PARASHOT Behar and Bechukotai 

Usually the portions of Behar and Bechukotai are read together.     The parsha of Behar deals mainly with the importance of the land of Israel and letting the land lay fallow every seventh and fiftieth year.  

Proverbs mentions the relevance of seven in the following manner; seven women wanting one man in Isaiah; working seven years for a wife in Genesis; there are seven benedictions recited under the chupah during the wedding ceremony; seven benedictions in the Shabbat Amida.  However when we think of the number seven, uppermost in our minds is the Shabbat.  The idea of Shabbat, a cycle of days, was even extended to include cycle of years, (Shmita and Yovel). Behar has two central ideas, each dealing with the theme of restoration to an original state.  These are the seventh, the sabbatical year (Shmitah) and the fiftieth year, which is the jubilee year (Yovel).  

Just as man enjoys ‘the rest’ on the seventh day of the week, so too, the Lord directed that the land of Israel should sabbath in the seventh year.  Six years the land could be worked and harvested, vineyards could be planted and pruned, but in the seventh year the land was to rest.  This is also true for the jubilee or fiftieth year; the land was to lie fallow.  The main reason for this is for the Jew to understand that the land belongs to Hashem.  "For the land is Mine, you are but strangers residing with Me."  Hashempromised to provide for our needs by making his harvests fruitful, and sufficient to carry us through the years when we are not permitted to sow or reap.

In abiding by the will of Hashem, man would be free to devote him/herself to study so that he/she would learn that material success was not the only purpose of life.  Education and Torah study is the source of our sustenance and life.

BECHUKOTAI

With the assurance of blessing for adherence to Torah, this parsha describes in chilling terms the inevitable results of repudiation of Torah.  This sedra (portion) sets forth the consequence of obedience and disobedience to Hashem's precepts and laws.  On the one hand, we are promised if we faithfully observe the mitzvot, there will be seasonal rain, peace, fertility, and Hashem's ever abiding presence.  On the other hand, if we do not obey Hasem's mitzvot, the most horrible consequences (known as the Tochacha) will ensue: disease, hunger, famine, war, drought, cannibalism and a multitude of other horrors which would make the plagues visited upon the Egyptians look like child's play (we have been witness to it in our generation). This would appear to present an angry and vengeful God.  But not so, for we are told that when we will at last have humbled ourselves and have atoned for our iniquities; then Hashem will remember his people and his covenant.

This is a lesson for us in our daily lives when interacting with our fellow Jews.  There are some of us who cannot find it within ourselves to forgive one another.  We live with a continual feeling of strong hatred (because of different views and opinions).  It burns in us quietly at first, steadily growing, until the hatred is so obvious that it makes us do irrational, unnecessary and, harmful things.  Surely; if we weren't harboring this hate in our hearts, these destructive acts could be prevented, replaced by constructive deeds.  Deeds that might have helped the problem instead of increasing the hatred that scars our hearts and minds. 

Certainly we have enemies, dangerous ones, who are planning our destruction this very minute and are spreading anti-Semitism all over the globe.  But our hope for the future, as promised in this parsha, involves faith in a power much greater than ourselves, the love of one another and unity in the ranks.  Many of us try to live exemplary lives but still we can't see past our noses.  As Job learned, man can never understand the mystery of Hashem's ways, but there must always be faith.  We will continue to survive and be victorious because we are the people of the covenant that last throughout the generations.

Chazak, Chazak, V'Nitchazek, Be Strong, Be Strong, And Let Us Strengthen One Another.

SHABBAT SHALOM

RAV. ELIAS