Parsha Bechukotai — The Consequences of Choice
Both on individual Level, and on a National Level there are consequences of our actions.
Leaders can choose war — Consequences
We can choose to ignore Climate Change — Consequence
We can choose to be good — Consequences
We can choose to be evil — Consequences
Leviticus 26:14
ואם־לא תשמעו לי ולא תעשו את כל־המצות האלה׃
But if you will not listen to me, and will not do all these commandments…
We have a guidebook — The Torah. We are given the choice of listening, learning from the rules and from our mistakes.
We make choices everyday — some choices are small , some are big …
Life Choices — our choices of where we live, where we buy a house, where we invest, whom we marry, Lifestyle chosen — all have consequences.
Rabbi Sacks titles his Essay on this Parsha as “The Politics of Responsibility”
“The twenty-sixth chapter of the book of Vayikra sets out, with stunning clarity, the terms of Jewish life under the covenant. On the one hand, there is an idyllic picture of the blessing of Divine favour: If Israel follows God’s decrees and keeps His commands, there will be rain, the earth will yield its fruit, there will be peace, the people will flourish, they will have children, and the Divine presence will be in their midst. God will make them free.”
But if you do not listen to Me and do not carry out all these commands… I will appoint over you sudden terror, wasting diseases, and fever, which will make your eyes fail and your spirit languish….
https://www.rabbisacks.org/covenant-conversation/bechukotai/the-politics-of-responsibility/
In other words , we are responsible for our choices. And there are consequences — “Punishments”
There are two sides of the coin- God Punishment or man-made self-destruction.
God has placed free will into Man. We are our worst enemy. Easy to blame God for bringing death and destruction. We can choose to be blessed or be cursed.
Or can we ?
Man by nature is Evil. Ancient and modern territorial wars as a way of getting power and money. Colonialism, Exploitation of Natural Resources, Hitler , Stalin , are some examples.
We, Man are pawns — like ants on the pathway. Vulnerable. We do not look to the Holocaust for stories of how Life can change in an instance. Terror or accidents causes death and pain in an instant. Leaving lives broken. How appropriate are these thoughts are coming down when remembering the of the victims from Merom disaster and the Fire that destroyed most of Moshav Mevo Moddiin on Lag Ba’Omer.
The survivors are left to pick up the pieces carrying the scars . Lives that are different for ever.
Easy to say — If only — better safety , better crowd control, better fire and police services. But — It happened. Can you blame God or Man? Was it random? Or was it a “Punishment” from God. These are hard choices. We do not have the answers.
Yesterday, I attended a ceremony for a Sefer Torah for one of the victims of the Lag Ba’Omer tragedy. It was personal, and even more personal for my friends who lost their son in law. There was music. The DJ said “ezer Simcha — what Joy “ of bringing a Sefer Torah. I was torn. How we can have simcha- Joy on the Yahrzeit of this pure soul leaving a young wife and 3 children.
If we have learned anything from the Holocaust Survivors — They got on built new lives. Some with suffering. Others with joy.
We are cursed (or blessed) where we are born, which religion we are born into , and where we live. We have no choice in this.
But we can choose Life. We can seek Peace instead of Terror. We can seek truth instead of Lies. We can strive for Joy instead of Depression. Maybe we have no choice.
The world and Israel are living in complicated times. We are bombarded with Antisemitism , Blood Libels , labelled Occupiers in our Land.
At this point , I took a break from the blog and went to Shul. In Shul, a wise man in a the Dvar Torah asked — what has Shemitah got to with the blessing and curses? The Torah links this to the Land.
Leviticus 26:6
ונתתי שלום בארץ ושכבתם ואין מחריד והשבתי חיה רעה מן־הארץ וחרב לא־תעבר בארצכם׃
And I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid; and I will remove evil beasts from the land, nor shall the sword go through your land.
The Jews are more than a religion. We are a people. A Nation. A Nation who lost their land and now with Hashem’s help have returned. How we relate to this return and Israel has consequences.
We can choose to stay in the Diaspora , make Aliyah, make a positive contribution to Israel and share in our destiny. We can choose to have despair of our troubles or stand up and call for truth and strength of our connection to this Land.
In this theme, I am sharing post on Facebook from Sholom Pollock titled:
“The museum that isn’t
The most significant find of the most significant people in history was made recently on biblical Mt Eval.
On the mountain, overlooking the biblical city of Shechem was discovered the altar which Joshua built and sacrificed after entering the promised land.
As if this mind-blowing discovery was not enough, recently, the words of the bible peeked from under the ancient stones
A lead amulet with the words ``cursed, cursed. are those…”, with the name of G-d was found near the altar. If that was not enough, the commandment of God to enter and conquer the land was also found! (Deuteronomy 27: 2–3)
These are the words exclaimed by the kohanim(priests) at the site alongside Joshua just as God prescribed in the bible.
More than the Dead Sea scrolls, Masada, the Western Wall, or any other important site of Jewish history, this find brings us back to the very moments of the entrance of the Jewish people into the promised land.
Imagine if other people in another land discovered proof of the very earliest roots of their nation in that land.
Now imagine if that nation was in a drawn-out bloody conflict with another population that claims that land is theirs and denies that the former has any history in it and simply made-up a colonial narrative in order to subjugate the “natives ‘.
I would expect that nation to build the most amazing museum on the spot and invite the world to bear witness.
Israel has not done so and has no plans to do so.
More, Israel will not even effectively protect the priceless national treasure from Arabs who constantly attempt to destroy any trace of our history in our land, such as on Temple Mount and elsewhere.
The Israeli government acts as though these unique priceless sites are just a headache and would be happy if they were never discovered or just disappeared.
That would make life much less complicated for a modern, “normal” country (as Moshe Dayan announced when he gave the keys to our Temple Mount to the Muslim Waqf in 1967 when liberated in the miraculous Six-day War).
The museum that is not there (will it be?) is on the unique and beautiful biblical Mt Eval
I recommend a visit before it disappears at the hands of the “natives “
I intend to lead a group there in the near future God willing.”
He recommend reading his book for a deeper understanding of Israel today.
“Jews, Israelis and Arabs” is available on Book Depository and Amazon
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100007817555774
The Message is simple — We need to choose. To need to call a spade a spade. No moral or historical ambiguity. Whether this is in Israel, Wars, helping meet the UNSDG, or fighting evil leaders.
Together, we can choose to be blessed. Choose Life.