Shabbat
Each week we feature a different outstanding Florida Rabbi.
Bechukotai
Rabbi Alex Lilienthal
Congregation Kol Tikvah
Coral Springs
The portion we read this week is the concluding one of the Book of Leviticus. We will have ended the long chapters of laws concerning mostly sacrifices and other offerings being brought before God by Israelites both in the desert and later on at the Temple in Jerusalem.
Although ritual is the prevailing matter in the third book of the Torah, there are also other sections like the famous one in Chapter 19 which very much resembles the Ten Commandments about which we read in Exodus and will encounter their second rendition in Deuteronomy.
Leviticus concludes with an epilogue which has two distinct parts. The second one (chapter 27) deals with sources of funding for the Sanctuary, not a minor subject for sure. However, our attention is drawn by the content of chapter 26. Just like we will read again towards the end of Deuteronomy in Parashat Ki Tavo, Bechukotai presents us with long considerations about the benefits and consequences of following or ignoring God's laws. After all, it is laws that Leviticus is all about.
"If you follow My laws and faithfully observe my commandments, I will grant your rains in their season, so that the earth shall yield its produce and the trees of the field its produce." ( 26:3)
We also read that should one follow the opposite conduct the consequence will be:
I will wreak misery upon you- consumption and fever, which cause the eyes to pine and the body to languish; you shall sow your seed to no purpose, for your enemies shall eat it. (26:16)
The actions and their potential consequences are clearly laid out. You do this, this will happen. You do that, that will happen. This particular theology is also present in one of the sections of the Shema Israel, and I would say, it is also present more or less intensely in our minds.
When we analyze these premises on a conscious level we suddenly realize that to the best of our knowledge, the world doesn't work quite like that. We all know plenty of cases where reward hasn't arrived yet or others where punishment is delayed as well.
How do we make sense out of this? Some commentators suggest that what we read in Bechukotai is meant for the People of Israel as a whole. Possibly. After all the statements I quoted above are made in the plural. It could very well be addressing the nation as a whole. And then again, have all righteous nations been rewarded, have all sinful nations been punished?
The problems persist. There is however a bright side. In this statement at the end of Leviticus ( like in all the other ones I mentioned) we find the notion of stability and predictability. Actions may count, and the responsibility for our actions is ultimately ours, and the parameter against which our actions are judged is not going to change. The Judge of truth and morality will always have a single yardstick. He won't change his mind as we read about the gods of other cultures. So, we shall always know which is the way to follow. It has after all been clearly stated in the Torah. As we read later on in Deuteronomy (30:11-14):
Surely, this Instruction which I enjoin upon you this day, is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach. It is not in the heavens, that you should say, "Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?" Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, "Who among us can cross to the other side of the sea and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?" No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to observe it.