Ki Tavo – כי תבא : “When you come”
Torah : Deuteronomy 26:1–29:8
Haftarah : Isaiah 60:1–22
Gospel : Acts 16-18

Thought for the Week:

Amos came and reduced all the commandments to one principle, as it is written [in Amos 5:4], “For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel, ‘Seek Me that you may live.”’ To this Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak objected, saying, “[This can be understood as if it were saying,] ‘Seek Me by observing the whole Torah and live!’ [And that makes salvation dependent upon obeying all 613 commandments.] Instead, it is Habakkuk who came and reduced all the commandments to one principle, as it is written [in Habakkuk 2:4], ‘But the righteous will live by his faith.’” (b.Makkot 23b)

Commentary:

The public curses of Deuteronomy 27 conclude with a final, all inclusive curse upon every sinner. “‘Cursed is he who does not confirm the words of this Torah by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’” (Deuteronomy 27:26)

A simple reading might suggest that a man who breaks a single commandment fails to confirm the Torah, and therefore is guilty of abrogating the whole of the commandments. Likewise, James the brother of the Master wrote, “For whoever keeps the whole Torah and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.” (James 2:10)

Paul understands th...