Kee Tavo: Nobody's Perfect Except in Attitude

We find ourselves in a part of the Torah that bears an enormous number of mitzvot (which we most commonly translate as “commandments”) … 41 contained in the portion of Shoftim, 74 found in last weeks portion of Kee Tetze, and a relatively light load of 6 in this week's sedra. It is evident that Moses is eager to fit in as much duty and practice to his retrospective as he has anecdote and narrative.

On the heels of all these rules, there is an interesting inflection, nestled within the tithe declaration of the farmer (which is scheduled for every third year, when landholders have removed the necessary tax  and have duly passed it on to the Levites and to the poor):

… you shall declare before the Lord your God:  “I have cleared out the consecrated portion from the house; and I have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, just as You commanded me; I have neither transgressed nor neglected any of Your commandments.”                  -  Deuteronomy 26:13

Why would the Torah pick this specific context for professing total compliance with the mitzvah system?

Moreover, what if the farmer's record is not perfect, and he has some omissions within his loyalty to God?  … Does this exclude him from performing this important statement?

Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter, the 19th-century Hasidic rabbi who produced a popular commentary on the Torah known as Sefat Emet, comments:  I have not performed any of these mitzvot mindlessly, perfunctorily, without feeling.

It is apparent from Reb Yehuda's re-framing of the declaration that none of us is expected to be flawless in our record of action:  we are human beings and thus vulnerable to being overwhelmed by the enormity of the convenant's expectations.  So, quite often, we do not get to all of the items on the list.  The question is:  How did we behave when we acted on our obligations?

There is a vast gulf between perfection of deeds and perfection of attitude.  Granted, there are a few of us who can complete the list of tasks in any given cycle, thanks to discipline, motivation, and lots of energy.  For the rest of us, however, we must see beyond the challenge of getting everything done to getting everything we do with a perfect heart.  Our style, our presentation, our body language are the ways in which God levels high expectations.  And when we fall short qualitatively, we are reminded of our human accountability to raise the level of our attitudes.