This week, we read Behar and Bechukotai, the last two portions in the book of Vayikra.
The second portion Bechukotai rests its fame on the תוכחה – the Tochacha. (No English word adequately captures the meaning of Tochacha, but its meaning will become clear as we go along.) The Tochacha comprises 49 curses to be unleashed upon the Jewish people in stages, from lighter to more and more severe, if they ignore the Torah’s laws and do as they please. In an effort to bring the sinners back to Torah observance, the Tochacha warns them of what will befall them if they continue their backsliding ways. The curses are horrific and designed to teach us that it doesn’t pay to leave Hashem and His Torah.
In shul on Shabbat, the Torah reader reads these verses in a quiet voice (though still audible) and quicker than usual, so as to avoid dwelling on these horrifying details. The aliya in which the Tochacha appears always goes to the Torah reader himself so that no one feels that he was chosen so that the curses should come upon him.
After promising the Jewish people every possible blessing for keeping the laws of the Torah meticulously, viz, that (i) the rains will fall in their proper times, (ii) the land will yield its produce and the trees will give their fruits, (iii) the threshing will last until the vintage and the vintage will last until the sowing, (iv) we will eat our bread until we are satisfied, (v) we will have peace and security in our land, (vi) no one will frighten us and no wild beasts will enter the land, (vii) no sword will even pass through our land, (viii) we will pursue our enemies and they will fall by our swords, (ix) we will be fruitful and multiply, (x) we will eat aged grain, and (xi) the old crops will be removed to make way for the new crops, the Torah says (Leviticus 26:15,16):
(טו) וְאִם בְּחֻקֹּתַי תִּמְאָסוּ וְאִם אֶת מִשְׁפָּטַי תִּגְעַל נַפְשְׁכֶם לְבִלְתִּי עֲשׂוֹת אֶת כָּל מִצְוֹתַי לְהַפְרְכֶם אֶת בְּרִיתִי.
(טז) אַף אֲנִי אֶעֱשֶׂה זֹּאת לָכֶם וְהִפְקַדְתִּי עֲלֵיכֶם בֶּהָלָה אֶת הַשַּׁחֶפֶת וְאֶת הַקַּדַּחַת מְכַלּוֹת עֵינַיִם וּמְדִיבֹת נָפֶשׁ וּזְרַעְתֶּם לָרִיק זַרְעֲכֶם וַאֲכָלֻהוּ אֹיְבֵיכֶם
15) If you consider My decrees loathsome, and if your being rejects My ordinances, so as not to perform all My commandments, so that you annul My covenant – 16) then I will do the same to you; I will assign upon you panic, swelling lesions, and burning fever, which cause eyes to long and souls to suffer; you will sow your seeds in vain, for your enemies will eat it.
This is just the beginning. Virtually every one of the promised blessings will be reversed and the opposite will befall the Jewish people. Although it sounds like Hashem is punishing us for abandoning His Torah and commandments, just the opposite is the case. He is merely trying to wake us up and bring us back to Him. (What we today call “incentivizing.”) We are expected to see how, when we followed His commandments, all was perfect, and how the opposite came true when we abandoned them.
In the course of the 32 verses comprising the tochacha, one concept comes up several times.
(כא) וְאִם תֵּלְכוּ עִמִּי קֶרִי וְלֹא תֹאבוּ לִשְׁמֹעַ לִי וְיָסַפְתִּי עֲלֵיכֶם מַכָּה שֶׁבַע כְּחַטֹּאתֵיכֶם
21) If you behave casually with Me and refuse to heed Me, then I shall lay a further blow upon you – (and punish you in) seven ways, like your sins.
Artscroll® translates the word קרי (keri) to mean casually (All scriptural translations in these booklets come from Artscroll®).
Rashi explains more deeply what this means.
(כא) ואם תלכו עמי קרי – רבותינו אמרו עראי, במקרה, שאינו אלא לפרקים
Our Sages said, “If you treat Me like a temporary acquaintance or as an accidental meeting; someone that people pay attention to only from time to time.
The Sages derive this meaning from a primary difference in the way that Hashem described His appearances to Moshe versus the way Hashem described His appearance to the gentile prophet Bilaam.
“And He called” to Moshe וַיִּקְרָא אֶל משֶׁה
“And He happened” upon Bilam וַיִּקָּר אֱלֹהִים אֶל בִּלְעָם
On the words “And He (Hashem) called to Moshe,” Rashi comments:
(א) ויקרא אל משה – לכל דברות ולכל אמירות ולכל צוויים קדמה קריאה לשון חבה (יומא ד’ ויקרא ר’) לשון שמלאכי השרת משתמשים בו שנא’ (ישעיה ו) וקרא זה אל זה אבל לנביאי האומות עכו”ם נגלה עליהן בלשון עראי וטומאה שנא’ ויקר אלהים אל בלעם
Every time that Hashem spoke to Moshe, He preceded His remarks with an endearing call to Moshe… to the gentile prophets, however, Hashem appeared in a temporary and lowly way.
When you have an important matter to discuss with someone, you phone him to make an appointment to speak with him; you don’t wait until you randomly run into him in the supermarket. And, even if you did run into him, you would not discuss an important matter with him while standing in the checkout line.
Hashem’s communications with Bilaam were like a chance-encounter at the supermarket. No respect or importance was given him.
This defines treating Hashem with קרי. Instead of treating Hashem as the most important thing in the world to us, deserving our undivided attention, as He is the source of everything we have, we treat Him as a casual acquaintance that we run into from time to time. Our connection to Him is spotty at best.
Hashem will not tolerate this kind of treatment. He has created us to have a close relationship with Him. If we choose to ignore Him, He will make sure that we see Him via the horrific things that will begin to happen to us. And if we pursue our folly by continuing to think that these events are also just part of a natural course of events, Hashem will intensify His efforts to capture our attention by making things even worse. Three consecutive times Hashem says to us, “And if you continue to treat me בקרי …” and after each one comes a promise for more terrible consequences.
We may wonder: Why is this the case? Why does Hashem need our attention so desperately that if we don’t provide Him with our undivided attention He will do everything to make sure that we give it to Him?
The answer, simply, is that we can give nothing to Hashem, and He has no need for our attention. Hashem wants our attention solely so that He may bestow reward upon us when we leave this world and enter the World to Come. That is the purpose for which He created us, and if we have frivolously wasted our time pursuing this world’s fleeting pleasures instead of the eternal mitzvot that we can enjoy in the World to Come, Hashem is disappointed (so to speak) that He cannot reward us with the sublime pleasure that He created us to receive. Therefore, for our benefit, He wants us to recognize Him and perform His mitzvot so that we are worthy of receiving His sublime reward to us.
This is the challenge of every Jew in our generation: to see Hashem’s controlling hand in all of our personal affairs and in the workings of the world at large. This task is especially difficult in a world that seeks to deny the existence of a Supreme Being Who controls the world.
What tools do we have that can bring us to complete אמונה (trust in Hashem), so that we do not treat Him casually?
One formidable tool, accessible to all of us, is the Torah! If we carefully and deeply think about the Torah, it will securely plan an unshakeable אמונה – trust in Hashem in our hearts.
This week’s first portion, Behar (Leviticus 25:1), teaches us:
ב) דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם כִּי תָבֹאוּ אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי נֹתֵן לָכֶם וְשָׁבְתָה הָאָרֶץ שַׁבָּת לַידֹוָד
ג) שֵׁשׁ שָׁנִים תִּזְרַע שָׂדֶךָ וְשֵׁשׁ שָׁנִים תִּזְמֹר כַּרְמֶךָ וְאָסַפְתָּ אֶת תְּבוּאָתָהּ
ד) וּבַשָּׁנָה הַשְּׁבִיעִת שַׁבַּת שַׁבָּתוֹן יִהְיֶה לָאָרֶץ שַׁבָּת לַידֹוָד שָׂדְךָ לֹא תִזְרָע וְכַרְמְךָ לֹא תִזְמֹר
2) Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them, “When you come to the land that I am giving you, the land shall rest a Sabbath to Hashem. 3) You may sow your field for six years and for six years you may prune your vineyard and gather its produce. 4) But in the seventh year, the land shall have a complete rest, a sabbath to Hashem: you shall not sow your field; you shall not prune your vineyard.”
For the entire seventh year we must leave the field fallow and eat only what grows wild. We may not plant or harvest and store what grows; we may take only what we need, leaving the rest for anyone to take.
This seems like an impossible commandment to fulfill. If the whole land of Israel had to observe the Shemitah year, what would they eat during the seventh and eighth years until the new crop came in? Maybe nowadays, with refrigeration, we could get away with it; but back then they were an agricultural society, dependent on the yearly harvest for their sustenance. Were they expected to starve during the seventh and eighth years until the new crop came in?
The Torah anticipates this question and provides the answer (Verse 20):
כ) וְכִי תֹאמְרוּ מַה נֹּאכַל בַּשָּׁנָה הַשְּׁבִיעִת הֵן לֹא נִזְרָע וְלֹא נֶאֱסֹף אֶת תְּבוּאָתֵנוּ
כא) וְצִוִּיתִי אֶת בִּרְכָתִי לָכֶם בַּשָּׁנָה הַשִּׁשִּׁית וְעָשָׂת אֶת הַתְּבוּאָה לִשְׁלשׁ הַשָּׁנִים
כב) וּזְרַעְתֶּם אֵת הַשָּׁנָה הַשְּׁמִינִת וַאֲכַלְתֶּם מִן הַתְּבוּאָה יָשָׁן עַד הַשָּׁנָה הַתְּשִׁיעִת עַד בּוֹא תְּבוּאָתָהּ תֹּאכְלוּ יָשָׁן
20) And if you should say, “What will we eat in the seventh year? We will not sow, and we will not harvest our produce!”
Hashem answers: (21) Know then that I will command My blessing for you in the sixth year and it will yield produce for three years. (22) And you will sow in the eighth year while still eating from the old crops until the ninth year; until the arrival of its crop you will eat the old crop.”
The Torah promises us that the land would provide enough food during the sixth year to last for the next three years. Before the Shemitah year began, the storage houses would be stocked with enough food to last for the next three years.
This promise seems preposterous! Generally speaking, a farmer plants a tract of land every other year. Because the crop depletes the soil’s nutrients, the farmer must give it a year to recoup its nutrients. By alternating parcels, the farmer can harvest his crop each year. Here, the Torah states that the farmer will plant his field for six consecutive years, and then, in the sixth year, when the field should be completely sapped of all of its nutrients, it will produce three times what it produced in the six previous years. This sounds impossible! Yet this is what the Torah promises the farmer that if he keeps the Shemitah year!
Were the Torah written by a person, would he be so foolhardy as to give a law offering a promise that he canot fulfill? After the first Shemitah, when the promise was not fulfilled, he (and his “Torah”) would lose all credibility. Instead, he more smartly would have commanded them to divide the land into seven parts, giving each piece a Shemitah every seven years, thus allowing the other six parts to provide food for the section observing the Shemitah year.
This proves that only Hashem who can fulfill the promise because He controls the weather, the soil, and the crops, wrote the Torah.
For many years this promise was fulfilled, and the Jewish people observed many seven-year Shemitah cycles before they went into exile, each with the sixth year providing enough crops to get them through until the eighth year’s harvest. Historical records corroborate that the Jewish people observed this mitzvah. Both Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar canceled taxes that otherwise would have been levied on Jews in the Shemitah year, their overseers noting that the people did not work the fields. So as to allow access to all to the crops that grew wild, fences were removed during the Shemitah year, again in keeping with the Torah observance. The Roman historian Tacitus wrote that Shemitah observance (that is, not working the land for an entire year) proved that the Jewish people were lazy and in rebellion against their Roman rulers. So ingrained was this cyclical observance that it was a natural part of Jewish life in the land of Israel.
The Torah contains another mitzvah where Hashem puts Himself on the line and makes a promise that only He could fulfill. This is the mitzvah of עליה לרגל that every able-bodied man who owns property in Israel must travel to Jerusalem on each of the three festivals, Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot, to visit the Holy Temple with a sacrifice.
This is what the Torah says (Exodus 23:17):
יז) שָׁלשׁ פְּעָמִים בַּשָּׁנָה יֵרָאֶה כָּל זְכוּרְךָ אֶל פְּנֵי הָאָדֹן יְדֹוָד
17) Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Master, Hashem.
While this sounds great for the men who would have the ultimate spiritual experience at the Holy Temple, at the same time it seems very reckless to leave all the women and children at home alone to face the surrounding hostile nations who are just waiting for the men to abandon their families and go to Jerusalem. Thrice yearly, our enemies would have the opportunity to walk into the Land of Israel and take it over, all the able-bodied men then being far away in in Jerusalem. What was the giver of this commandment thinking? Didn’t he stop to consider the possible consequences of such a commandment?
Of course He did! The Torah informs us (Exodus 34:24):
כד) כִּי אוֹרִישׁ גּוֹיִם מִפָּנֶיךָ וְהִרְחַבְתִּי אֶת גְּבֻלֶךָ וְלֹא יַחְמֹד אִישׁ אֶת אַרְצְךָ בַּעֲלֹתְךָ לֵרָאוֹת אֶת פְּנֵי יְדֹוָד אֱלֹהֶיךָ שָׁלשׁ פְּעָמִים בַּשָּׁנָה
No one will covet your land when you go up to appear before Hashem (in the Holy Temple) three times a year.
Once again, Hashem has promised that He will protect all the women and children left at home, and the land, from the enemies. No one will covet your land, and your enemies will not take advantage of your vulnerability and attack on the festivals. What sane human being would make such an audacious promise that he has no ability to fulfill? In fact, this promise was repeatedly kept, as the Jewish people repeatedly made the thrice yearly pilgrimage to the Holy Temple. With the knowledge that Hashem was protecting their families, the men left home with complete calm and security.
A third source that shows Hashem wrote the Torah comes from Bechukotai. In the midst of the Tochacha, the Torah (Leviticus 26:32-33) tells us.
:
(לב) וַהֲשִׁמֹּתִי אֲנִי אֶת הָאָרֶץ וְשָׁמֲמוּ עָלֶיהָ אֹיְבֵיכֶם הַיּשְׁבִים בָּהּ:
(לג) וְאֶתְכֶם אֱזָרֶה בַגּוֹיִם וַהֲרִיקֹתִי אַחֲרֵיכֶם חָרֶב וְהָיְתָה אַרְצְכֶם שְׁמָמָה וְעָרֵיכֶם יִהְיוּ חָרְבָּה:
32. I will make the land desolate; and your foes who dwell upon it will be desolate:
33. And you, I will scatter among the nations, I will unsheathe the sword after you; your land will be desolate, and your cities will be a ruin:
Nachmanides writes:
היא בשורה טובה מבשרת בכל הגליות שאין ארצנו מקבלת את אויבינו,
These curses carry a hidden blessing. Although the Jewish people will be exiled from their land (Israel), while they are in exile no other nation will establish themselves there. The land will not respond to their efforts to cultivate it, and it will remain barren until the Jewish people return to it. History has shown this to be true.
Professor Sir John Williams (1888)
Until today no people have succeeded in becoming settled as a nation in Palestine. No national entity or national spirit has acquired a foothold there. That mixed multitude of sparse tribes that dwell there hold onto the land only as sharecroppers, temporary owners, and it appears as if they are awaiting those with the right to permanent ownership of the land to return.
Mark Twain – The Innocents Abroad (1867)
Arrived at an elevation of 1200 feet above the lake (the sea of Galilee). As bald and un-thrilling a panorama as any land can afford, perhaps, was spread out before us. A desolation is here that not even imagination can grace with the pomp of life and action… We never saw a human being on the whole route… Hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.
Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes. Over it broods the spell of a curse that has withered its fields and fettered its energies.
Here is what Wikipedia writes about Israel since the Jews have returned.
Agriculture in Israel is a highly developed industry: Israel is a major exporter of fresh produce and a world-leader in agricultural technologies despite the fact that the geography of Israel is not naturally conducive to agriculture. More than half of the land area is desert, and the climate and lack of water resources do not favor farming. Only 20% of the land area is naturally arable. In 2008 agriculture represented 2.5% of total GDP and 3.6% of exports. While farmworkers made up only 3.7% of the work force, Israel produced 95% of its own food requirements, supplementing this with imports of grain, oilseeds, meat, coffee, cocoa and sugar.
Many more proofs establish that the Torah that we have was given to Moshe from Hashem, but these will suffice. Knowing that we have the truth, however, allows us to put all our trust in Hashem and to dedicate ourselves to learning the Torah and performing His mitzvot.
The Talmud (Sanhedrin 98a) says:
רבי אליעזר ואמר רבי אבא אין לך קץ מגולה מזה שנאמר ואתם הרי ישראל ענפכם תתנו ופריכם תשאו לעמי ישראל וגו
רש”י
מגולה מזה – כשתתן ארץ ישראל פריה בעין יפה אז יקרב הקץ, ואין לך קץ מגולה יותר
Rashi explains: Rabbi Eliezer, and some say it was Rebbe Abba, said. “When the Land of Israel will give forth its fruits in abundance, then the end (redemption) is near.” There isn’t a more absolute indication than this.
For almost 2000 years, Israel was a barren piece of land whose inhabitants could not tease out of it a single piece of fruit. But as soon as the Jewish people returned to it, it began producing of the most desirable fruits in the world. This is what Hashem told us in the Torah. The Land of Israel will not give its bounty to anyone but the Jewish people, her rightful owner. Although it all looks natural, it is clear to see that Hashem has fulfilled the promise He made in the Torah.
Not only that, but the Talmud written over 1500 years ago told us, that this is the single most reliable sign that the Mashiach is close. The purpose of all this is to wake us up and show us that the Torah is true and it is time to give Hashem our complete attention instead of the spotty attention we may have been giving Him until now. We can do this by taking the mitzvot more seriously and by doing them more consistently. This will be a clear indication to Hashem that we recognize Him as the Master and Controller of the world. When this catches on, and more and more people become enlightened, and the reality of Hashem becomes greater and greater, the world will finally be prepared to welcome the Mashiach! May we all merit to see that great day.
