Session 36: Parashat Ki Tavo

"Citizenship in a Republic," (better known as "Man in the Arena"), Theodore Roosevelt, 1910

Ki Tavo instructs the Israelites in the initial phase of establishing a society: erecting public displays of faith and commitment, constructing an altar, appointing places of gathering, undertaking public rituals of affirmation, and declaring the standards of the new society. In other words, Ki Tavo is concerned with the early work of building a healthy citizenry, bound together in shared belonging and obligation. In his 1910 speech at the Sorbonne in Paris, President Theodore Roosevelt addressed obligation and belonging as they relate to citizenship in a democracy.

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