Ki Tavo: Zemer of the Week

If you have children at the table, you can sing and discuss this song:

“Toda Al Kol Mah Sh’barata” (first stanza)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo_w97IRkhA

תודה על כל מה שבראת
תודה על מה שלי נתת
על אור עיניים חבר או שניים
על מה שיש לי בעולם
על שיר קולח ולב סולח
שבזכותם אני קיים

“Thanks for everything you've created,
Thanks for what you've given me.
For the light in my eyes,
A friend or two,
For what I have in this world.
For a singing voice
And a forgiving heart
I exist because of them.”

The parsha begins with the mitzvah of bikkurim (first fruits), where the farmer declares gratitude to Hashem for the land and its bounty (Devarim 26:1–11).  Just as bikkurim do, this song “expresses gratitude for life's creations and gifts, including eyesight, a forgiving heart, a child's laughter, a home, and even past sadness, acknowledging that these are the things that make the speaker feel alive.”

If you have teens at the table, you can sing and discuss this song:

“Al Hadevash V’al Ha’oketz”: (chorus, by Naomi Shemer)

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xSMqVmAsaEk

עַל כָּל אֵלֶּה, עַל כָּל אֵלֶּה
שְׁמוֹר נָא לִי אֵל טוֹב
עַל הַדְּבַשׁ וְעַל הָעֹקֶץ
עַל הַמַּר וְהַמָּתוֹק

“For all these things, for all these things,
Please guard them for me, O good God:
For the honey and for the sting,
For the bitter and the sweet.”

In Ki Tavo, Moshe tells the people that they will experience both blessings and curses depending on their actions (Devarim 28). Life contains sweetness and bitterness, blessing and challenge.  “Al Kol Eleh” echoes this: both honey and sting, bitter and sweet, are part of life’s journey, and our task is to find the sweetness amidst apparent bitterness.

If you want a traditional Zemer, this one has many connections to the parsha, some of which are suggested below:

After singing it together, go around to see what connections people saw to the parsha, to the season, and even to current events!

The zemer for this week: “Kol Mekadeish Shevii”  כל מקדש שביעי  

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QTFGr1Kfec

This zemer first appeared in the Machzor Vitry, compiled by Simcha ben Shmuel of Vitry (died 1105).  The author, Moshe, hid his name in the initials of the second words of the first three stanzas.  The zemer praises Shabbat observers and asks Hashem to bless them. 

After the opening stanza, the lines of the zemer follow an א-ב order, ending in צ; the version in the Machzor Vitry includes one more stanza that has the remaining four letters of the א-ב.  Each stanza ends with a verse from Tanach.

Central elements of this parsha include the blessings (and mirroring curses) that we will receive, the varieties of simcha that should infuse our lives and our worship of Hashem, the ways in which our relationship with Hashem should feel fresh to us, and the commandment to erect Torah-engraved rocks in Eretz Yisrael.

Some of the zemer’s connections to the parsha are as follows:

“י” line: “מבואו ועד צאתו” (“From his arrival to his departure”) and “ה” line:
“לצאת…לבא” (“departing … entering”) – One of the central blessings in the parsha is in Devarim 28:6: “ברוך אתה בצאתך ,ברוך אתה בבואך” (“Blessed are you in your arrival, blessed are you in your departure”).

“ש” line:
“שמחם בבנין שלם” (“Delight them with the building of Yerushalayim”) – This phrase is central to the parsha in two ways:

Three times the parsha mentions the delights of Eretz Yisroel (“Eretz zavat chalav u’devash”) – in Devarim 26:9, 26:15, and 27:3.

Simcha (“joy” or “delight”) is also a recurring theme.  For example, you should rejoice from all of the good that Hashem gives you (Devarim 26:11), you should rejoice when you cross the Yarden River and bring Olah offerings to Hashem (Devarim 27:7), you should serve Hashem with simcha to help avoid receiving the curses (Devarim 28:47).

The theme of simcha is also repeated in the zemer in its “ב”, “ו”, and “ל” lines.

“ו” line:
“ושמחים לשמרו” (“And glad to safeguard it”),
“נ” line:
“ליום השביעי זכור ושמר להקם” (“To uphold ‘zachor v’shamor’ for the seventh day”),
and 2nd line of opening stanza:
“כל שומר שבת” (“Whoever protects the Shabbos”)  – Rashi says that the word (and conjugation of) “שמור” in Devarim 27:1 is meant to highlight that when we observe mitzvot, we should feel their current-day, ongoing presence in our lives.

Rashi reiterates this message in Devarim 26:16, about the phrase “This day, Hashem commands you…”

This is also true at the level of the national covenant: Rashi to Devarim 27:9 says, “Every day, the mitzvoth should be in your eyes as if you have entered the covenant with Hashem that day.”

“ח” line:
“חרותה ליום השביעי” (“Engraved with [the commandments about] the seventh day”) – When Bnai Yisroel enter the Land, they are supposed to engrave the Torah on plaster-covered rocks (Devarim 27:2-3).