Parashat Behar-Bechukkotai

by Rabbi Kathleen de Magtige-Middleton

Summary
This week we come to the end of the Book Leviticus with the double portion of Behar-Bechukotai. The portion Behar introduces the two interlinked concepts of the Sabbatical year and the jubilee year. The concept of the sabbatical year commands the owner of land to leave his field fallow for one year out of a seven year cycle. The people are furthermore commanded to count off seven of such seven year cycles, and to consecrate the fiftieth year as a jubilee. In this year the land should lie fallow too, although its produce may be eaten, it should not be tilled; property purchased during the previous 49 years should return to the original owners and Hebrew slaves should be released from slavery.

The portion Bechukkotai concludes the Holiness Code (chapters 17-26), and as is to be expected at the end of a covenantal code it points out the consequences of obeying or breaking this covenantal code with a series of blessings and curses. The Book of Leviticus concludes with an appendix of supplementary laws concerning gifts to fund the sanctuary.

Commentary
The terrible punishments uttered in portion Bechukkotai for disobedience are traditionally known as the Tochechah (reproach) and it is customary in some synagogues to read this section in an undertone, quickly and without interruption. In ages past this portion made people so uneasy that, whilst it is a privilege to be called up to the Torah, it was hard to persuade someone to receive this particular privilege when the tochechah was read out. These traditions derived from nothing more than a prevailing superstition that saying something aloud may actually bring the event about.

The tradition to end a covenantal code with a series of promises and threats follows an ancient Near Eastern pattern of Code making – we do find it at the end of the book of Deuteronomy (28), and in the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi, or in Ancient Near Eastern treatises made by powerful kings and their vassals. In the context of earthly covenantal codes these threats and promises make much sense, but in the context of human –divine relations the presents us with the immensely challenging concept of reward and punishment.

Most challenging about is that on this subject often our heart and mind speak different languages. On an intellectual level we may find this concept really quite unacceptable, because we know that in life good evil does happen to good people and vice versa. However, on a purely emotional level, driven by that emotional part within us which makes us shun away from reading the tochechah aloud in the synagogue, or which makes us uneasy talking about devastating things that could happen to any of us and which does compel us to touch wood, even though we know it is a superstitious practice and not even a Jewish one….that emotional part within us, often, deep down, does believe in divine reward and punishment. It is the little child in us, which wants to see God as a parent, who should reward us for our efforts, or at times just loses patience with us, and strangely enough for some of us it is a consolation to be able to cry out in anguish ‘It is God who is punishing me!’

However I do not believe that God is so petty as to worry, or to care much about our personal petty sins, our little mistakes or our annoying, silly idiosyncrasies, because I believe that God is the ethical imperative in our lives. I believe in God’s justice and there is simply too much unjust suffering in the world, because our world is imperfect, and it is our task help perfect it. Our actions do have consequences, and even though at times we may act out of good intentions, circumstances may change them into evil and throw us into confusion. This makes God’s call for justice all the more pertinent, as it challenges us to be vigilant in all we do, it reminds us of our task, which is to redeem the world from its imperfections and to answer the eternal call for justice: tzedek, tzedek, tirdof (Deut 16:20) justice, justice you shall pursue.

Kathleen de Magtige-Middleton
The Liberal Jewish Synagogue