Bechukotai (Israel):Following the formula
Bechukotai (Israel):Following the formula

Even a cursory reading of the punishments in this week’s Torah portion sends shudders through the collective spines of the Jewish people. While we are only seventy years removed from the horrors of the Holocaust, it is still difficult to imagine the mass destruction articulated in such detail in the Torah taking place today. In fact, the relevancy of the curses levelled upon us may be viewed by this epoch as far-reaching at best.

Certainly the common custom of the individual tasked with reading this section of Torah at record speed helps take this picture of doom and destruction and places it in the deep recesses of the mind. Yet to ignore these verses would be irresponsible, as they are not just meant as a threat, but are, like any other piece of Torah, a vehicle to some deeper knowledge.

To learn about these punishments is to gain insights into ourselves as a nation, and to ensure our relationship with God remains strong.

The Torah delivers these curses in a step-by-step manner. Once departing the section on theblessings, God tells us (Vayikra 26:14-15):

But if you do not listen to Me and do not perform all these commandments,and if you despise My statutes and reject My ordinances, not performing any of My commandments, thereby breaking My covenant

The simple interpretation of these verses presents an extremely bleak picture. The response to our clear breach is equally as disturbing (ibid 16-17):

Then I too, will do the same to you; I will order upon you shock, consumption, fever, and diseases that cause hopeless longing and depression. You will sow your seed in vain, and your enemies will eat it.I will set My attention against you, and you will be smitten before your enemies. Your enemies will rule over you; you will flee, but no one will be pursuing you.”

This first salvo is a combination of rampant diseases, agricultural failure, and a loss of sovereignty.

There then seems to be a transition into another phase (18):

And if, during these, you will not listen to Me, I will add another seven punishments for your sins

It would appear our ignoring of these punishments brings about a worse set of punishments. The Torah then details the destruction of the Temple (based on most commentators) along with a complete and total devastation of the land.

Once again, there is another transitional verse (ibid 21):

And if you treat Me as happenstance (keri), and you do not wish to listen to Me, I will add seven punishments corresponding to your sins

And, as expected, the punishments get even worse, with hordes of wild animals released and a desolation of epic proportion. This subsequent pattern follows several more times throughout the section on the curses.

The idea of a procedural manifestation of Divine Intervention makes sense on an intuitive level. As we act in a worse manner, and continue to defy God’s warnings, we merit worse punishments. However, when looking at one of the transitionary verses, a seemingly extra word crytsallizes – “keri”.

Rashi’s first explanation is well-known:

Our Rabbis said that [this word means] temporary, by chance, something that happens only sometimes. Thus, “If you treat the commandments as happenstance, a temporary concern.”

This criticism of the behavior of the Jewish people is certainly troubling. However, if we study the series of punishments as a trajectory, an important question emerges. Whatever the explanation of “keri”, how is it worse than the vile attitude on display by the Jewish people in the initial verses introducing the curses, the despising of the laws and the breaking of the covenant? How do we understand this overall progression?

Looking back at the initial verses, it is critical to place them in a certain context. If the Jews indeed as a nation have deserted the Torah completely, where the system has no relevance or reality at all, then it is hard to imagine God “holding back”, so to speak.  Many commentators in fact weigh in concerning the term “all of these commandments” (noted in the first verse above), offering various interpretations about what “these” are specifically referring to.

However, the dispossession from commandments does not mean a wholesale abandonment. Instead, there is a critical feature of the system that has been corrupted, or a fundamental concept is being ignored or distorted; nonetheless, there is still an overall commitment to the system of Torah. However, as long as there is a tolerance or welcoming of this corruption as being part of the system, the covenant is in danger.

When we take a look at the first set of punishments, which involve diseases, agricultural failure and a loss of sovereignty, two themes would appear to emerge. The first involves weakening the sense of security the people get from the surrounding world. When disease strikes, or when crop production become unpredictable, the harmony one comes to rely on between himself and the physical world is challenged. The idea of the nations of the world ruling us tasks our national sense of self-worth. Rashi comments that we will be so weak that our conquerors will not even attempt to pursue us. To go from a nation that is considered a beacon of truth to the world to one that is disgraced to the point of not having any value eliminates any national confidence.

Looking back at the verses, if the Jewish people do not heed these initial punishments, God introduces the next phase. These would seem to be a further expansion of the previous punishments.  The destruction of the Temple means the one clear demonstration of the uniqueness of the Jewish people is no longer present, and with it a breach in the relationship between God and the Jewish people. Not only does the world see no greatness in us, but so too God distances Himself from us. As well, the desolation of the land is another step in severing the beneficence normally expected from the physical world. Rather than being unsure of a positive result, no hope is left for the effort put into the land.

The next round of punishments takes on a whole new quality, reinforcing the idea that if we do not change our ways, our punishments will get worse and worse. Yet, as mentioned above, the idea of “keri” must be bringing something new to the table. Rashi is highlighting a new stage in our downfall. While it is terrible to tolerate some type of corruption within our system of Torah, the one caveat is that there is still a system of Torah to speak of. There is still hope that we will have the means to root out this problem and correct the deficiency. However, if we do not do this, the next stage for us will be an eventual abandonment of Torah as a whole. We will fulfill some commandments, maybe out of a sense of guilt or to fulfill some cultural need. Maybe there will be a “favorite” commandment, one that resonates for some communal reason. But there won’t be a Torah. Reaching this point evokes a new level of response.

These two stages are extremely important to understand, especially in light of much of the theological grappling that often seems to exist within the various “factions” of Judaism. The Torah makes very clear, over and over, the basic requirement that the Jewish people abide by the Torah and its commandments. It is the heart of the very covenant we made with God. This is not some type of complex formula that cannot be understood. Yet somehow there has been a degree of ignorance to this equation is unexplainable. When we allow for a corruption of some basic idea, no matter how hard we claim to adhere to other parts, we introduce a virus into the core of Torah. Rather than root out the corruption, we allow it to fester. Even scarier, if a time emerges where we grow apart from the system of Torah, and merely engage in those commandments that fulfill cultural urges or some other sympathetic rationale, we risk nearly severing our bond with God. The facts are in plain sight – do we have the resolve and motivation to unite, to return to God as He asks us to and follow the formula?