Kolel - Parashat Bechukotai

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Tuesday, May 20, 2008 Parashat Bechukotai, Leviticus 26:3-27:34

It is easy to be grateful when faced with abundance; the challenge is how to keep one's faith when staring at famine. A few years back, before we were so worried about carbs, there was a television commercial about Fred the baker whose only concern was making doughnuts 24/7. His "time to make the doughnuts" mantra assured us a fresh product all day long. Exhausted as Fred may have been, he was most fortunate to have been a baker in our technological age. Had he lived in the ancient world, he would have had much less to show for a hard day's work. Actually, Fred would have been busy growing and harvesting the grain, Mrs. Fred would have been the one for whom baking bread was a daily grind: In the Bronze and Iron Age, bread was the staple food. Since it was prepared almost every day, bread-making was one of the main activities of a household. People in Canaan and Ancient Israel consumed between 330 - 440 lbs. of wheat and barley per year. An individual typically consumed 50 - 70 % of calories from these cereals -mostly eaten in the form of bread. The grinding of grain was done by hand, using a quern: this consisted of a fixed lower stone, called a metate, and a moveable upper stone or mano. The quern was made of basalt, a course volcanic stone, which was preferred for the process because of its rough surface and relatively light weight. The grain was ground on the course surface to break down the soft center of the kernel into flour. It was a very laborious process and had the disadvantage of producing basalt grit which got into the bread and gradually wore down the teeth. Bread, Canaan and Ancient Israel http://www.museum.upenn.edu/Canaan/Bread.shtml University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology

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No wonder bread is such an elemental symbol in the Torah. In the beginning Adam is told By the sweat of your brow shall you get bread to eat …(Genesis 3:19). Gritty though it may have been, ancient bread represented both the good and the bad. This imagery comes into play in Bechukotai, the very last parasha in Leviticus. The message of Bechukotai is referred to as a tokhacha, a rebuke. Using stark images it conveys what will happen if we fulfill God's will: You shall eat old grain long stored, and you shall have to clear out the old to make room for the new. (Leviticus 26:10), and what will happen if we don't: When I break your staff of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in a single oven; they shall dole out your bread by weight, and though you eat, you shall not be satisfied. (Leviticus 26:26) Interesting words: ve'achaltem ve-lo tisbe'u, though you eat, you shall not be satisfied. Deuteronomy 8:10 instructs us using the same verbs ve'achtala ve'savata, When you have eaten your fill, give thanks to the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you. Bread brings with it immediate gratification by calming a growling stomach. This is not to be confused with the instant gratification that so many of us seek today. The satisfaction derived from a piece of bread fulfills a basic necessity. The importance of this gratification is evident in a Talmudic tale. Abba Hilkiah was known for his ability to pray for rain. Once when asked to do so, he and his wife went to the roof of their house and began to pray. The dark storm clouds first formed over the corner where his wife was standing. When asked about this, Abba Hilkiah explained that he gives money to the poor but his wife gives them bread which they can enjoy immediately; hence she merited this response to her prayer. (Ta'anit 23a-b) How then is it possible, to eat and not be satisfied? What sort of dreadful curse is this? A number of Holocaust survivors, as well as others who have faced starvation tell of those first meals after liberation. Unsure if there would be any food the next day, they hid pieces of bread. Experience had taught them to be careful and to hoard. Eating meant survival, not immediate gratification. It took time to overcome this desire to put some bread aside "just in case." These are the most extreme situations. Yet there are other obstacles in life that have the same end result: though you eat, you shall not be satisfied. What of the person who, having survived a round of chemotherapy is informed the prognosis is bleak? What of the couple who have tried their best to make things work but the marriage breaks up and the family is devastated? What of the individual who has placed heart and soul into his work and is unceremoniously let go? All these are efforts done by the sweat of your brow where the result is you shall not be satisfied. It is easy to be grateful when faced with abundance; the challenge is how to keep one's faith when staring at famine. Bechukotai is about reward and punishment; it is very simple. Life is file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Cafe/Escritorio/Kolel%20-%20Parashat%20Bechukotai.htm (2 de 3)22/05/2008 09:11:49 a.m.

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not. It is unsavory and seemingly insulting to view a life-threatening illness, a troubled marriage, or a lost job as punishment. In such situations it is understandable that the suffering individual may question what is happening: "Why me? What did I do to deserve this? It isn't fair!" These are occasions that result in anger towards or alienation from God. The question of suffering is as old as Judaism. The first question asked is "why?" The book of Job argues that we cannot understand God's ways. Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) finds it useless to speculate on what is fair and unfair in life. Rather, we should do our best no matter what the circumstances. The Talmudic sages also found it difficult to provide an answer:

Rabbi Yannai said: "It is not in our power to explain the well-being of the wicked or the sufferings of the righteous." Avot 4:15 Looking at Bechukotai we are tempted to answer that suffering must be punishment for something. But in the Rabbinic response to suffering, "why?" is the wrong question. Instead of delving into theology, the sages tried to find a human response, asking, "What can we learn from this?" The first step is to provide comfort and support for the sufferer. In fact that may be the only response we can provide. For the individual in pain there is no simple answer, no immediate gratification. "What can I learn from this?" may be a question that at first appears irrelevant and later may be unappetizing. It is like that ancient bread that takes all day to grind and then wears down your teeth. The process provides sustenance, not satiation. But it will keep you going until you no longer feel the need to place a few crumbs in your pocket for the next day. Given time, sustenance can slowly turn to gratification, reaching the point where suffering subsides, healing begins, and you truly feel that: When you have eaten your fill, give thanks to the Lord your God. Shabbat shalom, MS

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