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By Rabbi Shloimie Lindenbaum
לא עברתי ממצותיך ולא שכחתי (פרק כו פסוק יג)
After a person distributes all their tithes-תרו”מ) תרומה ומעשרות) they must come to the בית המקדש in the third year of the שמיטה cycle to proclaim וידוי מעשרות- “the confession of the tithes.” In this established text the person announces that they fulfilled all the necessary מצוות involved in תרו”מ. One of the statements is that “לא שכחתי”- “I did not forget,” which Rashi explains to mean that they made a ברכה when tithing the food. Many מפרשים are bothered that nearly all ברכות are only required Rabbinically, if so, how could there be a Biblical reference to a fulfillment of a ברכה obligation? R’ Yaakov Kamenetsky explains that there are two aspects of תרו”מ- I) the actual מצוה of separating the tithe, which immediately allows the food to be eaten, 2) the מצוה of giving the תרו”מ to the כהן and לוי respectively. The וידוי is directed at the aspect of giving the food to the כהן ולוי, that this aspect was done with all the requisite details. One of the important details is that the original separation was not merely with the selfish intent of allowing the food to be eaten, but rather the owner separated with the intent of giving the food to the כהן ולוי. When one makes a ברכה before doing a מצוה they are expressing that that their intention in this מצוה is לשם שמים, for the sake of Hashem. This answers the question from before, because although there is no actual ברכה on a Biblical level, there is the concept of a ברכה, that is to have in mind when separating the תרו”מ to give the food to the כהן ולוי. This is what the וידוי means, “I gave it to the לוי and did not forget (when separating, to make a ברכה i.e. have the לוי in mind).”
אלה יעמדו לברך את העם על הר גרזים…ואלה יעמדו על הקללה בהר עיבל…(פרק כז פסוק יב-יג)
The Parsha continues with the extensive ברכות וקללות- blessings and curses that were proclaimed on הר גרזים והר עיבל, through which בני ישראל fortified their commitment to the Torah. The פסוקים describe how six of the שבטים were sent to stand on each of the mountains and the כהנים ולוים stood in the middle. The כהנים ולוים would announce each ברכה in the direction of הר גרזים and everyone would answer אמן. They would do the same with the קללות towards הר עיבל. The באר יוסף explains the significance of this strange procedure based on the גמרא קידושין דף מ. The גמרא there explains how a person should view himself and the entire world as being in equal balance of מצוות and עבירות and every מצוה or עבירה that each individual does can tilt himself and the world in either the direction of life or death. This was symbolized by הר גרזים והר עיבל. בני ישראל was equally split and it seemed as though the ברכות- the merits, were being weighed equally against the קללות- the demerits. This was to convey to the Jews the tremendous significance that each individual’s actions hold and how with one action one can sway themselves and the world at large in either a bad direction or a good one.
