SPONSORED BY CANTOR ALAN SOKOLOFF AND YITZHAK SOKOLOFF FOR THE YAHRTZEIT OF OUR FATHER HYMAN SOKOLOFF Z”L

In Parshat Ki Tavo, Devarim 28:6 the blessing states: “Blessed shall you be when you come in and blessed shall you be when you go out”.

Nechama Leibowitz asks if the order should be reversed. In Tehillim 121:8 it says: “The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth and for evermore.” Usually people leave their home and then come back.

Rabbi Amselm Astruc in Midreshei HaTorah explains:

Moshe was blessing the people with regard to their entry into the Promised Land, assuring them of the guidance of Divine Providence, and that they would be blessed in their coming into the Land. They would also be blessed in their going out- even when they sinned and forfeited the Land for their sin, they would not be forsaken by providence but he chastised as a father his son, for their own good. God would save them from destruction even in exile and not break His covenant with them. This was the idea also embodied in the words (Vayikra 26:44) “And yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, neither will I abhor them…”

As tourists, visitors and students from around the world enter the Land of Israel during the Hebrew month of Elul, we bless them with a successful trip (Blessed shall you be when you come in). When they return home to their families we will wish them success (Blessed shall you be when you go out) and we hope and pray to see them back again soon in our true home, Yerushalayim.