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From:          "Yeshivat Har Etzion's Israel Koschitzky Virtual Beit Midrash"
Subject:       INTPARSHA -33: Parashat Bechukotai
To:            yhe-intparsha@vbm-torah.org

Yeshivat Har Etzion
Israel Koschitzky Virtual Beit Midrash

Introduction to Parashat HaShavua

Parashat Bechukotai - The Blessings
By Rav Michael Hattin


Introduction

Parashat Bechukotai, the final parasha of the Book of
VaYikra, declares its message in forceful terms.  In language
both graphic as well as gripping, the Torah spells out the
rewards of compliance with its commandments, as well as the dire
threats of destruction for abrogation of the Covenant.

"If you will follow My decrees and observe My commandments
to fulfill them, then I will provide your rains in their
season; the earth will bring forth its produce and the
trees of the field will yield their fruit.  Your threshing
season will last until grape harvest, and the grape harvest
will continue until planting, and you shall eat your bread
to satiation and shall dwell in security in your land.  I
will grant peace in the land and you shall lie down to
sleep without fear, and I will rid the land of dangerous
animals and the sword shall not pass through your land. 
You shall pursue your enemies and they shall fall before
you by the sword.  Five of you shall pursue one hundred of
them, and one hundred of you shall pursue ten thousand of
them, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. 
I shall turn towards you and shall make you fertile and
numerous, and shall establish My covenant with you.  You
shall eat the previous year's crops for a long time and
will have to eventually clear them out to make room for the
new.  I will put My sanctuary in your midst and My soul
shall not cast you away.  I will walk in your midst and I
shall be your God, and you shall be My people.   I am God
your Lord who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt
where you were their slaves; I broke the bars of your yoke
and caused you to walk upright and proud" (VaYikra 26: 3-
13).


The Broad Sweep

Carefully surveying the Torah's list of blessings, we
notice that they are comprehensive.  All of the basic existential
needs and desires of the individual as well as of the nation find
expression here.  Sufficient and timely rains, so necessary for
agriculture in the Land of Israel, will cause the earth to bring
forth its bounty in exceptional measure.  So plentiful will the
harvests be, that their seasons will begin to overlap, and bread
shall be available in abundance. 

Nor will the enjoyment of all of that goodness be tainted
by intimations of anxiety, for both external enemies as well as
noxious beasts will be held at bay and kept distant.  A small
fighting force of Jews will put much larger enemy armies to
flight, and the secure nation will enjoy God's favor so that it
grows and prospers.  God will reaffirm His covenant with the Jews
and they will enjoy His favor.  God will cause His sanctuary, a
physical space providing the opportunity of experiencing His
presence, to be among them, and He and His people Israel will be
reconciled.

Viewed from another angle, these blessings address the
basic and well-known bifurcation of the physical and spiritual
sides of the human condition.  Material plentitude will be
augmented by a cohesive and intimate relationship with God, and
the perceived estrangement of body from soul will finally be
overcome.  Taken as a whole, one might say that the images of
abundance, health, peace and tender attachment to God portrayed
by this passage, suggest an ideal state or utopian vision that
Jewish tradition often describes as the 'Messianic Age.'


The Vision of Yeshayahu/Isaiah

This period, variously but vividly described in the
Prophetic works as an age of universal harmony that will spell an
end to the scourge of sickness, the wantonness of war, and the
ignominy of injustice, is celebrated in a well-known passage from
the Book of Yeshayahu/Isaiah Chapter 11.  "A shoot shall spring
forth from the trunk of Yishai and a sprout from his roots.  The
spirit of God shall rest upon him, a spirit of wisdom and
understanding, counsel and might, knowledge and fear of God...He
shall judge the poor with righteousness...and smite the wicked
with the words of his mouth.  The wolf shall dwell with the lamb
and the leopard with the kid, a calf, young lion and fatling
shall be together, and a small child shall guide them.  The cow
and bear shall graze together, and together they shall cause
their young to lay down, and the lion shall consume straw like an
ox.  An infant shall play over the lair of the python and shall
stretch forth his hand to the adder's den.  There shall be
neither evil nor destruction on all of My holy mountain, for the
earth shall be filled with knowledge of God as the waters cover
the sea..." (11:1-9).

In this portrayal, the Messianic figure who is a divinely
inspired (but unequivocally human) descendent of David, will
uphold the rule of law and undermine corruption.  A fantastic
change will take place in the natural order, as carnivores will
mend their brutal ways and dwell in harmony with their placid
former prey.  A small child will oversee the transformation, for
this spirit of universal peace will ameliorate and finally
rectify the cursed serpent's crime of alienating man from the
earth that bore him. 


The Interpretation of the Rambam

The Rambam (12th century, Egypt) is quick to point out the
metaphoric meaning of the passage, in his description of the
Messianic Age recorded in his Laws of Kings, Chapter 12:1.  "Do
not think that during the Messianic Era any of the laws of nature
will be suspended or that new changes will be introduced into the
order of Creation.  Rather the world will continue to operate
according to these natural laws.  That which Yeshayahu describes
as 'the wolf shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard with the
kid' is in fact a parable and allegory.  The meaning of the
matter is that the people of Israel will dwell in security with
those wicked nations who are compared to the wolf and to the
leopard... as all of them will finally acknowledge the true
doctrines and will cease from engaging in robbery and corruption. 
Rather, these nations will consume only permitted things, at
peace with Israel, as it states 'the lion shall eat straw like
the ox.'  All similar passages concerning the Messiah are to be
understood as allegories, and during that age it will become
apparent to all what the meaning of the allegory was and to what
matter it alluded."

A well-established Talmudic tradition (Sanhedrin 91b)
asserts that the only substantial distinction between the present
time and the Messianic Era is the cessation of the people of
Israel's oppressed state and their securing of political
sovereignty.   Rambam, basing himself upon this source and no
doubt also relying upon the same rational considerations that
underlie all of his thinking, is quite content to reinterpret
seemingly fantastic prophetic descriptions of that time as in
fact constituting parables and similes.  The meat-eating lion
will not really change its diet of hapless herbivores, for the
laws of nature by which the world operates will never be
suspended.  The Messianic Era is not a time of marvelous miracles
and remarkable wonders.  Rather, it is a period of a changed
human condition exemplified by the vindication of Israel's faith
and her long-awaited liberation from the clutches of oppressive
and brutal regimes that sought to destroy her.


The Approach of the Ramban

The Ramban (13th century, Spain), in contrast, understands
the matter quite differently, as he explains in his commentary to
our Parasha.  His starting point is a curious verse, concerning
which the Sages disagree in the Midrash: "'I will grant peace in
the land and you shall lie down to sleep without fear, and I will
rid the land of dangerous animals and the sword shall not pass
through your land' (VaYikra 26:6).  What does the Torah mean when
it says that the land will be rid of dangerous animals?  - Rabbi
Yehuda explained that God will cause the dangerous beasts to be
removed from the world.  Rabbi Nehemiah explained that God will
cause them to cease from harming others."  The Ramban elucidates
the matter by explaining that Rabbi Yehuda understands the
biblical verse according to its straightforward reading.  Since
the land will be full of plenty and the cities full of human
habitation, wild animals will not enter the settled areas and
they will thus cease to present an immediate danger to people. 
According to Rabbi Nehemiah, however, the meaning of the verse is
not that God will distance these creatures from our cities, but
rather that He will cause the 'evil of the beasts' to be removed
from the land.  In other words, according to Rabbi Nehemiah, a
fundamental transformation of the natural order will take place,
and indeed the words of Yeshayahu will be fulfilled according to
their plain meaning - the wolf will lie down with the lamb in
tranquil concord.

Ramban continues: "the view of Rabbi Nehemiah is the
correct one, for when the Jewish people fulfill the mitzvot of
the Torah, the Land of Israel will come to resemble the state of
the world at its pristine beginning, before the transgression of
the first humans.  At that time, beasts and creeping things did
not harm or kill people... as the verse states 'an infant shall
play over the lair of the python' etc., for the carnivorous
nature of the dangerous beasts only came about as a result of the
transgression of man who was condemned to become their prey... At
the time of creation the verses state concerning the wild animals
that their food was to be the grass of the field  - "as for the
beasts of the land and the birds of the heavens and all the
animals that creep upon the earth, I give them all manner of
vegetation to consume" (Bereishit 1:29-30), for that was to be
their eternal nature.  They only become carnivorous because of
transgression, as I have explained... Therefore, when a time of
completeness is reached, the brutal temper of the animals of the
Land of Israel will cease, for they shall all revert back to
their initial nature that was placed in them at the time of their
creation.  Thus, during the days of the Redeemer who will be a
descendent of Yishai, concerning which Yeshayahu spoke, peace
will return to the world and brutality will cease...."


The Garden of Eden and the Land of Israel

With his explanation, the Ramban fashions a fascinating
construct according to which a direct parallel exists between the
Paradisiacal Garden on the one hand, and the Land of Israel in
the Messianic era on the other.  In the initial ideal state, the
natural order was in perfect balance.  Humanity dwelt in harmony
with other creatures, and they in turn lived peaceably among
themselves.  God's overarching presence was felt in that Garden,
for man and woman lived their lives in constant experience of His
closeness.  Strife and struggle, brutality and bloodshed, anger
and anguish were unknown.  The destructive alienation of man from
his God, his world, and himself had not happened, for human ears
were attuned to the Divine call and the human heart was sensitive
to its message.

The world, however, was early on transmogrified into a
place of cruelty and death.  All creatures began to struggle
mightily for their survival, and a nature red in tooth and claw
took the place of the ideal state.  The first human beings were
exiled from the Garden of Eden and sent into a world turned
hostile and savage.  Condemned to a life of spiritual
estrangement, their descendents soon introduced the innovations
of injustice and of murder.  Nevertheless, a faded memory of that
Garden remained and humanity has ever since attempted to find its
way back.

Significantly, it was the transgression of Adam and Eve
that upset the ideal equilibrium, for by abrogating God's command
they introduced a new and dangerous element into Creation - human
hubris that refuses to accede to a Transcendent Morality.  Most
striking, the Ramban posits that the effects of that momentous
decision were not exclusively or perhaps not even primarily
consequential for only humanity, but rather for the entire order
of Creation.  The harmony and peace that had initially
characterized the animal kingdom dissipated, to be replaced by an
'unnatural' order of predator and prey.  The great and fearsome
beasts that had been created as gentle consumers of vegetation
became carnivorous killers.  But, most significant of all, the
formerly intimate relationship between God and man became distant
and removed.


Returning to Eden

What then is the way back?  The Ramban explains that when
the Jewish people return to the Torah, to a vision of the world
predicated upon sensitivity for others and reverence for God,
when we are ready to surrender the will to dominate for the
desire to serve, then in fact the Messianic Era will dawn.  This
time will be one of peace, plenty, tranquility and spiritual
fulfillment.  Nature will cease being what is in actuality an
artificial construct of barbarity and outrage, for the Land of
Israel will again embody the ideal state of Eden.  Though this
transformation might strike us as miraculous and remarkable, the
Ramban suggests that it is in fact nothing more than a return to
the untarnished, pristine world that God initially fashioned.

Our perceptions of the world of nature tend to be shaped by
our urban experience.  Living in comfortable cities and spacious,
safe homes, our primary contact with 'wild beasts' is through the
relatively innocuous experience of the neighborhood zoo.  Colored
by a romantic vision of the wilderness, we tend to forget that in
reality, the world of nature is not the pleasant chirping of
morning starlings outside of our window, but rather the
relentless struggle for survival that necessarily spells life for
some creatures and a cruel, sudden, and painful end for others. 
If we honestly look at nature for what it truly is, we are
startled by its coarseness.  But, explains the Ramban, what is
most striking about the natural world around us is that it is
nothing more than a REFLECTION of ourselves!  What the Ramban
suggests is that the state of the world is (not surprisingly) a
direct function of our moral and ethical conduct.  If we as
humans champion an existence of avarice, injustice, and
barbarity, and routinely condone acts of individual and
collective oppression, then we should not be surprised that a
lion can tear an antelope to shreds or that a house cat can
merrily sink its sharp teeth and claws into the vulnerable flesh
of an injured bird.  Conversely, if the day finally dawns on
which nations can live at peace with each other, if the sun
finally rises on cities filled with fellowship and righteousness,
if we as individuals can repair the tattered state of our
relationship with others and with God, then, avers the Ramban,
the vision of 'the lion consuming straw like an ox and an infant
playing over the lair of the python' is indeed equally plausible.

Shabbat Shalom   

YESHIVAT HAR ETZION
ISRAEL KOSCHITZKY VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH
ALON SHEVUT, GUSH ETZION 90433

Copyright (c) 1999 Yeshivat Har Etzion
All Rights Reserved

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From:   Har Etzion Virtual Beit Midrash
To: yhe-haftora@vbm-torah.org
Subject:       HAFTORA -33: Parashat Bechukotai


                   YESHIVAT HAR ETZION
      ISRAEL KOSCHITZKY VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH (VBM)
*********************************************************

                   THE WEEKLY HAFTORA
                  By Rav Yehuda Shaviv

             Haftora for Parashat Bechukotai

  The Blessing and the Curse (Yirmiyahu 16:19 - 17:14)

a.  Enough punishment without adding a haftora
     It  seems that our Sages were faced with a difficult
problem  in  their  search for  a  suitable  haftora   for
parashat Bechukotai.  The crux of the parasha is reproof,
accompanied  by dire warnings of punishment and  terrible
curses.   There are, of course, many parallel  prophecies
that warn of harsh punishment, but what point would there
be  in  further  threats? Surely those mentioned  in  the
parasha suffice.

     The  Sages  looked for a suitable haftora and   found
this  prophecy  of  Yirmiyahu  which,  although  it   does
contain an element of "curse," also contains a promise of
"blessing,"  and  both  scenarios are  contained  in   the
context of a broader prophecy.

b.  For the individual and for the nation
     But  attention should be paid to the fact that while
the  blessings  and curses described in the  parasha  are
formulated in the plural and are addressed to the  nation
as  a whole, those mentioned in the haftora are addressed
to  the  individual; they are formulated in the singular.
The one who is cursed is he who has faith in man, and the
one  who  is  blessed is he who has faith  in  God.    The
former  is  compared to a lone tree in the desert,  while
the latter is compared to a tree planted by the waters  -
both  in  the  singular.  This may in itself represent  a
vision  of exile, where Divine Providence is removed,  as
it   were,   from  the  nation  and  rests    instead   on
individuals.

     This may complement what we are told in the parasha.
Someone  hearing the curses mentioned in  the  Torah  may
console himself with the thought that "I'll be fine  even
if I follow my heart's desires, for my sins will be added
to the sum total of all the sins of the congregation, and
the  punishment  -  if  it comes -  will  fall  upon   the
community as a whole," such that he finds comfort in  the
idea  that  he  will  not suffer  alone.   The   words  of
Yirmiyahu, then, formulated as they are in the  singular,
come  to  teach  us  that  each individual  has   personal
responsibility and is answerable for his own actions,  be
they good or evil.

c.   The blessings and curses of the parasha vs. those of
the haftora
     There  are two more differences between the blessing
and the curse of Yirmiyahu and those in the parasha.  The
first  concerns  the  order:  the  parasha  begins    with
blessings  -  the  reward that awaits the  nation  if  it
follows the path of Torah and mitzvot - and then goes  on
to  warn  of  punishment.  In the haftora, the  order  is
reversed:  Yirmiyahu starts with punishment and concludes
with blessing.  First he rebukes - "Cursed is the man who
trusts  in mortals" (17:5), and only afterwards  does  he
promise, "Blessed is the man who trusts in God" (17:7).

     The  second difference is one of proportion.  In the
parasha  there seems to be a lack of equilibrium  between
the  blessings and curses.  Following a few corresponding
pesukim,  the  curses seem to trample the bounds  of  the
parallel  and  to extend much further than the  blessings
did, such that eleven pesukim of blessings are matched by
some  thirty  pesukim  of curses.   In  the  haftora,   in
contrast,  there  is a perfect balance of  blessings  and
curses  (tending  if anything more to  the  side  of  the
blessings).

     These  two differences may also have influenced  the
choice  of  this prophecy as the haftora.  The Sages  may
have  wished  that  the  picture  that  arises  from   the
juxtaposition   of  the  parasha  and  haftora    is   the
following: Blessing - curse - curse - blessing.

     An   introduction   and    conclusion   of   blessing
represents  a  framework of hope: "God  is  the  hope   of
Israel...the fountain of living waters, God." (17:13)

     The  relationship between the blessing and curse  in
the  haftora  may  bring us to a new  perception  of  the
relationship  between them in the parasha,  a  perception
that  reveals  that  in  truth  the  curses  are   not  as
plentiful  as  they seemed at first.  Indeed,  the  Sages
counted and found that the blessings number more than the
curses:
     "Rabbi  Levi said, Behold, the ways of God  are   not
     like  the ways of mortals.  God blesses Israel   with
     twenty-two  expressions and curses them with  eight.
     The  blessings  begin  with  "If   you  walk  in   My
     statutes"  (26:3)  and end with   "upright"  (26:13).
     The  eight  curses begins with "If  you   despise  My
     statutes"  (26:15)  and conclude  with   "their  soul
     abhorred My statutes" (26:43)." (Bava Batra 88b)

     In  other  words, the array of blessings is complete
from  beginning to end (it begins with the letter "aleph"
and ends with the letter "tav,") while the section of the
curses is disjointed and partial, even though it contains
more  details  and  is spread over a  greater  number  of
verses.   It  is  as though the curses are  divided  into
several  small doses, in order that they not all overtake
the  nation  at  once,  so that  they  will  be   able  to
withstand them and not be consumed.

     Therefore,   the  conclusion  of  the    haftora   is
particularly  fitting as an antidote  to  the  calamitous
visions  of  the parasha: "Heal me, God, that  I  may  be
healed;  save  me that I may be saved,  for  You  are  my
praise" (17:14).

d.  More connections between the parasha and the haftora
  1.    The prophet complains, "Their altars are like the
     remembrance  of their children" (17:2) -   "Like  the
     remembrance of their children, so was their remembrance
     of their altars, like someone who longs for his son"
     (Rashi).  In the parasha, too, we find that the text
     juxtaposes punishment involving children and the altars:
     "And you shall consume the flesh of your sons, and the
     flesh of your daughters you shall consume.  And I will
     destroy  your high places and cut down your   images"
     (26:29-30).  The latter image may even be harder for the
     nation to bear than the former - although the destruction
     of the high places and the cutting down of their images
     is not really a punishment at all, from their point of
     view it represents a terrible blow.

  2.   The prophet warns, "You shall be discontinued from
     your  heritage that I gave to you" (17:4).  In other
     words, "Against your will you will leave the land, for
     not having observed your Sabbaths that I commanded you -
     that the land may rest" (Rashi).  Likewise we are told in
     the parasha, "Then the land will enjoy her Sabbaths, for
     as long as it lies fallow...then the land will rest and
     will enjoy her Sabbaths... that you did not observe while
     you dwelled upon it" (26:34-35).  Indeed, according to
     the custom of some communities, this prophecy is read as
     the haftora for parashat Behar, which deals specifically
     with the laws of shemitta.

e.  All are innocent, all are guilty, and the in-between
     But there is something in the message of the haftora
that differs from the parasha.  In the parasha, those who
are  blessed and those who are cursed are at two opposite
poles.  Blessed are those who walk in God's statutes  and
observe  His judgments, and cursed are those who  despise
the  statutes.  The image that is created is one  of  two
opposites:  a generation that is completely guilty  or  a
generation that is completely righteous, with no apparent
possibility  of  anything in between.  In  contrast,  how
similar  are the two men described by Yirmiyahu.  Blessed
is  the  man  and cursed is the man.  Although  both  are
called "gever" (man), both require some outside force  in
which  to  trust and upon which to lean.  The  difference
between  them is only the object of their trust.  Blessed
is  the one who trusts in God, and cursed is the one  who
trusts in man.  They are so fundamentally similar that it
is  relatively easy for someone who feels the need for an
external  object of trust to transfer his  faith  in  man
into faith in God.  Thus, there is hope for him.

f.  From confession to confession
     What heralds the end of the rebuke and the curses in
the  parasha is confession: "And they will confess  their
sin  and the sin of their fathers in their iniquity which
they  perpetrated against Me" (26:40).  And  the  haftora
opens with an image of confession: "The nations will come
to  you  from  the ends of the earth and  will  say,  Our
forefathers  inherited  only  lies,  vanity  and    things
thatare  worthless."  In this way, the haftora emphasizes
the verses of the "vidui" (confession) in the parasha.

g.  I shall run from You towards You
     Following  the  many  and  disheartening   verses  of
rebuke,  the soul seeks some solace (although the  rebuke
does  end  on  a note of reconciliation).   And  that   is
exactly  what is presented at the opening of the haftora:
"God, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in the day
of  trouble."  In the spirit of the words of the poet: "I
shall   flee  from  You  towards  You"  (Rashbag,   "Keter
Malkhut").   For  indeed, "God is  the  hope  of   Israel"
(17:13), and the Healer of all sickness.

YESHIVAT HAR ETZION
ISRAEL KOSCHITZKY VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH
ALON SHEVUT, GUSH ETZION 90433

Copyright (c) 1999 Yeshivat Har Etzion. All rights reserved.

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