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

Behar Leviticus 25:1-26:2

  Behar Leviticus 25:1-26:2

 In Behar we read about proper conduct to a fellow Jew:  

At 25:17 -

“And you shall not wrong, one man his fellow Jew, and you shall fear your God, for I am the Lord, your God”.

At 25:25 -

“If your brother becomes destitute and sells some of his inherited property, his redeemer who is related to him shall come forth and redeem his brother's sale”.

At 25:35 -

“If your brother becomes destitute and his hand falters beside you, you shall support him [whether] a convert or a resident, so that he can live with you”.

At 25:36 –

“You shall not take from him interest or increase, and you shall fear your God, and let your brother live with you”.

At 25:37 -

“You shall not give him your money with interest, nor shall you give your food with increase”.

At 25:39 -

“And if your brother becomes destitute with you, and is sold to you, do not work him with slave labor”.

At 25:43 -

“You shall not work him with rigor, and you shall fear your God”.

At 25:47-48 -

“If a resident non Jew gains wealth with you, and your brother becomes destitute with him and is sold to a resident non Jew among you or to an idol of the family of a non Jew.

After he is sold, he shall have redemption; one of his brothers shall redeem him”.

Being a Member of the Tribe is not a bad deal.😃

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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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At 25.23 we learn just who the Land of Israel belongs to:

 וְהָאָרֶץ, לֹא תִמָּכֵר לִצְמִתֻת--כִּי-לִי, הָאָרֶץ:  כִּי-גֵרִים וְתוֹשָׁבִים אַתֶּם, עִמָּדִי.

"The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land belongs to Me, for you are strangers and  residents with Me".

This is a profound idea: the land that we were  commanded to possess as an inheritance is fundamentally not ours because we are only guests.   Hashem is the only one who truly possesses the holy land.  

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Just as we must rest on the seventh day, so must the Land rest.

At 25:4 -

וּבַשָּׁנָה הַשְּׁבִיעִת, שַׁבַּת שַׁבָּתוֹן יִהְיֶה לָאָרֶץ--שַׁבָּת, לַיהוָה:  שָׂדְךָ לֹא תִזְרָע, וְכַרְמְךָ לֹא תִזְמֹר.

"But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath unto the LORD; thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard".

This rest for the Land is called the "shimitah" year.  It is observed in Israel. 

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Jeremiah

This week’s Haftarah portion is from Chapter 32 of the Book of Jeremiah which contains 52 chapters in all. The Prophet Jeremiah is a person who has the courage to be disliked.  By contrast, many of us go out of our way to be likable, to be popular, and to not upset the apple cart. We excel in maintain the status quo…not so Jeremiah:

The episode in the Haftarah portion takes place about one year prior to the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar destroying Jerusalem or about 587 BCE.  The setting is in a prison yard where Jeremiah has been incarcerated for speaking out against King Zedekiah.

I don’t know how prison yards looked 2,600 years ago or say 1500 BCE.  However you and I have watched enough thriller movies to picture the yard:

There is at least one huge muscular guy working out with an impossibly heavy barbell.  Many of the inmates have separated into groups, such as white supremacist skinheads or blacks or Latinos or whatever. And often there is one inmate who has been tasked with assassinating the good guy.

 

Returning to the reality of Jeremiah we learn that Hashem tells the Prophet that he will be visited by a close kinsman who will ask Jeremiah if he is interested in purchasing some family property located in the village of Anathoth, about 2.5 miles north of Jerusalem.  It is up for sale.  Jeremiah has been selected as a potential purchaser because 900 years prior at Mt. Sinai we were commanded by Hashem to keep our lands within our family, and not to sell our lands to someone outside of the family.  This commandment is found in Leviticus 25:25 and evidently was and is the rule of the Land:

 כִּי-יָמוּךְ אָחִיךָ, וּמָכַר מֵאֲחֻזָּתוֹ--וּבָא גֹאֲלוֹ, הַקָּרֹב אֵלָיו, וְגָאַל, אֵת מִמְכַּר אָחִיו.

“If your brother becomes destitute and sells some of his inherited property, his redeemer who is related to him shall come forth and redeem his brother's sale”.

The commandment takes more importance in purchasing back land from a non-Jew who had acquired previously owned  Jewish land. We have this today 2600 years later, particularly in Jerusalem, where Jewish individuals such as Irving Moskowitz, z’l, or Jewish organizations purchase land from Moslem landowners.

Jeremiah’s situation is somewhat different. He has been commanded by Hashem to purchase land that for all intents purposes is worthless. It is only a matter of time that Jerusalem will fall, many of us will go into exile and the real estate market will be in shambles.  This not a matter of buying low and selling high.  It is a matter, however, that Hashem will right the wrong, and Nebuchadnezzar’s days are limited, which is indeed what happened. In just a short time later, Cyrus the Great defeats the Babylonians and welcomes Jews to return to the Land.

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This week we celebrated Passover Shaini, פסח שני which falls on the 14th of Iyar, one month after after the 14th of Nissan, the day before Passover when we were commanded to bring the Passover sacrifice.

This commandment is described in the Book of Numbers 9:1-14. If perchance a person had come in contact with a corpse, he was rendered ritually impure and not eligible to bring the sacrifice.  Passover Shaini in effect gave these persons another chance to celebrate Passover.

It is a custom nowadays to eat matzah on the second Passover, and to remind us that there is always a second chance.

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In the Omer counting this week we have come to Sefirat Hod, whose meaning is as per Rabbi Shimon Jacobson, Humility.. 

This is a snippet of what Rabbi Jacobson has to say about Humility.  It is applicable to many of us Israelis.

Humility leads to yielding, which is an essential element of Humility - should not be confused with weakness and lack of self-esteem.

EMOR, LEVITICUS 21:1–24:23,REMEMBERANCE DAY, YOM HA'ATZMAUT

 EMOR, LEVITICUS 21:1–24:23, REMEMBERANCE DAY, YOM HA'ATZMAUT

The parsha for this week is EMOR.  In the parsha among other things, there are stated laws that pertain to the Kohanim, and also the festivals of Jewish calendar, including the counting of the Omer. The mitzvah of Kiddush Hashem is also stated.

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Just as important are Remembrance Day and Independence Day:

יום זיכרון

יום העצמאות

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In Parshat Emor we learn about the exalted character of the Kohanim and their responsibility to the nation of Israel.  They were our teachers.  

Who are our teachers today?

In our prayer service today, immediately before the Kohanim bless the congregation, they recite the following blessing:

ברוך אתה הי אלוחינו מלך העולם אשר קדשנו בקדןשתו של אהרון וצונו

לברך את עמו ישראל בהאבה

"Blessed are you Hashem our God, King of the universe who has sanctified us with the holiness of Ahron and commanded us to bless the people of Israel with love".

In the Ethics of the Fathers, 1:12, Hillel says:

הוי מתלמידיו של אהרן, אוהב שלום ורודף שלום, אוהב את הבריות ומקרבן לתורה

"Be a disciple of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving mankind and drawing them closer to the Torah”.

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Jews burned alive for the alleged host desecration in Deggendorf, Bavaria, in 1338, and in Sternberg, Mecklenburg, in 1492; a woodcut from the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493)

At 22:32 we learn:

 וְלֹא תְחַלְּלוּ, אֶת-שֵׁם קָדְשִׁי, וְנִקְדַּשְׁתִּי, בְּתוֹךְ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל:  אֲנִי יְהוָה, מְקַדִּשְׁכֶם.

"And you shall not profane My holy name; but I shall be sanctified among the children of Israel: I am the LORD who sanctifies you".

This verse is called "Kiddush Hashem, sanctification of the Name". it refers to private and communal conduct that reflects well on us, the Jewish people.

Kiddush Hashem also has an aspect of martyrdom or public self-sacrifice.  This is in accordance with Jewish practice and identity where there is the possibility of being killed for no other reason than being Jewish. There are specific conditions such as forced conversion that deal with self-sacrifice, be it willing or unwilling.

In Hebrew a martyr is known as a kaddosh which means "holy one", and martyrs are known as kedoshim meaning. The six million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust are known as the Kedoshim.

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In Parshat Emor we learn again about the eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth Law of Retaliation that has come down to mean monetary compensation for inflicting personal injury. There is one major exception: if you murder someone, you are put to death. There is no monetary compensation for taking someone's life. You cannot buy your way out.

At 21:23 we are taught “עַ֚יִן תַּ֣חַת עַ֔יִן שֵׁ֖ן תַּ֣חַת”, "An eye for an eye".

This is a principle that is sometimes referred to as reciprocal justice or measure for measure or in Latin, lex talionis, the law of retaliation or possibly equitable retribution. On its face this principle seems pretty straight forward: A person who has injured another person is to be penalized to a similar degree by the injured party.

 

I think the original intention of “An eye for an eye” may have been two-fold:

·        To prevent excessive punishment at the hands of either an avenging private party or his Family or Clan or Tribe. It served to prevent feuds and vendettas.

·        To ensure that the standard of care for a wealthy perpetrator, who may wish to buy his way out, be the same as for an improvised person.

 

At the time when we received the Torah at Mt. Sinai there was a Babylonian legal code present in Mesopotamia called the Code of Hammurabi.  Included in this code was the principle of “An eye for an eye”. What the law would have been in Egypt I do not know. I do know that 500 years later at the time of the Judges, as shown in 1:5-7 and Chapter 30 the law of retaliation was still in force.

Looking at the Book of Numbers, Chapter 35: 31-32 except for the crime of murder it may have been possible for a monetary payment, כֹפֶר to be acceptable in place of bodily punishment. Sometime later, it is hard to say when, the lex talionis was "humanized" by the Rabbis who interpreted "an eye for an eye" to mean reasonable monetary compensation.  The Rabbis of the Talmud interpreted it that way. And it is so today.

Question: Is this dangerous ground?  Is the reinterpretation of lex talionis an example of the ability of Judaism to adapt to changing social and intellectual ideas

REMEMBERANCE DAY, INDEPENDENCE DAY: YOM HA'ATZMAUT, YOM ZICHORON

  

 REMEMBERANCE DAY, INDEPENDENCE DAY: YOM ZICHORONYOM HA'ATZMAUT

 Remembrance Day and Independence Day:

יום זיכרון

יום העצמאות

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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THE PRICE OF FREEDOM 

REMEMBERANCE DAY, יום זיכרון

This coming week we observe Yom HaZicharon.  We remember Israel’s fallen soldiers and civilian victims of terrorism. We light a Memorial candle. The siren will sound at 8 PM. Next morning at 11 AM the siren will sound again, and a memorial service will be held at the Nahariya military cemetery. At home we read Psalms 9 and 144. It is a sad day.

There is an on-going cost to keep us Israelis safe and free...

 Remembrance Day,יום זיכרון. 

 On May 12th at 8 PM a siren will go off. and another one will sound on Monday at 11 AM. The country stands still for a moment of silence and remembers the fallen soldiers of the IDF and the victims of terror attacks.  

May their memory be for a blessing.

1,594 soldiers and civilians were killed in combat or by terror since Israel’s last Memorial Day, marking the deadliest year for the country’s security forces and civilians in five decades, and bringing the total tally of casualties to 30,134.

This year very dear to us are our losses in the current war, fighting the so called  Arab Palestinians, Hamas, Hezbollah and other terrorists:

68 police officers

6 Shin Bet agents

39 local security

615 IDF killed.

3,362 IDF wounded

10,225 Israelis wounded.

253 hostages abducted on October 7.

134 hostages remain in trapped Gaza.3 killed by our own forces, at least 90 murdered by Hamas while in captivity?

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יום זיכרון,  MEMORIAL DAY

A reflection on Memorial Day, יום זיכרון  which we will celebrate this week. 

I get to the cemetery early. Some young people handed me a bouquet. I turned to the graves; there were so many of them. I did not know which one to lay the flowers on. I chose 34-year-old Lt. Eliyahu Tadri who perished in July of 1948. It has been a most sad day. I am in a blue funk. Nearby to Lt. Tadri were the graves of three 18-year-olds.

It has been a very sad day.

Immediately following Yom HaZichoron, Memorial Day, we began to celebrate Independence Day, Yom Ha’Atzmaut. During the Maariv service the Ark is opened; we say the Hallel and the Shofar is blown. It is festive, but I am still wrestling with my emotions from Yom HaZichoron. I don’t feel like dancing and the fireworks of Independence Day hold little attraction.

I drink a L'Chaiim to Lt. Tadri and go to bed.

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THE PRICE OF FREEDOM IN NAHARIYA,

REMEMBERANCE DAY, יום זיכרון

Let's step back to 2016:

In 2016 there was a terrorist attack in Tel Aviv. Two Palestinian gunmen opened fire on patrons at the Max Brenner Café in the Sarona Market, killing four people and injuring seven others.

The attack was horrific, but the paradigm was not a new one.  While the slaughter was going on at Tel Aviv’s Sarona market, I was with a group of English speaking Olim in Nahariya.  We had gathered by an apartment building located at 19 Balfour Street.  In 1974 this building was also the site of a terrorist attack in which a mother and her two children aged 5 and 12 were murdered.

There were about two dozen of us Olim.  We walked around the building led by Motti Zarenkin who lost his wife, son and daughter that tearful night in 1974.  Motti began his story.  He took us to the rear of the building and showed us the first floor apartment where he and his family had lived some 42 years ago.  Motti pointed out two windows: a bedroom window through which his wife and children tried to make their escape and a bathroom window where he had started to climb through before being shot and severely wounded.

In 1974 there had been a series of terrorist raids in the Galilee.  It made sense for Israelis to have a plan in place in the event that their home became under attack.  Unfortunately the same is true today. The Zarenkin family had such a plan.  If under attack, Motti would lock the front door and then the family would escape through a bedroom window.   

The Zarenkins lived on the first floor of the building.  Late on the night of June 23, the concussion of a grenade and the sound of small arms fire quickly brought Motti to the terrifying truth that the building was under attack. He feared that the terrorists would break into his apartment, but he and his wife had planned for this frightening reality and so he ran to secure the front door. 

While Motti was locking the front door, his wife, son and daughter were exiting the apartment as planned on a rope previously woven from sheets.  They reached the ground and began running toward the street.  But they were spotted and a grenade killed all three of them.  Motti did not know this; he thought that he had saved his family.  When he tried to escape the apartment as well, through a bathroom window, he was shot.  Wounded, Motti climbed back into his apartment, where he hid until found by soldiers.

Motti was taken to the hospital and was being prepared for surgery.  This was the first of nine surgeries over a three month period.  Just before he went under the anesthesia, his brother-in-law told him that his wife and children had been killed.  “What will you do”, his brother-in-law asked?  “I will get through this and make a new life”, Motti responded. 

And although it is impossible to put yourself in his shoes, that’s what Motti did.  There is another piece to Motti’s story.  In 1979, Nahariya once again was under attack.  This time a mother lost her only infant child.  It was a terrible thing.  The mother was beyond reconciliation.  She would not able to speak or be with anyone.  Her grief was unimaginable.  Motti was asked to approach her which he did.  She knew who he was and what unspeakable agony he had gone through.  The mother and Motti spoke.  Like Motti, despite her tragedy she persevered.  Today she has a growing family.  Motti had saved her.

Motti moved to Haifa.  He built a new family, even grandchildren.  This was the first time that Motti chose to tell his story. It was beyond riveting. We were honored to have been selected to hear his story.  Motti was truly a man; resolute, a role model for all us Jews, and he makes me proud to be an Israeli. Moti passed away in 2020.

The terrorists who attacked the market in Tel Aviv were members of Hamas. They did not come from the sea as they did in 1974 and 1979.  They came from a town near Beersheba.  They are evil.  Hamas and Fatah are evil.  And as we have learned, sad but true; evil will not cure itself.

To the families of the slain Israelis in Tel Aviv: May the Almighty comfort you among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.

For Motti’s deceased wife and children: Peace be upon them; May the memory of the Holy ones be for a blessing, and May Hashem avenge their blood.

The same is true today for all the fallen ones.

May their memory be for a blessing...Only simchas. Only good news.

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 Independence Day,  יום העצמאות

This week we celebrate Israel’s Independence Day, יום העצמאות

There is a prayer for the State of Israel that begins:

(א) אָבִינוּ שֶׁבַּשָּׁמַיִם,

(ב) צוּר יִשְׂרָאֵל וְגוֹאֲלוֹ,

(ג) בָּרֵךְ אֶת מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל,

(ד) רֵאשִׁית צְמִיחַת גְּאֻלָּתֵנוּ

Our Father in Heaven, Rock of Israel and Redeemer, Bless the State of Israel, the First flowering of Our Redemption.

                                                                                                                        According to Rabbi Sacks excerpted from the Koren Siddur, the phrase "the first flowering of our redemption" means that the restoration of Israel as a sovereign nation in its own land was not merely an event in secular history.

                                                                                                                                  It is the fulfillment of a prophetic vision--first stated by Moses in Deuteronomy 30:4 --that Israel would one day will be gathered from "the furthermost lands under the heavens". 

Astonishingly, this precise prediction has actually happened

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OMER COUNT FOR INDEPENDENCE DAY

Let's not forget the counting of the Omer, Wednesday night being the 20th day of the Omer count.

Rabbi Simon Jacobson provides spiritual insight into the counting of the Omer for each and every day. For the 20th Day of the Omer, which is day six of the third week we are directed to correct the flaw in the Sefirat known as Yesod of Tiferet. Here Tiferet is considered as compassion, and Yesod having within it the ability to bond.  Rabbi Jacobson explains how  the compassion of the day can be rectified:

 

"For compassion to be fully realized, it needs bonding. It requires creating a channel between giver and receiver. A mutuality that extends beyond the moment of need. A bond that continues to live on. That is the most gratifying result of true compassion. Do you bond with the one you have compassion for, or do you remain apart? Does your interaction achieve anything beyond a single act of sympathy?"

 

The 20th Day of the Omer coincides with Yom Ha'atzmaut.  Consider Rabbi Jacobson’s words in the context of a relationship between Jews outside of Israel and our Land of Israel.  

To correct the flaw in this Sefriat, Rabbi Jacobson proposes the following exercise: Ensure that something eternal is built (the Land of Israel) as a result of your (Jews living outside of Israel) compassion.