Bechukotai | The Blessing and the Curse (Yirmiyahu 16:19 - 17:14)

 

a.  Enough punishment without adding a haftora 

It seems that our Sages were faced with a difficult problem in their search for a suitable haftora for parashat Bechukotai.  The crux of the parasha is reproof, accompanied by dire warnings of punishment and terrible curses.  There are, of course, many parallel prophecies that warn of harsh punishment, but what point would there be in further threats? Surely those mentioned in the parasha suffice.

 

The Sages looked for a suitable haftora and found this prophecy of Yirmiyahu which, although it does contain an element of "curse," also contains a promise of "blessing," and both scenarios are contained in the context of a broader prophecy.

 

b.  For the individual and for the nation

But attention should be paid to the fact that while the blessings and curses described in the parasha are formulated in the plural and are addressed to the nation as a whole, those mentioned in the haftora are addressed to the individual; they are formulated in the singular.  The one who is cursed is he who has faith in man, and the one who is blessed is he who has faith in God.  The former is compared to a lone tree in the desert, while the latter is compared to a tree planted by the waters – both in the singular.  This may in itself represent a vision of exile, where Divine Providence is removed, as it were, from the nation and rests instead on individuals.

 

This may complement what we are told in the parasha.  Someone hearing the curses mentioned in the Torah may console himself with the thought that "I'll be fine even if I follow my heart's desires, for my sins will be added to the sum total of all the sins of the congregation, and the punishment – if it comes – will fall upon the community as a whole," such that he finds comfort in the idea that he will not suffer alone.  The words of Yirmiyahu, then, formulated as they are in the singular, come to teach us that each individual has personal responsibility and is answerable for his own actions, be they good or evil.

 

c.  The blessings and curses of the parasha vs. those of the haftora

There are two more differences between the blessing and the curse of Yirmiyahu and those in the parasha.  The first concerns the order: the parasha begins with blessings – the reward that awaits the nation if it follows the path of Torah and mitzvot – and then goes on to warn of punishment.  In the haftora, the order is reversed: Yirmiyahu starts with punishment and concludes with blessing.  First he rebukes – "Cursed is the man who trusts in mortals" (17:5), and only afterwards does he promise, "Blessed is the man who trusts in God" (17:7).

 

The second difference is one of proportion.  In the parasha there seems to be a lack of equilibrium between the blessings and curses.  Following a few corresponding pesukim, the curses seem to trample the bounds of the parallel and to extend much further than the blessings did, such that eleven pesukim of blessings are matched by some thirty pesukim of curses.  In the haftora, in contrast, there is a perfect balance of blessings and curses (tending if anything more to the side of the blessings).

 

These two differences may also have influenced the choice of this prophecy as the haftora.  The Sages may have wished that the picture that arises from the juxtaposition of the parasha and haftora is the following: Blessing – curse – curse – blessing.

 

An introduction and conclusion of blessing represents a framework of hope: "God is the hope of Israel...the fountain of living waters, God." (17:13)

 

The relationship between the blessing and curse in the haftora may bring us to a new perception of the relationship between them in the parasha, a perception that reveals that in truth the curses are not as plentiful as they seemed at first.  Indeed, the Sages counted and found that the blessings number more than the curses:

"Rabbi Levi said, Behold, the ways of God are not like the ways of mortals.  God blesses Israel with twenty-two expressions and curses them with eight.  The blessings begin with "If you walk in My statutes" (26:3) and end with "upright" (26:13).  The eight curses begins with "If you despise My statutes" (26:15) and conclude with "their soul abhorred My statutes" (26:43)." (Bava Batra 88b)

 

In other words, the array of blessings is complete from beginning to end (it begins with the letter "aleph" and ends with the letter "tav,") while the section of the curses is disjointed and partial, even though it contains more details and is spread over a greater number of verses.  It is as though the curses are divided into several small doses, in order that they not all overtake the nation at once, so that they will be able to withstand them and not be consumed.

 

Therefore, the conclusion of the haftora is particularly fitting as an antidote to the calamitous visions of the parasha: "Heal me, God, that I may be healed; save me that I may be saved, for You are my praise" (17:14).

 

d.  More connections between the parasha and the haftora

1. 1. The prophet complains, "Their altars are like the remembrance of their children" (17:2) – "Like the remembrance of their children, so was their remembrance of their altars, like someone who longs for his son" (Rashi).  In the parasha, too, we find that the text juxtaposes punishment involving children and the altars: "And you shall consume the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters you shall consume.  And I will destroy your high places and cut down your images"  (26:29-30).  The latter image may even be harder for the nation to bear than the former – although the destruction of the high places and the cutting down of their images is not really a punishment at all, from their point of view it represents a terrible blow.

 

1. 2. The prophet warns, "You shall be discontinued from your heritage that I gave to you" (17:4).  In other words, "Against your will you will leave the land, for not having observed your Sabbaths that I commanded you – that the land may rest" (Rashi).  Likewise we are told in the parasha, "Then the land will enjoy her Sabbaths, for as long as it lies fallow...then the land will rest and will enjoy her Sabbaths... that you did not observe while you dwelled upon it" (26:34-35).  Indeed, according to the custom of some communities, this prophecy is read as the haftora for parashat Behar, which deals specifically with the laws of shemitta.

 

e.  All are innocent, all are guilty, and the in-between

But there is something in the message of the haftora that differs from the parasha.  In the parasha, those who are blessed and those who are cursed are at two opposite poles.  Blessed are those who walk in God's statutes and observe His judgments, and cursed are those who despise the statutes.  The image that is created is one of two opposites: a generation that is completely guilty or a generation that is completely righteous, with no apparent possibility of anything in between.  In contrast, how similar are the two men described by Yirmiyahu.  Blessed is the man and cursed is the man.  Although both are called "gever" (man), both require some outside force in which to trust and upon which to lean.  The difference between them is only the object of their trust.  Blessed is the one who trusts in God, and cursed is the one who trusts in man.  They are so fundamentally similar that it is relatively easy for someone who feels the need for an external object of trust to transfer his faith in man into faith in God.  Thus, there is hope for him.

 

f.  From confession to confession

What heralds the end of the rebuke and the curses in the parasha is confession: "And they will confess their sin and the sin of their fathers in their iniquity which they perpetrated against Me" (26:40).  And the haftora opens with an image of confession: "The nations will come to you from the ends of the earth and will say, Our forefathers inherited only lies, vanity and things that are worthless."  In this way, the haftora emphasizes the verses of the "vidui" (confession) in the parasha.

 

g.  I shall run from You towards You

Following the many and disheartening verses of rebuke, the soul seeks some solace (although the rebuke does end on a note of reconciliation).  And that is exactly what is presented at the opening of the haftora: "God, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in the day of trouble."  In the spirit of the words of the poet: "I shall flee from You towards You" (Rashbag, "Keter Malkhut").  For indeed, "God is the hope of Israel" (17:13), and the Healer of all sickness.

Translated by Kaeren Fish