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Parshat Ki Tavo
2005
The Definition of Success
During my senior year of high school, my classmates voted me "most likely to succeed." I was 17 years old and thrilled to have been given the honor, but I was miles away from understanding the expectation and meaning behind it. I knew that to succeed I would have to work hard. I knew there would be a lot of learning involved. I knew basically what I wanted to be doing 20 years from then. What I did not have a clue about, however, was how I would get there. I had no plan for success, just a vague idea of what that meant to me and what my life goals were. There were no "rules to life" mapped out before me as I set out on my journey as an adult.
In Parshat Ki Tavo, Moshe continues his final speech to the Israelites before finally sending them off into the unknown land of Israel. At this point, the Israelites had some idea about what life would be like in the land of Israel, having sent Caleb and Joshua and the other spies ahead to report back. Additionally, they had been told by God what the land was like. In this parsha Moshe does not dwell on what is ahead of them in the distant future.
After giving the people of Israel brief instructions on what to do upon first arriving, Moshe says to them, "As soon as you have crossed the Jordan into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall set up large stones." He then spends this time with the Israelites reminding them of the many commandments placed upon them. Additionally, he tells them what is to be expected of them: "Now, if you obey the Lord your God, to observe faithfully all His commandments which I enjoin upon you this day, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth," (Deut. 28:1) and what behaviors are to be punished: "Cursed be he who will not uphold the terms of this Teaching and observe them." (Deut. 27:26) Moshe gives them a set of guidelines for living as Jews in the land of Israel. When he concludes his instructions he says to the people, "And you shall observe the words of this covenant and fulfill them, in order that you will succeed in all that you do." (Deut. 29:8)
I was struck by this translation, as it jumped off the page at me, shouting, "Follow the commandments and you will be successful!" Surely this could not mean that by observing the laws of Judaism I would find success in all I did in life. I wrestled with this idea, searching for commentary that would explain its meaning. There is plenty of commentary about each commandment on its own, but nothing I could find explained this summary claim to my satisfaction. One explanation I did find came from the Sforno, a rabbi from the late 15th century early 16th century Italy. He makes note of the all-encompassing nature of the word choice of the verse. The word "all," according to the Sforno, denotes that if a person "observes the words of this covenant and fulfill[s] them" then success will come to a person in the material world as well as in the world to come.
Not being satisfied with this explanation, I found an alternate translation. It reads, "Observe therefore the words of this covenant, and do them that ye may make all that ye do to prosper." This also seemed to me to promise something that in reality does not always happen in life. It was then that I found a translation of the Hebrew root that made sense. It was not "to be successful," not "to prosper," but that if you followed the commandments, you would "act intelligently."
Of course! For if you do not have the guidance you need to act intelligently, you cannot succeed or prosper. By providing us with the guidance of the commandments, God gives us the tools to act intelligently, and what's more, to act rightly toward others. Moshe is not telling us that living by the commandments will automatically give us the good life. He is saying that these are the tools by which one lives the good life, the commandments are the tools that inform our decisions. This is how we find our own definition of success.
In the time that has transpired since my high school graduation, I have begun to learn what it means to be successful and I have learned some guidelines for pursuing that success. For example, to succeed in planning a leadership conference, one needs the support of colleagues. To double the number of Jewish students having meaningful Jewish experiences, we must use the tools set out for us to guide our actions as a community. And to be successful in our personal goals, we are fortunate to have some guidelines for our approach.
Prepared by Brianne Nadeau, assistant director, student leadership development
Learn More
Additional commentaries and text studies on Ki Tavo at MyJewishLearning.com.
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