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Writer's pictureJosh Scharff

Parashat Bechukotai - Opting In

Updated: Jul 12


Im b’chukotai telechu. The last portion of the book of Leviticus opens with these words: If you follow my laws and faithfully observe my commandments, God explains, then rains will fall in their season, crops will grow, there will be a surplus of food and sustenance, we will be granted victory over our enemies, freedom from slavery and peace in our promised land. This is an expansion of the covenant made with Abraham. The terms and conditions of the covenant have been updated significantly and the Israelites, the Jewish people, have a great deal more responsibility and obligations in the updated version. 


As we arrive at the end of the book of Vayikra, Leviticus, we are granted a wonderful opportunity to remind ourselves which commandments were passed down in the preceding portions. Don’t worry, I won’t mention all 251 mitzvot taught in Leviticus, it would be a shame to challenge your attention span, or mine for that matter, all on review. But I do think it worthwhile to just take a moment and remind ourselves of the Levitical social contract that is laid out before the Jewish people. 


Among others we are commanded to: 

  • Not reap our entire fields, not to go back and pick up fruit and other produce leaving part of the work of our hands for those who do not have anything to eat; 

  • Refrain from gossip, from shaming, or from speech that will harm others; 

  • We are not to bear a grudge, take revenge, or allow hate to fester in our hearts; 

  • Justice should be implemented impartially, favoring neither rich nor poor, treating all with the same respect; 

  • We may not curse the deaf nor place a stumbling block in front of the blind; 

  • God expects us to rebuke the sinner when they do not uphold these rules; 

  • We are commanded to love both our fellow as well as the stranger as ourselves and to never to stand idly by when human life is in danger. 


From just these two dozen laws, it becomes abundantly clear that the Torah, that God, has extremely high expectations of us, of the Jewish people. For me it is also clear that the moral code of Leviticus, of the entire Torah, is in many ways aspirational. Even on our best days, during our best weeks, in times of prosperity and peace, we as individuals and as a people fall short. This is not an indictment, just a symptom of being human, beautiful and flawed in the same measure. 


And if in times of peace these expectations are lofty, then in times of trial, of pain, of war well, living up to these laws becomes nearly impossible. In the face of the evil, the hatred, the gaslighting, the pain we have faced over these past months, it would be all too simple to let these commandments slide, to say that in this time of crisis and of pain that we can momentarily suspend these expectations. When it feels, more than ever before in my lifetime, that the stranger does not afford me the considerations and love commanded of us in Leviticus, I have found myself questioning why I must live up to this high standard. Despair is a powerful emotion and it is easy to give in and get lost in it. But it is precisely for moments like these that the Torah set the bar so very high for us, why even in times of crisis the law remains constant and we are expected to fulfill our lofty moral teachings.  


Our great teacher, Hillel the Elder summed up this principle beautifully when he said:

u’vimakom sh’ain anashim hishtadel l’hiyot ish: in a place that is lacking humanity, do your utmost to be a human being. In a world where it feels that our humanity is fraying, that we are straying further and further from one another, our tradition teaches that we are obligated to lean in, to do more, to be even more human, knowing that one act of humanity can lead to another, and another, rippling outwards in ways that we can never know. 


My friends, I will return to the opening words of this week’s portion Im bechukotai - if you maintain the mitzvot. It is, after all, a choice - one that we must make each day. IF we hold fast to the highest aspirations of our moral code then, I believe, we will be able to bring about the day when we inherit the beautiful promise of this parasha:


“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 out of the land, neither shall the sword pass through your land.” (Leviticus 26:6)


Chazak, chazak, v’nitchazek - Shabbat Shalom

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