Parshat Bechukotai is a troubling parsha filled with bracha(blessing) and tochecha (rebuke). While reading the parsha,
a few questions bothered me. What is the logic behind these exact
punishments listed for not following G-d’s commandments? How “bad” does
one have to be for this to happen? Has it ever happened in the history
of the Jewish people? What’s the connection between the first half of
the parsha and the end? Finally, the question that I hope to focus on here is about the first few pesukim of Parshat Bechukotai: Why are all the rewards and punishments listed in the parsha physical rewards?
The parsha opens,אִם בְּחֻקֹּתַי תֵּלֵכוּ וְאֶת מִצְוֹתַי תִּשְׁמְרוּ וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָם:”
“וְנָתַתִּי גִשְׁמֵיכֶם בְּעִתָּם וְנָתְנָה הָאָרֶץ יְבוּלָהּ וְעֵץ הַשָּׂדֶה יִתֵּן פִּרְיוֹ
“If you follow My decrees and observe My commandments and perform them; then I will provide your rains in their time, and the land will give its produce and the tree of the field will give its fruit.”[1] The Torah goes on to enumerate more rewards for good actions such as safety in our land from enemies and wild animals alike, as well as many offspring. This is perplexing as one might expect that for believing in G-d and following His “chukim” and observing His “mitzvoth,” you would be rewarded with Olam Habah or other spiritual manifestations of G-d’s generosity rather than sustenance and safety and the other rewards listed in the parsha.
The Abarbanel also asks this question and he posits that the specified rewards are not the real rewards bestowed upon someone for good deeds. Rather, G-d would not want to list those because man should fear, respect, and honor G-d’s commandments out of love for Him and not in pursuit of a reward. Therefore, the Abarbanel goes on to explain that these are simply rewards that help one in the short term to remove all barriers to achieving complete love of Hashem and consequently worshiping Him as well. However, if one does not follow the mitzvoth, G-d will take him even further from achieving the ultimate rewards.
Rambam develops this idea further in chapter 9 of his Hilchot Teshuva. There he writes, שבזמן שאדם טרוד בעולם הזה בחולי ורעבון ובמלחמה אינו מתעסק לא במצות ולא בחכמה שבהן זוכין לחיי העולם הבא," “For when a man is preoccupied with the matters of this world, dogged by illness, hunger and war, he cannot busy himself neither with wisdom nor with good deeds, through which we merit eternal life.”[2] Rambam explains that the rewards in Parshat Bechukotai are all listed to help one be able to serve G-d better. As Rambam explains further, if one does not have to worry about enemies attacking or lacking food, health or shelter, they will have much more time, energy and willpower to follow G-d’s mitzvoth.
These suggestions imply that when the nation does not serve G-d and observe His mitzvoth they are entering a steep downward spiral. It is not that they simply get the punishments listed in the Torah but rather they seem to have been removed further from G-d, making it even more of a challenge to return to His protection.
The Netivot Shalom, a Chassidic commentary on the Torah, answers our original question in a very simple and straightforward manner that is more comforting to the mind of those who stray. He says that Parshat Bechukotai is simply a prime example of “middah k’neged middah.” The world is created with rules, “chukim,” such as the placement and roles of the sun and the moon or the sand by the sea. If we don’t observe the chukim that G-d placed before us then all rules of the world will be thrown off until we begin following those “chukim” again.
In his book, To Heal a Fractured World, Rabbi Jonathon Sacks takes an even more direct approach to the question at hand. He writes, “The whole tenor of the Torah is based on the idea that God is to be found in the physical world and its blessings. We are commanded to serve God in joy out of abundance of good things, not through self-denial.”[3] Asceticism, he explains is “an implicit disavowal of this world which God created and pronounced good.” This would imply that these physical rewards enumerated in parshat Bechukotai are quite literally rewards to help us serve G-d better, be it in this world as Rabbi Sacks suggests or to achieve in the next world as the Abarbanel and Rambam suggest.
Shabbat Shalom!
1]Leviticus 26:3-4. All English translations of verses from the Torah are from the Artscroll Stone Edition Tanakh.
[2]Translation of Rambam from Nechama Leibowitz on Parshat Bechukotai, “Reward and Punishment.”
[3] To Heal a Fractured World, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Schocken Books, New York, Page 35.
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