ארור האיש אשר יעשה פסל וגו, “cursed be the man who will construct a cast image, etc.” In the Talmud in tractate Sotah folio 37 the question is raised since when does making an idol only carry a curse as a penalty, and nothing harsher? The answer given here that the “man” mentioned here is a man who had incestuous relations which resulted in a son being born for him, who then left the fold and served the idols of whichever religion he adopted. The Torah curses the father and mother of such a son who are directly responsible for their son having left the fold as a result of their committing incest. Rashi explains that we face a list of eleven sins the punishment for which is introduced with the word: “cursed be;” they correspond to the eleven sons of Yaakov who had received his blessing. Shimon had not received such a blessing, and it was not Moses’ intention to bless that tribe in the manner in which he blessed all the other tribes. [Our editions of Rashi do not have this commentary on this verse, so I will not dwell on it further. Ed.] If you were to ask what makes the eleven sins subject to a curse for the sinner different from violating any of the other of G–d’s commandments, one answer may be that all these commandments when violated are known only to the sinner and the Creator. No human being can take the sinner to court for something he had not witnessed and warned the offender not to commit. [some of the eleven, of course, were committed by consent with one’s partner in sin, so that they too could not be brought to court. Ed.] According to a statement in the midrash שוחר טוב, the person subject to these curses is the one who had studied the laws in question, had taught them observed them personally, and had been in a position to protest these sins from being committed, but had failed to make use of his ability to prevent these sins from being committed. This is why at the end of the paragraph, the Torah concludes with cursing people who had been in a position to see to it that others keep the ordinances of the Torah, and had failed to make his weight felt. On the other hand, if someone had not learned the laws, had not taught them, had not observed them, say because he had sat in jail and could not do this, but had seized an opportunity to protest other people violating Torah laws, and had done so, he is included in all the people that Moses describes as being blessed for “keeping the Torah laws,” as he had demonstrated that only his physical inability to perform many of them had stopped him from doing so.