Rosh haShana is Yom haDin, the day of judgment. We explain that on this important day we must perceive the Synagogue as a court of Justice. Aware that when we hear the Shofar the Court goes into session and we recognize HaShem as our King and Supreme Judge. The Almighty examines the records of our behavior during the past year, and he must decide whether or not we deserve a new opportunity.
What remains for us to explain is what should we exactly do while listening to the Shofar and are judged by God?

Asking God for forgiveness?

In the Teshuba process, which formally lasts 10 days, everything has its time. Once Rosh HaShanah is over, we begin an intense period of repentance, reparation, and apologizing to our peers and to God. This period ends on Yom Kippur, “The Day of Forgiveness”.

But on Rosh Hashana, a request for forgiveness would be premature. That day I must concentrate on judging myself before God. Try to see myself NOT as I normally see myself, but as God sees me.

While listening to the Shofar, I have to look in the mirror and admit my mistakes in my heart (מהרהר בתשובה). This first step, essential for the entire Teshuba process, is called hakarat haChet, “admission of my mistakes”. At that moment I take responsibility for my actions and do not escape responsibility. This self-diagnosis is too serious to be taken lightly and is a prerequisite, a condition sine-qua-non for what will come after Rosh Hashanah: confession, repentance, apologizing, resolving to change, etc.

I am going to illustrate what we should do on Rosh haShana while listening to the Shofar.
One of the most important values ​​in Jewish life is chesed, generosity. Let’s take this value as an example of how I should judge myself in front of HaShem. First I must think about what I did right and what I did wrong in this area: Have I dedicated enough of my money, my time, my effort, and my thoughts to helping other people? Was I there when others needed me? When people ask for help, did I ignore them? Perhaps many people who I knew they needed help but did NOT ask for my help, probably out of shame, and I pretended to be distracted? When I found out someone was out of a job, did I do everything I could to help them? When I found out that someone had nowhere to be, did I open the doors of my house for those who needed it? Have I done for others everything that HaShem expected of me? If HaShem was generous with me, and he granted me the means and / or the talents to help, isn’t he expecting me to share what he gave me wth others?

As you can see, thinking about what I’ve done wrong or about what I could have done right, and I did not, is too serious to be overlooked by a simple: “Oh, by the way, God: I’m also sorry about my failures in the area of kindness”.

My mission of Rosh HaShana is to judge myself while God judges me. Trying to see me as He sees me. And the more real my perception of His perception of me is, the less room to deceive myself, the more objective my self-judgment and the more effective my Teshuba will be. And vice versa.

Recently, thank God, I set up one of the spaces in my house to use as an office. Now I have more comfort for studying, writing, reading, making photocopies, checking my email, etc. But inevitably, every two or three days of use, my office turns into chaos: books piled up on the desk, papers everywhere, snacks that I sometimes bring from the kitchen, etc. At least once a week, I have to intervene and dedicate time to put things back in order.

What happens with my office has a name: entropy. If we want to be more academic, my office suffers from the second law of thermodynamics, which states the inevitability of a closed system transitioning from order to chaos. Nothing goes from chaos to order by itself, without the intervention of an external factor. See Note below *

Physics and Marriage

The second law of thermodynamics also applies to marriage. In a romantic relationship, entropy manifests as emotional disorder and distance that can grow between two people if neither takes action to prevent it. In other words: if a couple feels like they’re growing apart, it’s normal, especially when neither actively does anything to prevent it. If marriage is left to manage itself, by inertia, it’s practically impossible to avoid chaos and centrifugal forces that gradually separate spouses.

A Couple of Tips to Prevent Entropy in Marriage

FOR MEN

1. One of the most important gestures a wife needs from her husband is to feel valued. For him to pay attention to what she does in the house, for him or for the children, and let her know. A woman who doesn’t feel appreciated by her husband can enter a cycle of emotional entropy. The Torah portion of this week, Ki Tavo, teaches us that it’s essential to express our appreciation and thankfulness “with words” — not just in our hearts — for what God does for us. The Jewish farmer must bring the first fruits of his harvest to the Beit Hamikdash and there perform a whole ceremony of verbal gratitude, not silently. And why should this ritual of gratitude be performed? Actually, God doesn’t need it! Many Sages explain that verbal gratitude helps to value, and thus a positive cycle is created: gratitude leads to valuing and valuing leads to gratitude. If we apply this to our wives, there won’t be room for emotional entropy.
2. Dedicating time to the wife is actually a Mitzvah (religious obligation) of the Torah, derived from the commandment of “‘Onatah”, which literally means “her times” and indicates that the Jewish husband must dedicate intimate time with his wife. Intimacy, especially emotional intimacy, is an imperative need for any wife and a prerequisite for her to feel “attracted” to her husband. For a woman, “love” means sharing time together. The husband must allocate time to his wife each day or week: taking walks together, going out to eat together, or even not doing anything specific, but being “together”. This is absolutely essential to prevent entropy.

FOR WIVES

1. Many wives believe that by criticizing their husbands, they are doing them a favor. They think that it’s a virtue to point out their mistakes in what he does, says, and thinks. They might say to themselves, “If I don’t show my husband what he’s doing wrong, who will do it for him?” However, constant criticism, even when coming from a well-intentioned place (“I want to help my husband”), doesn’t help. In reality, it only serves to increase the level of entropy and distance in the marriage. The best (and only) strategy a wife can adopt to help her husband is positive reinforcement of her spouse’s actions: praising and rewarding him when he does something right. This approach is similar to that of a pet trainer, who never criticizes, yells at, or punishes the animals being trained, but instead focuses on rewarding and reinforcing appropriate behaviors. And this method works perfectly with husbands too!
2. It’s very important for both the husband and wife to understand that happiness is not just a “mood”, but a choice. The Torah teaches this repeatedly, for example, when it commands us to “be” happy during our holidays or to “make others happy”. This “active” happiness can start by forcing myself to smile or put on a cheerful face when I’m with my loved ones. Remember that a good employee, a secretary, a flight attendant on an airplane, or a teacher who wants to keep their job, have to put on their best face around others. Incredibly, when you make an effort to project happiness, you start to feel happier. If a wife adopts a positive attitude and projects happiness, she becomes a true emotional magnet for her husband, who will feel much more drawn to spend additional time with her and seek activities to do together. A wife who radiates happiness is irresistible to any husband.

SHABBAT SHALOM

• By the way, for me, entropy is the best evidence that the world was created by God and didn’t arise on its own, since assuming a universe that arose and developed from the original chaos of the Big Bang without the intervention of a Creator would go completely against this fundamental physical law. They should teach this in all schools!

Rabbi Yosef Bitton

GRATITUDE

The first thing that our Parasha mentions is the commandment of the Bikurim, that is, bringing the first fruits that are harvested, to the Temple in Jerusalem. This act of thanksgiving to God for the land and its products applies to the seven fruits and products that characterize the land of Israel: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates. When the farmer arrives at the Temple, he recites a prayer of gratitude to God and presents the fruits to the priests. In our days, when we do not have the Temple anymore, one of the ways to thank God for what He grants us is by reciting the blessings for food. For example, there are six blessings that we say before eating. Each of these blessings refers to a particular type of food: 1. There is a specific blessing for bread (hamotsi lechem min haarets). 2. Another blessing, exclusively for wine (boré perí haguefen), 3. For the fruits of the land (boré perí ha-adama vegetables, vegetables, legumes, etc.). 4. For tree fruits (boré perí haets). 5. The blessing for products made with flour (boré miné mezonot), and finally 6. For all other types of food (sheakol nihyiá bidbaró, water, candy, ice cream, etc.). In this way, through these blessings, we continue to thank God for the privilege of having what to eat, as we did with the Bikkurim.

SHARING

The Tora mentions the tithes, like a 10% tax, which Jewish farmers were required to separate from their produce. The produce was not given to the State for redistribution, like US taxes, but was distributed directly from the farmer to the Priests, the Levites and the poor. During some harvest years, one of the tithes was taken to Jerusalem to be consumed by its owners there. All these rules for the farmer conclude with the declaration that all the duties of the tithes had been fulfilled, and with a beautiful prayer in which the Jewish farmer implores God to continue blessing the people of Israel and their land:  …וברך את עמך את ישראל ואת האדמה אשר נתתה   “O God, bless from heaven – Your holy abode – Your people Israel and the land You have given us, just as You promised our ancestors [that you will grant us] a land flowing with milk and honey.”

THE FULFILLMENT OF THE COVENANT

Moshe reminds the people to observe God’s commandments, the covenant Israel made with God:  Israel chose Israel to be his God, and God has chosen them to be His holy and protected nation. As a testimony to the covenant, Moshe instructs the leaders to take some large stones when crossing the Jordan River and to engrave the entire Tora on these stones. Another set of stones with the Torah engraved on them should also be erected on Mount Ebal. Moshe indicates that upon entering the land they have to proclaim the blessings and the curses (or warnings, tokhachot) on Mounts Gerizim and Ebal. The blessings will be granted to everyone who observes the Tora, and the curses will befall those who abandon it and do not behave properly with God and with their neighbor. The elders of the tribe of Levi will stand between the two mountains, and representatives of six tribes will stand on each mountain. The Levites and the Priests will then proclaim the blessings and warnings to the people.

BREACH OF THE COVENANT

Then the Tora dedicates a long text describing the hardships and suffering that will befall the Jews if they neglect the observance of the Covenant (in Hebrew: berit). The logic of this idea is as follows: as we previously saw, God is committed to protecting Israel as long as Israel behaves as God’s people. If the nation of Israel abandons the Covenant and walks away from God, is automatically moving away from Divine Protection, exposing itself to the mercy of its implacable enemies, who have no compassion for Israel. These tragic circumstances that vulnerable Israel will have to live, will begin with exile, when the Promised Land would organically “expel” its Jewish inhabitants, and would continue with the nations that receive the Jewish refugees. Many times these nations exploit their talents, and then abuse them, taking away their possessions and then their lives. In these circumstances, Divine protection is limited to the promise of collective survival, in other words, that God will never allow for the Jewish nation to disappear from the face of the Earth. God will receive the Jews back when they will reconsider and return to God [teshuba]. All these tragic warnings were already experienced by the Jewish people throughout its tragic history and especially during the Shoah.

To conclude and to illustrate the blessing of the Divine supervision of Israel, Moshe reminds the people of all the miracles that God has done for them, protecting them from the moment of their departure from Egypt until that very day.

This weekly section, KI TETSE, contains the largest number of precepts in the entire Tora: a total of 74 Mitzvot. We will now see some of these commandments.
Continuing with the topic of the previous Parasha, the laws of war, the Tora forbids a Jewish soldier to abuse a woman who is a prisoner of war (let’s say in passing that there is no precedent for such humane laws towards the enemy such as those indicated in the Torah). If a soldier desired a captive woman he had to formally marry her (after her conversion) and he could not mistreat her or discriminate against her in the future. She should become part of his family and the husband can not deny her rights or her children’s rights. All of these regulations were intended in the first place to discourage the soldier from cohabiting with the captive woman.
The Tora then explains the case of a son who is rebellious and extremely violent towards his parents and the theoretical possibility that he will be executed for his crimes against society.
The Tora discusses the laws of execution and the respect that must be given to a lifeless human body -even that of a criminal- that should be buried immediately. It was usual among other peoples and civilizations to expose the bodies of criminals in public, even for several days, so that the rest of the population could learn a lesson.
The laws of the return of lost property and the assistance that must be provided when an animal collapses under its load are described.
Cross-dressing is prohibited.
The Tora explains what to do when one finds a bird’s nest with eggs or chicks.
The laws regarding the safety fences and railings that must be built in places of risk, such as a roof, are detailed.
The law of tzitzit, the fringes on the corners of garments, is described.
The subject of adultery and rape is discussed. The Tora mentions the prohibition of incest and the case of Mamzer, or illegitimate child: that is particularly when a married woman (even if she has separated herself from her husband, but did not receive yet the Get, i.e., the official religious document of divorce) has a child with another man.
Some laws relating to marriage with other nations are described, specifying in which cases conversions are allowed and in which cases they are not.

The Tora explains the case of divorce. And the case of a newly married man who is exempt from serving in the army for the first year.
Some of the laws of loans and collateral are mentioned.
The Tora teaches the lender to be sensitive and compassionate towards the debtor.
The Tora also mentions the laws regarding wages and the right of the worker to receive his salary on time.
The Tora indicates that preferential treatment should be given to widows and orphans. In other civilizations, this preferential treatment was reserved for the nobles and the aristocracy. But the God of Israel cares for and protects the weakest.
The Tora teaches us to be honest in our business dealings and to make sure that the weights and measures that we use, as well as all our business practices, are fair and honest.
Finally, the Tora exhorts us to be aware of Amaleq, the archetype of the anti-Semite, and never forget that Amaleq’s intention is to eliminate us, as he tried to do when we left Egypt. Ignoring Amaleq’s anti-Semitic vocation, and its irrational hatred can be lethal for the individual Jew and for the Jewish people.

ואחר כן תבוא אליה…ולקחת לך לאשה
רש”י :לא דברה תורה אלא כנגד יצר הרע

WAR CRIMES
Throughout human history, the military leaders of all the peoples of this planet motivated their warriors to conquer the enemy, encouraging them with the promise of obtaining the tempting spoils of war: money, land… and the women of the enemy. They were part of the booty that belonged to the victor. And a great incentive to fight with more courage and adrenaline. Captured women were treated like objects, at the will of the soldier. After being abused the poor victims were killed or in the best case scenario sold as slaves. Wartime sexual assault was never questioned but normalized. And is not a  just thing of the past. In this article with the surprising title “”Challenging a tradition that enjoys impunity” we can read about the prevalence and normalization of wartime rape, even in the 20th century.

THE TORA IS DIFFERENT
In this week’s Parsha we see that the Tora demands of the Jewish soldier an exceptional behavior, completely different from the Gentile soldier. An attitude of respect towards the enemy that has no precedent or parallel in the annals of history, probably until well into the 20th or 21st century (remember, for example, Japan’s invasion of Nanjing, China, in 1937; or the behavior of the Russian soldiers in Germany, or even the abuse of ISIS in the XXI century). The Tora, with an incredible and perhaps unappreciated sense of anticipation for human rights, refers in this week’s Parsha to “the rights of female prisoners of war”. If the soldier wished to be intimate with that woman, he was obliged to marry her (something the Tora, in this suggestive way, discourages). If the Jewish soldier married her—these prisoners of war, or ‘ebed kena’aní, were automatically converted to Judaism—he had to allow her to mourn her family, grow her nails and shave her hair (following the customs of Gentile civilizations in biblical times) and only later could he marry her. Furthermore, once married, he could not discriminate against her or her children or make her work as a servant. All these “regulations” went through the soldier’s head and in a certain way made him reflect on whether it was really OK for him to get carried away by his impulse “now” and have to go through all this process “later”. The idea, obviously, is that all these regulations managed to dissuade the Jewish soldier from taking advantage of that defenseless woman.

POSTPONEMENT AS A STRATEGY IN LIFE

We should be amazed at the mental training, education, and control, that the Tora demands of a Jewish man. The Tora —attentive to the psychological state of a victorious soldier facing an attractive and defenseless woman in the enemy camp, where adrenaline easily combines with testosterone—doesn’t tell the soldier “you can’t be with that woman,” period. First, since most probably a simple “no” in these circumstances might bring the unintended consequences: abuse and rape. The Tora designed a strategy for the soldier to “take his time, think and reflect” and not get carried away by his impulse in the midst of war. This “mental mechanism” that the Tora designed is: positive procrastination. Rashi explains that this biblical commandment goes beyond the specific case of a soldier on the battlefield. The Tora  is teaching us a strategy to deal with our own yetser hara’: our physical urges, instincts and desires, when they are inappropriate. Instead of saying “NO”, the Tora tells the soldier: “YES, but NOT NOW.” Delayed gratification is a well-known psychological tool that educates the individual and trains him to control his impulses, and mature.

ONE NOW OR TWO A LITTLE LATER

The 1972 marshmallow experiment was a study on “delayed gratification.” It was led by psychologist Walter Mischel, a professor at Stanford University. In this study, children were offered a choice between a single marshmallow now or two marshmallows, if he or she waited a period of time. Once he explains this to the child, the researcher leaves the room for about 10 minutes and then returns with the second marshmallow in hand for those who resisted the temptation of immediate gratification. In follow-up studies, researchers found that children who were able to wait longer and control the urge to eat one marshmallow NOW tended to have better youth and adult life outcomes, better scores on SAT, educational achievements, and even the right body-mass index (weight), and other matters that demand “delaying gratification in the present” for greater gratification in the future

NEGATIVE PROCRASTINATION

But procrastination is a double-edged sword. Delaying a good and healthy project, which we know is necessary to improve our lives, is usually one of the most common psychological traps we set for ourselves. For example, when we need to lose weight, and we know we have to follow a strict diet, many times instead of saying to ourselves: “I’m not going to do it”, “I’m giving up good health”–an argument that our common sense and our guilt would not tolerate– we use the psychological strategy of procrastination, but in a negative way: we delay the diet from one week to the next. In this way, our guilt is silenced, because “we have decided to do it”,  but time will eventually bring oblivion, and the good resolution will probably die…

In the area of ​​our spiritual improvement, procrastination is also a lethal trap. During the month of Elul, and as we get closer to Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur, we commit ourselves to adopting new habits and we resolve to make some major improvements in our Jewish lives. For example: “This year I will dedicate an hour every morning to study Tora”, “To read this very good book that has been highly recommended to me.” But then, when we find this project a bit difficult, we suspend it, but without giving it up completely! We tell ourselves that we are not really giving up. We’re just delaying this project until we find a better time. We convince ourselves that right now, we are very busy, business is very demanding, etc. …  The trap is that by not giving up on the idea altogether… by delaying this project into the future, we make it easier for our minds and guilt to abandon it, and eventually it will “die by procrastination”. The destructive side of our imagination — yester hara’ as Maimonides defines it — set us up psychologically, and we became victims of this old syndrome.

40 years after leaving Egypt and slavery the children of Israel are ready to enter into the promised land.    There is one small problem, however. The land is not empty. In fact, there are seven large nations and dozens of scattered tribes and peoples against whom we must fight and prevail. Because this land needs to be conquered. This is not a small challenge. Remember that 40 years ago the fear of fighting paralyzed an entire generation that ended up dying in the desert. Now, Moshe addresses the new generation. He gives them a long speech, which occupies most of the book Debarim. What is the content of this speech? Normally, in these circumstances, you would have expected the leader of the army to harangue his soldiers and motivate them to fight. Normally, the leader would use some strong sounding phrases like “Kill or die”, or “Fredoooom”, or “fight till the end”, etc, etc. Or some unusual act to demonstrate that they need to win, as Julius Cesar did burning the ships when his army was about to invade Britannia.

But rather surprisingly in his speech Moshe Rabbenu is not concerned with the details of the battle. He almost does not mention anything practical about the imminent war… Moshe is not worried about military strategies or the fighting spirit of his soldiers. Moshe knows that this war will be won, because HaShem promised so. And because the Almighty will fight alongside Israel.

What does concern Moshe then?  The aftermath of victory.

Moshe is concerned about the spiritual effects of success and material wealth.

Israel is a rich and fertile land, with material surplus (Debarim 8: 7-9) “[Israel is …] a land with streams and springs of waters, that water the valleys and the hills; a land of wheat and barley, vineyards and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey, a land where bread is not scarce,  [and a land] where you will lack nothing “

Moshe, unlike any other political leader in history, fears the spiritual consequences of stability and wealth. He fears that once the people settle in their new mansions and rich lands, they would forget who they are, and who they should be …

(Debarim 8: 10-19) “[Once you settle in the land and] you have eaten, and you are satisfied … beware not to forget HaShem your God, and abandon His commandments … lest your herds and flocks multiply, and your silver and gold increase, and all you have abound … and then, your heart might become proud, and you might forget HaShem your God, who brought you out of Egypt, the land of slavery …. and then, you would persuade yourself saying, ‘It was my own power and the might of my own hand that produced this wealth for me’ … and when you forget HaShem your God, you would seek other gods and you would bow down to them” 

There is a psychological and spiritual chain reaction which begins with wealth and ends with a special form of idolatry.

1. Wealth and affluence can lead man to forget God. This is a phenomenon which, unfortunately, is not uncommon. The more we suffer poverty, disease and tragedy, the more we must remember God. And vice versa.

2. When we forget HaShem, we become arrogant. “Everything I have, I achieved it by myself, with my own efforts.”

3. This dysfunctional perception leads to (or is a form of) ‘aboda zara (idolatry), which in this context must be understood as “egolatry” or self-worshipping. Human nature does not tolerate emptiness. And when an individual removes HaShem from his or her life, usually he would replace the Divine with his own ego.

Now, we can finally understand that waging war against the enemy does not worry Moshe. Moshe’s great concern is the battle between man and his own arrogance. The Tora warns us that material success can be dangerous. Because once you do not “need” anymore to beg God for bread and water, you are very close to forget and ignore Him.

Now, what is the solution to the moral challenge of wealth and success? Should we give up the aspiration of material well-being, to not risk a spiritual collapse? In fact, the Tora presents “wealth” as a Divine blessing (“berakha” literally means “abundance”) to which we are entitled to aspire. And if we win our bread honestly, the Tora does not impose us to make a voluntary vow of poverty.

  We read in the Shema ‘Israel, we must love (= keep in mind .., think of…) HaShem, our God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our possessions. We must have HaShem in mind by rereading these words every day, day and night. We must repeat this message to our children. And place it in front of our hearts, and as a crown on our heads. And have it in writing, as a permanent reminder, in each one of the doors through which we enter and go out, every day of our lives.

The solution of the Tora to the conflict  “wealth > pride” is not to avoid wealth but to prevent “oblivion”. The Jewish antidote to forgetfulness is the permanent study of Tora and the fulfillment of its Mitsvot.