Weekly Dvar Torah: When Father Reads, One Hears No Curses

As we approach Rosh Hashanah, we prepare ourselves with reflection, repentance, and joy. The Torah readings of this week, Parshas Ki Tavo, includes the Tochacha—the terrible list of curses and condemnations that are read as warnings before the Day of Judgment. For many, these verses are unsettling, but one story about the Miteler Rebbe, Rabbi Dovber Schneuri, the second Chabad Rebbe, sheds light on how to hear them differently.

One year, when the Alter Rebbe, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, was away from his community in Lyozna, another reader took his place for the Torah reading of Parshas Ki Savo. His son the Miteler Rebbe, still a youth, listened to the harsh words of the Tochacha and became so distressed that he fell gravely ill. Weeks later, as Yom Kippur approached, his father worried whether he was strong enough to fast. When asked why this year’s reading had affected him so severely, the Miteler Rebbe answered: “When Father reads, one hears no curses.”

This is the essence of Chassidus. When the Alter Rebbe read the Tochacha, he heard it as G-d hears it — not as punishments, but as hidden blessings wrapped in garments of severity. His son understood the language of his father and heard only love. But when those same words were read without the Alter Rebbe’s voice, only the surface meaning remained: curses, pain, suffering.

When a loving father reads, there are no curses. What looks bitter in our eyes is in truth sweet in its source. To the Alter Rebbe, Torah was transparent; he could see the Torah as G-d sees it, where everything is good, everything is love.

This idea is reinforced in the text of the Tochacha itself. After listing terrible punishments, the Torah explains their cause: “Because you did not serve G-d with joy.” It is not the absence of service alone that brings darkness, but the absence of joy. Joy is not a side note to Jewish life—it is the lifeblood. Sadness closes the heart, distances us from others, and even from G-d. But joy opens doors, transforms relationships, and draws down blessings.

A Chossid once met a Jew just before Rosh Hashanah. The man looked anxious, almost broken. “Why so stern?” the Chossid asked. “How can I not be?” the Jew replied. “In a few days is the Day of Judgment. I tremble to think what the verdict may be.” The Chossid laughed with radiant confidence: “True, it is the Day of Judgment — but the Judge is my Father! Before I even step into the courtroom, I know the case is already won.”

This is the difference joy makes. When we approach G-d as our Father, confidence replaces fear, and curses dissolve into blessings.

How do we reach this joy? Chai Elul — the 18th of Elul — gives us the answer. On this day, two great luminaries were born: the Baal Shem Tov in 1698, and the Alter Rebbe in 1745. Together, they gave us the tools to live in joy.

The Baal Shem Tov showed us that every Jew, no matter his knowledge or standing, has an unbreakable bond with G-d. That bond is cause for boundless ecstasy. His path was fiery, simple, and direct: cry out to your Father, sing, dance, rejoice, for you are His child.

The Alter Rebbe gave us the keys to reach that ecstasy. Through the teachings of Chabad — Chochmah, Binah, Daas — he taught us how to contemplate and internalize this closeness until it burns in the heart as living joy. To know with clarity that G-d is your Father, that He is always with you, that you are never alone — this transforms even life’s struggles. A disappointing meal, a financial setback, an illness: they cannot shake you, because your happiness rests not on fleeting comforts, but on the eternal embrace of your Father.

Everyone finds pleasure differently. Some delight in food, some in music, some in intellect. But food is fleeting, music lifts the spirit, and intellect reaches the human essence. The Alter Rebbe taught that when one internalizes that G-d is his Father and constant companion, material frustrations lose their sting. Even when circumstances are hard, one can remain joyful, because his happiness rests not on external comforts but on unshakable closeness with G-d.

This is why Chai Elul is called the day that gives “life” to the month of Elul. The Baal Shem Tov and the Alter Rebbe infused our preparation for the High Holidays with vitality. Their teachings help us stand before G-d not in fear alone, but with confidence, joy, and love.

History shows how essential this joy is. In 1897, on the 15th of Elul, the Rebbe Rashab founded the Tomchei Tmimim Yeshiva, where students called Tmimim, were trained not only in Talmud, but also in Chassidus. He foresaw the challenges Jews would face under communism and raised a generation of spiritual “elite forces,” equipped with strength and joy to withstand persecution. Rav Yaacov Klemes once illustrated this point when he told a Tomim in Moscow, threatened with execution if he would not work on Shabbos: “You are one of the elite forces. For you, there is no possibility of bending. You must guard the Shabbos with all you’ve got.” That is the power of joy and responsibility. It transforms ordinary Jews into spiritual warriors, into foot soldiers of Moshiach.

The lesson is timeless. Joy is not a luxury, nor is it naïve optimism. It is a weapon, a shield, a source of endurance. Depression says, “Leave me alone.” Joy says, “Let’s dance—even with an enemy.” Depression closes the door on G-d’s embrace; joy opens it wide. In joy, blessings flow.

And what happens when we serve with joy? The Torah itself tells us. Balaam, the wicked prophet, tried to curse the Jewish people, pointing out their sins to justify punishment. And G-d declared: “I will not listen.” He did not deny the sins. He simply refused to pay attention. “I know the concealment I Myself created makes it hard for you to feel Me,” G-d says. “Your sins are not your essence. I see your yearning. I see your desire to come close. I will transform your failings into Mitzvos, your curses into blessings.”

This is Teshuvah in its highest form. This is the power of joy. It breaks through concealment, flips darkness into light, and transforms exile into redemption.

And more: let us remember that these days are not only preparation for another year — they are preparation for eternity. The Rebbe taught us that the joy of serving G-d with all our heart, even in exile, is what will finally tip the scales and bring the Geulah. The Baal Shem Tov revealed, the Alter Rebbe explained, the Rebbe Rashab armed us, and our Rebbe charged us: we are the generation that will greet Moshiach.

And so, as the Alter Rebbe read the Tochacha, his son, the Miteler Rebbe, understood that when the Father reads, there are no curses. And we too, by serving G-d with joy, can rise above fear, transform our struggles, and prepare for Rosh Hashanah with confidence that the Judge is our Father, who is ready to bless us with a sweet new year.

When Father reads, one hears no curses. When we serve with joy, there are no curses — only blessings, overflowing.

Have a Blessed Joyful Shabbos,
Gut Shabbos

Rabbi Yosef Katzman