BECHUKOSAI, LEVITICUS 26:3-27:34

  BECHUKOSAI, LEVITICUS 26:3-27:34

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We are given a message:

At 26:3 -

אִם-בְּחֻקֹּתַי, תֵּלֵכוּ; וְאֶת-מִצְוֺתַי תִּשְׁמְרוּ, וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָם.

"If you follow My statutes and observe My commandments and perform them,"

At 26:11 -12

 וְנָתַתִּי מִשְׁכָּנִי, בְּתוֹכְכֶם; וְלֹא-תִגְוְהִתְהַלַּכְתִּי, בְּתוֹכְכֶם, וְהָיִיתִי לָכֶם, לֵאלֹהִים; וְאַתֶּם, תִּהְיוּ-לִי לְעָם.עַל נַפְשִׁי, אֶתְכֶם.

"I will place My dwelling place in your midst, and My soul will not reject you; I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be My people."

I think today Israel has become Hashem's dwelling place where among other things He is walking among us and we are His people.

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If you like these essays, you might also like a Facebook group:

Northern Israel Update

https://www.facebook.com/groups/751572416879518

I hope you join..

You and I are pretty much on the same page.

We share similar values.

The focus of this group will be what is going on in Nahariya and northern Israel because there will be information that may be of interest to you, but which you probably do not have access to. Likewise, where there are national updates of interest, these will also be passed on.

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We treat the seven weeks of Counting the Omer as a period of mourning.  However on the thirty third day of the Omer counting, many of us stop mourning for the day or until Shavuous.  The 33rd day is called Lag B'Omer. 

There is a tradition that on Lag B'Omer Rabbi Akiva's 24,000 students who had been dying from a plague stopped dying. The reason that is given by the Rabbis  for their dying is that they were not nice to one another. Maybe they stopped dying because maybe they learned their lesson.

In Israel Lag B'Omer has national and military significance.

 It is a remembrance connected to the Bar Kokhba Revolt, and the students and the nation were fighting for freedom. 

 Initially the revolt was successful, and for three years the Province of Judea was independent with Bar Kokhba at its head with the title of Nasi Israel.

It took from the time of Bar Kokhba 1900 years for us to regain our independence.

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JEREMIAH

The Haftorah for Bechukotai is from Jeremiah.
We all know that sooner or later Hashem judges us. But how does He actually do it? For the Prophet Jeremiah (17:9-10), 2,600 years ago, it is by examining a person’s heart and kidneys.

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and when it is sick, who will recognize it?

I, the Lord, search the heart, test the kidneys, to give everyone according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds".

The heart and the kidneys at the time of Jeremiah and in the Chumash, 100's of years earlier, were held to be the location of a person’s psyche, the totality of the human mind, both conscious and unconscious.

Think about that when you recite the Shema Yisrael.

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At Jeremiah 17:7-8 -

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord; the Lord shall be his trust For he shall be like a tree planted by the water, and by a rivulet spreads its roots, and will not see when heat comes, and its leaves shall be green, and in the year of drought will not be anxious, neither shall it cease from bearing fruit."

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In the Omer counting this week we have come to Sefirat Yesod, who’s meaning as per Rabbi Shimon Jacobson, is Bonding.

 

Here is a something of what Rabbi Jacobson has to say about Boding:

Bonding means connecting; not only feeling for another but being attached to him or her. Bonding is not just a token commitment, but total devotion. It creates a channel between giver and receiver.

Bonding is eternal Every person needs bonding to flourish and grow. The bonding between mother and child; between husband and wife; between brothers and sisters; between close friends.

Bonding establishes trust - trust in yourself and trust in others. It instills confidence. Bonding means "foundation". Bonding is giving all of yourself not just part of you.

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We conclude the Book of Leviticus:

חזק, חזק, ונתחזק

Be strong; Be strong, and let us strengthen one another.

Chazak Chazak Ve-Nit’Chazek