21 May 2011 | 17 Iyar 5771 | Leviticus 26:3-27:34

To some, our Torah Portion today, Bechukotai, is known as “the Tochecha,” “the reproof.”  In fact, it is the shorter of two such sections in the Torah. We will read the second, much longer “Tochecha” later this summer when we read Parshat Ki Tavo in the Book of Deuteronomy.

Read some of the curses that the Torah says will befall the Israelites if they fail to follow God’s ways. Some of them are quite graphic.  Can these really be words to associate with the Divine?  Can’t we just quickly gloss over them and move on to something more pleasant?

Maybe…but the Tochecha section has something to teach us about perceived “curses” in our lives. With out a doubt the theology of the Torah that views such things as divine in origin challenges us and our understanding of Torah.  

But taken as a whole (i.e. the Tochecha curses section and the section of blessings that precedes it) this parasha shares something about our perception of blessings and curses in our lives.  At least that is the way our Rabbis read this it about 1500 years ago.

[We are concerned that] men should not say: Our Master Moses blessed us little but cursed us abundantly.  How so?  In Leviticus there are thirty-nine curses but only eleven blessings. Rabbi Shmuel said: The student will find more blessings than curses.  How so?  The blessings begin with the letter alef – Im b’hukotai telechu and end with the letter tav – va’olech Etchem komimiut (Leviticus 26:13), signifying that alef to tav (A to Z) blessings will reach you.  The curses, on the other hand, begin with vav…and end with heh (Leviticus 26:43) and there is nothing between vav and heh. (Midrash Tanhuma, Re’eh 4)

According to this midrash, it is a fact that the number of curses in our Torah Portion outnumber the blessings by 28. However, to say that is true misses the real, hidden meaning embedded within the parasha. For if one reads closely, as the Rabbis did, one finds an entire alphabet (or universe) of blessings hinted at in just one particular verse of the blessings. And if one reads just one particular verse of the curses, one discovers the “absence” of an alphabet and, therefore, an absence of curses.

Never mind the interpretive method of the Rabbis. Appreciate it for what it is.  But could it be that the Rabbis had a message they wished to share about human nature and just found verses on which to “hang” it?  Could the Rabbis have been seeking to say something about our perception of blessings and curses?

As we live each day, week, month and year, do we recognize our lives to be filled with more “blessings” or “curses?”  How do we and our experiences affect our perception of the objective realities we encounter?  For example, are we optimists or pessimists?

Are there really more curses than blessings in Parshat Bechukotai? Are there really more “curses” or “blessings in our lives?”  What do you think?

Shabbat Shalom.