The Curse of Fame (Ki Tavo #1)

For the Jewish people, fame is a curse. It sounds like a cliché, but let’s ignore the usual speculation about how difficult it is to be a celebrity. This isn’t just about the status of those who have succeeded in the arts or politics. Fame is a curse, not for an individual necessarily, but for our people as a whole. The proof is in the Torah: “And you will become an astonishment, an example, and a topic of discussion among all the peoples to whom the Lord will lead you” (Devarim 28:37).

Taken out of context, this might sound like a positive thing. The famous Jewish businessman who went from rags to riches is a success story, isn’t he? That depends on what he does with his success. One could look at the quintessential Jewish success story, Mayer Amshel Rothschild. He not only built an international banking empire, but he and his sons were well-known for their generosity and involvement in the community. Some of the Rothschild descendants made their own marks in the history of the Jewish people through their philanthropy, their political activism, and even their piety. They took their wealth and their name and they used it for good. Alas, as time passed, the power and fame of the family drew some away from the traditions of their people and Rothschilds married into other wealthy but non-Jewish families.

The Rothschilds, however, are an excellent example of how fame may be positive for an individual, even for a family, but less so, in the long term, for our nation as a whole. Among the enemies of our people, the ones keen to spread insidious lies, Rothschild is a code name for Jews running the world and for a cabal of financiers undermining nations.

Put into context, Devarim 28:37 is part of a larger structure:

The Lord will drive you, and the king you have set over you, to a nation unknown to you or your fathers, where you shall serve other gods, of wood and stone. And you will become an astonishment, an example, and a topic of discussion among all the peoples to whom the Lord will lead you. Though you take much seed out to the field, you shall gather in little, for the locust shall consume it. Though you plant vineyards and till them, you shall have no wine to drink or store, for the worm shall devour them. Though you have olive trees throughout your territory, you shall have no oil for anointment, for your olives shall drop off. Though you beget sons and daughters, they shall not remain with you, for they shall go into captivity (36-37).  

All of this is after the Promised Land has failed us because we failed our promise. This is a section of the parsha that begins at 28:15: “But if you do not obey the Lord your God to observe faithfully all His commandments and laws which I enjoin upon you this day, all these curses shall come upon you and take effect.” First the ruination of dwelling in the Promised Land, then exile and persecution.

Devarim 28:37 on its own could mean several things…all of which have been true. It could mean that the Jewish people became the parable of what happens to people who go astray. Christian leaders throughout the ages have often used this either to uplift their congregants by promising that they will not suffer the same fate, to validate Christianity’s cancellation of the Old Testament, or simply to disparage the Jews. It could be a connected to the fact that many people who have never met a Jew will still have heard of the Jewish people or at least some version of “the Hebrews.” This verse could also be read as a warning not to take fame and notability as a good thing, for such a spotlight on our people is one step in a series of consequences that are really a tragedy for our future, as it says in verse 41: “Though you beget sons and daughters, they shall not remain with you for they shall go into captivity.”

Is this relevant for us today? Afterall, we are already living in gulus (exile).

It is wonderful that Jews have found so many ways to be successful. There are prominent Jewish names in a wide variety of fields and one often hears listings of names of Jews who have received the noble pride….but maybe that prominence isn’t such a good thing. Maybe we need to put our people ahead of our personal ambitions and not be the spokesman on every political forefront (right or left) or the face of the financial world or the promoters of a culture of hedonism or even the leaders of the social activist world.

Maybe we should heed the warnings of the curse and remember that this is not our land and, inevitably, these are not our people – that it is very much within the path of the Torah for our actions to become a topic of discussion.