I grew up hearing a famous story about Rabbi Schneur Zalman (known as the Alter Rebbe), founder of Chabad and his son Rabbi Dovber, his successor (known as the Mittler Rebbe), related to this week’s parsha Ki Tavo. The parsha includes a very harsh section called the tochacha (rebuke or admonition). In it Hashem spells out the troubles that await us should we fail to follow in the ways of the Torah.
The story, as told by the Previous Rebbe of Lubavitch, Rabbi Yosef Y. Schneersohn:
The Alter Rebbe himself was the regular Torah-reader. Once he was away from Lyozna on the Shabbat of parsha Tavo, and the Mitteler Rebbe, then not yet Bar Mitzva, heard the Torah-reading from another. His anguish at the curses in the tochacha (section of admonition) caused him so much heartache, that on Yom Kippur the Alter Rebbe doubted whether his son would be able to fast.
When they asked the Mitteler Rebbe - "Don't you hear this parsha every year?" - he replied, "When Father reads, one hears no curses."
It’s a powerful anecdote about the holiness of the Rebbe and the spiritual sensitivity of his son. Two great leaders who we can admire and emulate.
However, it was only this week that I realized I had misinterpreted this story for so many years, or at least failed to capture its proper message.
I had always attributed the fact that the Mittler Rebbe never got ill (until this incident) to the holiness of his saintly father.
Chassidic thought explains that the curses mentioned in this parsha are really corrupted blessings. The higher something is, the lower it falls. If we tap into the source of the curses, we will unleash their sublime, positive energy. Most of us are incapable of ‘traveling’ to the source. We remain trapped in the external, dark reality. As such, it’s all negative. A holy person, however, is able to access the pinnacle of holiness extant in the most remote elements of the world. Even curses can be blessings.
Therefore, I assumed that the Alter Rebbe’s reading – channeling the sublime meaning of the text – never had ill effects on his son.
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But, a few days ago I listened to a recording of the Rebbe telling the story in 1982. And the Rebbe had an entirely different approach.
It’s all about “Tatteh.” Tatteh is Yiddish for father. ‘If a Tatteh is reading the Torah,’ explained the Rebbe, ‘even if it’s all curses, a child only hears blessings.’
In other words: Can you imagine a father wishing these curses to his son?! It’s not possible! The love and concern that the father had for his son would preclude any feeling of punishment. If a father ever needs to administer punishment and promise terrible times, it will be done with the utmost compassion and love. It would never even be seen as awful, only as a necessary good.
Certainly, the Alter Rebbe accessed the inner meaning of the rebuke. But that’s not why his son remained unterrified! The true reason is because all he heard was the care and concern of his father.
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You might ask: Wait a second! Rabbi Schneur Zalman was reading the Torah for everyone; not only his son! Why would his son sense the care of a father in a public reading of the Torah?
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Perhaps there is a deeper meaning here. Just as a proper father can never intend harm to his child, so too G-d can never intend genuine injury to His children. If so, the real meaning of the Tochacha (rebuke) itself is deeper blessings – all for our own good. Not simply because the mystical dimension of a curse is really a corrupted blessing. It’s simply because that’s all our Father in Heaven is capable of delivering!
Since the Alter Rebbe was in touch with this reality, his Torah reading reflected it. And his gifted son sensed it.
As we prepare for the High Holy Days, let us recall that our Father in Heaven always has our best interest at heart!