Is there a connection between our acts and blessings?

B’Har/ Bechukotai

Lev. 25:1 – 27:34

Précis: B’Har begins with a description of the Sabbatical Year and the Jubilee (Yovel) Year. In the 50^th (Jubilee) Year, we are to “proclaim liberty throughout the land” and property is restored to its ancestral owners. The parasha continues with the prohibition against unlimited slavery, as well as the rules for the treatment of those who are slaves.

Bechukotai, the final parasha in Vayikra, begins with a statement promising blessings if the People follow Adonai’s ways. The blessings are discussed in detail. But, if the People disobey, terrible punishments will be visited upon them, and these, too, are listed in agonizing detail. The Book of Leviticus then concludes (as it opened) with regulations regarding the upkeep of the Sanctuary, from voluntary tithes, land gifts, firstborn redemption, and the tithes of flocks.

Lev. 26:14-45 “But if you will not hearken unto Me, and will not do all these commandments, and if you reject My statutes, and if your soul abhors my ordinances....”

In this concluding section of Vayikra, the people are first promised rewards if they follow the commandments, and then the text offers a series of almost unimaginable curses which will take place if the People violate the laws. This section is called the “tochacha” (admonition) and the message is clear: God will reward the just and punish the wicked.

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The idea that a People as a whole were to be judged by God was a unique contribution of the Jews. Rabbi Plaut explains in his commentary that it was common throughout the ancient Near East for people to believe that the welfare of the nation depended on whether or not the king pleased the gods. He suggests that Jewish thought “democratized” this concept to the behavior of the entire People. The concept that our fate is linked to our behavior is a central tenet of traditional Jewish thought.   

            Today, except for some on the extreme fringe of religious ideology (those, for example, who claim that hurricanes are caused by the recognition of gay marriage), most have  difficulty in accepting that disasters of the type mentioned in the tochacha are linked to societal behaviors. Clearly, these verses do not speak to us in the way 

​they were 

understood by our ancestors.

            On the other hand, don’t we still want to believe that there is a connection between a just society and God’s blessings? Perhaps we should read this section with just a slightly different point of view: God wants us to follow the precepts that have been laid down for us because they lead to a healthy, moral, and just society. In other words, living a good life is its own reward.