This week's parshah is a very strange one, illustrating some of the things that had to be done in order to organize the Bible the way whoever instituted the divisions wanted it. See, in order to have enough parashot (plural) for an entire year that were (roughly) the same length, with a few double parashot thrown in, the dividers of the Bible have some very arbitrary divisions. This week's parshah appears to make no sense. I'll remind you that last week we saw in Behar the ideas of the jubilee, which was a really beautiful idea (even if it never really happened, which is debatable). This week's parshah requires some careful explication before we get into the Message.
Reminder: I refer to G-d liberally as masculine because that is the usage I am most comfortable with. Feel free to substitute in your mind whatever form of address you are most comfortable with for your worship principal.
So, let's continue....
Bechukotai ("in my statutes") refers to the opening phrase of the parshah, where G-d says "If you follow in my statutes," understood to mean "If only you would follow..." as in, G-d is begging us to accept the good things He wants to give us in return for being a holy people. Take that for what you will.
These are earthly blessings, which are to be distinguished from the blessings of the World-to-Come (Olam Ha-ba), which cannot be successfully explicated by men (Kabbalists try, but that stuff can blow your mind). Among the earthly blessings are plenty ("Your threshing shall reach to the vintage, and the vintage shall reach to the sowing time; and you shall eat your bread to the full"), peace ("I will give peace in the land; and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. I will remove evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword pass through your land"), strength ("Five of you shall pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight"), family ("I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and establish My covenant with you"), and freedom ("I am the L-rd your G-d who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from being their slaves; I have broken the bars of your yoke, and made you walk upright"). Pretty cool stuff, if you ask me.
But wait! If we don't obey G-d, what will happen to us? After all, he's just explained the good stuff for following his commandments, surely there's a flip side to this bargain? Right?
Right. And it's ugly. The "tochachah" (rebuke) explains that we are treading WAY off the path when these things happen:
- "I will appoint over you terror, consumption and fever, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart." Hmmm...sound familiar?
- "You shall be slain before your enemies; they that hate you shall reign over you and you shall flee when none pursues you." Doesn't it suck when the Bible says your son dying is YOUR fault, Dr. Dobson? I'm not accusing you at all, sir - G-d is. (DISCLAIMER: that comment is SARCASM. I would NEVER suggest that I know what G-d is saing and thinking better than anyone.)
- "I will make your skies like iron, and your earth like brass." Wow, this is rough. Maybe we're not there yet, but then again, maybe we are. I'm certainly not going to call the USAF "iron skies."
- "I shall lay desolate your holy places." This is, to me, the only possible Biblical justification for Rev. Falwell's comments about how our romping gay butt sex had led G-d to cause 9/11. It's bunk, by the way, since the "holy places" that were destroyed were temples to what? Money and War. If Falwell were right, shouldn't the airliners have crashed into, I dunno, West Hollywood and Greenwich Village? Discuss.
Good news, though, there's hope. After all, G-d says, right after THIRTY VERSES explicating ALL the disasters that will come after us if we "walk casually with G-d" (His words, not mine), He says, "I will remember My covenant with Jacob," and so He won't forget any of us. His use of "Jacob" rather than "Israel" has to be significant - it refers to the people who aren't Children of Israel as well - before there WERE Children of Israel - when it was just b'nai Noach (Children of Noah) - and that's all of us.
The rest of the parshah isn't important to my thinking. It talks about a lot of other regulations that only impact people living "in the shadow of the Temple" - which is no one, since the Temple isn't standing (stupid Romans!).
So, Today's Message, which is the thing I want you to take home (take it all home; I don't do this for my health, but Today's Message is especially important), is that we will never be abandoned. No matter how cruel or wicked we are, no matter how far we stray from the path G-d wants us to tread, no matter how many people who turn away from us, no matter how despicable we truly become, there will always be one friend we can always count on, and that is G-d. Hopefully that is some small comfort to the depraved interrogators of Gitmo and the remorseless architects of war. The especially good news is that if G-d will watch over even those, surely us, with our lesser sins, can count on Him. So to our friends, loves, and children fighting (and, G-d willing, NOT dying) around the world, remember: when you are staring Death in the face, no matter what that may look like, G-d is staring it down with you. And when you are forced to be the face of Death, G-d is with you then, too.
For the rest of you, G-d rides in your cars, watches you in bed (He's kinky like that), sits in your office, and follows you about your day. Maybe that knowledge will help you do the right thing when you're faced with that next difficult decision. May you have a shabbat shalom (peaceful shabbas), a shavua tov (a good week), and a peaceful and happy Memorial Day weekend.
Y'varachecha Adonai yish'marecha. Yeesah Adonai pay'lav aylecha cheemunekah. Y'air Adonai paylav aylecha, v'y'semlecha shalom. (May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord be kind unto you and make His face to shine upon you. May the Lord be gracious unto you, and grant you peace.)