Shabbat Forshpeis
A Taste of Torah in Honor of Shabbat
PARSHAT BEHUKOTAI
THE ULTIMATE BLESSING IN LIFE
MAY 23-24, 2003/ 22 IYAR 5763
The blessings in the portion of Behukotai reach toward
their crescendo with the words and I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be My people. (Leviticus 26:13) This ultimate gift that is promised is not material, it is rather a spiritual one, one that has extraordinary benefits.
Having God among us is a necessary prerequisite for the world to be ethical. After all, in bringing God back into the world, one makes a commitment to His ethical laws the seven Noahide laws and their offshoots. (See Nachmanides, Genesis 34:13) No doubt, even without God, there can be individuals who live ethical lives. Yet, for the world at large to be ethical, God is a necessity. Without God, ethics would be based on human reason which can be relative. Philosophies borne out of human reason can often emerge that declare ethical, what we certainly know to be unethical. But an ethical system based on Gods laws is inviolateit can never be altered.
Gods presence is also a crucial antidote to personal suffering. The price of living is that all of us, at one time or another must suffer. The question is not, why do we hurt; rather the question is, when feeling pain, do we sense the presence of God, a presence which makes even the difficult moments livable.
For example: Sickness is part of the fabric of life. This world is not made up of the sick and the well, but of the sick and the not yet sick. The worst part of sickness is being alone in sickness. How I remember being wheeled into the hospital room for bypass surgery. At a particular moment, my loving family had no choice but to leave my side. As I was placed on the surgical table, I felt alone, so deeply alone. But right then I sensed the closeness of God. If you feel God, then even in difficult times, when God doesn't seem to be acting kindly, you still sense His nearness.
From a mystical perspective, connecting with God makes God fully one. The masters of Kabbalah argue that God above is separated from the part of God which is in each of us. In this approach, the inner Godliness we all possess intrinsically yearns to reunite with God above, like a lover seeking out the beloved. The Kabbalists argue that only when the image of God in all of humankind fuses with the God above, does God, as He is manifest in this world become one. In the words of the prophet Zachariah, on that day, the Lord will be one and his name will be one. (14:9) The implication is that until that point, God, as He is present in the world, is not yet one.
Too often it is the case that we measure blessings by material benefits. What the Torah suggests is that the highest blessing is Divine accompaniment, the ultimate teshuvah, the return to God.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Avi Weiss
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