miracles that the Jewish people have seen since leaving Egypt. “And yet,” he tells them, “until this day, God has not given you a heart to understand, nor eyes to see or ears to listen.” (Deut 29:3) What does Moshe mean? He goes on to explain: “I led you through the wilderness for 40 years; the clothes on your back did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet.” (Deut 29:4)
Can you imagine never having to buy new shoes or clothes? Those of us lucky enough to have children would be delighted not to have to buy them new shoes every few months as their feet grow. Moshe had to point this out to them because they hadn’t realised it themselves! Why not? If you’re born in a desert and your shoes grow and your clothes don’t wear out, this becomes your normal; it would never occur to you that it’s miraculous. Or for that matter that in the rest of the world, manna doesn’t fall from heaven and a well of water doesn’t follow people round in case they’re thirsty!
The Netziv, a 19th century commentator, explains in his work HaEmek Dvar that Moshe is trying to impart the profound truth to the Jewish people that even at a time of national crisis, when the Jews were living through one of their harshest punishments, being forced to wander through a desert for 40 years, they were still surrounded by God’s love and were having their every need taken care of.
We all naturally assume that our own life experiences are universal; maybe this is exactly the point Moshe is making in verse 3. For every person, in every generation, there will be miracles that will go unnoticed as they become natural to you. A chance encounter may open your eyes (pardon the pun) to the fact that the way you see is not the way everybody sees, and that in fact our lives are replete with hidden miracles.
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