Parshas Ki Savo - A Lessson and A Reminder
Parshas Ki Savo begins: וְהָיָה֙ כִּֽי־תָב֣וֹא אֶל־הָאָ֔רֶץ, “And it will be when you come to the land”, followed by bikurim, (the first fruits) and other mitzvos hateluyos ba’aretz, commandments that become obligatory when the Jewish nation inherits the land of Israel. In truth, most of Sefer Devarim is filled with mitzvos the Jewish people can only fulfill fully in Eretz Yisrael. Many of them were introduced in earlier Parshiyos, but Moshe reviews them here in his final speech to the nation before they enter the land. The Ramban teaches that even the mitzvos that seem new to us here in Sefer Devarim were taught previously during the forty years in the desert. They just weren’t recorded in the Torah until this point when Moshe reviewed them. So in Devarim, Moshe reviews the mitzvos of “Ki Savo”, when you come to the land.
Here is a great parenting tip, straight from Moshe Rabeinu, courtesy of the Ramban! When something out of the ordinary is going to happen, we should prepare our children in advance, and immediately before the event we should review with them what to do, just like Moshe did! For example, now is a good time to talk to our little children about Rosh Hashanah and what it will be like when we go to shul to hear the shofar. We can discuss what will happen and how we’ll behave. We can tell our children that shul is a place where we behave respectfully, we don’t run or yell, and we’ll be very quiet all the time we’re in shul listening to the shofar. This conversation can happen soon or anytime in the next few weeks. But then, right before we walk into shul on Rosh Hashanah, we remind our children, “Do you remember what we do and don’t do in shul on Rosh Hashana? Can you remember to walk, not run, and be totally quiet once we’re inside?” Effective mothers do this all the time,, before trips to the grocery store, museums, airplane travel, before guests come over, and on and on. (The same principle holds true for older children - advance preparation is always appreciated along with last minute review.)
Parshas Ki Savo is one of Moshe’s final messages to Bnai Yisrael before they entered the Land of Israel. Although they’d been preparing for this moment for forty years, this was exactly the right time to review the lessons they would need upon entering Eretz Yisrael.
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