With this week’s parsha, Parsha Bechukosai, we close the book of Vayikra once again.
Bechukosai is a short parsha which deals with two main topics: the klalos (curses) that will befall Israel in exile (Vayikra 26), and arachin (valuations), when one dedicates the value of a certain item to the Beit haMikdash (Vayikra 27).
The parsha begins with a series of eleven pasukim that delineate the brachos (blessings) that will be showered upon Israel when the nation goes in the way of Hashem, keeps the mitzvos, and toils in Torah. These blessings include: the rain will fall in its time, the land will yield its produce and the trees of the field will give forth fruit; the nation will eat to satiation and dwell securely in the land; there will be peace in the land and wild animals will cease from the land, and no sword will even pass through the land; the nation will chase its enemies and they will fall by sword; we will be fruitful and many, and Hashem will walk amongst us and be for us a G-d, and we will be His nation, and He will lead us with upright, strong and proud stature (Vayikra 26:3-13).
And then, the Torah warns us that if the nation does not go in the ways of Hashem, terrible disasters will befall us (Vayikra 26:14-46). The disasters are many, and they are painful. Our cities and land will lay desolate, we will fall before our enemies, we will be pushed into the cities where plague will break out, there will not be sufficient food, the land will not yield its produce, our enemies will eat what we sow and grow, there will be panic, fever, and wasting away, we will flee before our enemies and even run from the sound of a rustling leaf, parents will consume the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters they will consume, G-d will not accept our offerings and our temple will be destroyed and laid waste, we will be scattered amongst the nations of the world and the sword will follow us, we will be lost amongst the nations and we will have no upright bearing in the lands of our enemies... and so on, and so forth.
These verses are amongst the most painful in the Torah (along with the klalos of Ki Savo, found in Sefer Devarim). Anyone aware of any epoch in Jewish history recognizes the klalos that have befallen us time and again. It is difficult for us to understand and comprehend, with our limited, mortal, finite vision, how such events can happen. There is no answer to how or why the exile is so long, so bitter, so painful and so dark. Hashem is Ha’tov Vi’ha’meitiv - the One Who is good and does good; yet in this world, the good is sometimes difficult to discern. We do not say it does not exist, for Hashem created the world only to do good to His creations; but at times, it is hidden from our eyes.
While it is true that the Torah tells us the klalos will befall us when we reject the mitzvos and do not go in the ways of Hashem, Eichah tells us that the prophet, the nation, and our city of Yerushalayim cry out to the Heavens and weep and declare: עָלֵ֖ינוּ קָצַ֥פְתָּ מְאַסְתָּ֔נוּ סאֹ֣אִם־מָ כִּי דאֹֽעַד־מְ, For even if You have utterly rejected us, have You not raged sufficiently against us? (Eichah 5:22).
