Torah from HACD
The Land as Caretaker, Parashat Behukotai, May 31, 2024
In the final parashah of Sefer Vayikra, Behukkotai, the Torah provides a special focus on the Land of Israel. Indeed, the Land is mentioned over twenty times in this parashah, beginning with this frequently repeated idea (Leviticus 26:2-3):
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If you follow My laws and faithfully observe My commandments, I will grant your rains in their season, so that the Land will give you its crops and the trees of the field their fruit. |
אִם בְּחֻקֹּתַי תֵּלֵכוּ וְאֶת מִצְוֹתַי תִּשְׁמְרוּ וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָם: וְנָתַתִּ֥י גִשְׁמֵיכֶ֖ם בְּעִתָּ֑ם וְנָתְנָ֤ה הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ יְבוּלָ֔הּ וְעֵ֥ץ הַשָּׂדֶ֖ה יִתֵּ֥ן פִּרְיֽוֹ: |
This theme, which we see throughout the Torah, and which we repeat in the second paragraph of the shema, presents the Land as a moral actor. If we follow the law, the Land produces food and rewards our behavior. If we don’t observe God’s laws, the Land of Israel doesn’t produce food. And when these violations of God’s law are serious enough, we are, according to this theology, kicked of of the Land. That is, the Land becomes a moral actor and will not tolerate our misbehavior (Leviticus 26:43-44).
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Then will I remember My covenant with Jacob; I will remember also My covenant with Isaac, and also My covenant with Abraham; and I will remember the Land. For the land shall be empty of them, making up for its sabbatical years by being desolate of them, while they make up for their sinfulness since they rejected My rules and spurned My laws. |
וְזָכַרְתִּי אֶת בְּרִיתִי יַעֲקוֹב וְאַף אֶת בְּרִיתִי יִצְחָק וְאַף אֶת בְּרִיתִי אַבְרָהָם אֶזְכֹּר וְהָאָרֶץ אֶזְכֹּר: וְהָאָרֶץ תֵּעָזֵב מֵהֶם וְתִרֶץ אֶת שַׁבְּתֹתֶיהָ בָּהְשַׁמָּה מֵהֶם וְהֵם יִרְצוּ אֶת עֲוֹנָם יַעַן וּבְיַעַן בְּמִשְׁפָּטַי מָאָסוּ וְאֶת חֻקֹּתַי גָּעֲלָה נַפְשָׁם. |
The covenant, as described in the opening lines of the parashah, is that God will reward us on the Land if we observe God’s rules, AND that God will punish us if we disobey those rules. These verses describe the second situation. God will remember the covenant with the ancestors, and God will remember the Land, And the Land itself will be barren because the people failed to observe the laws that was described in last week’s parashah Behar about the sabbatical year.
The midrash notes a wide variety of strange aspects about verse 43. The ancestors are listed in reverse order as well as other strange features. But the most strange thing is that the Land is listed alongside the ancestors. Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish states a mashal, a parable to explain this strange inclusion of the Land alongside the ancestors.
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When [the Torah] mentions the Avot/fathers (at Lev. 26:42) why does it mention the land with them? Said R. Shimon b. Lakish, [This may be compared] to a king who had three children and a servant who raised them all. Whenever the king was wondering about how his children were, he would say, “Ask for me about the welfare of the one who raises them.” So whenever the Holy Blessed One mentions the Avot, he mentions the Land [of Israel] along with them, as it says, “Then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, [and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham,] and I will remember the land” (Lev. 26:42). |
וְלָמָּה הוּא מַזְכִּיר זְכוּת אָבוֹת וּמַזְכִּיר זְכוּת הָאָרֶץ עִמָּהֶם? אָמַר רֵישׁ לָקִישׁ מָשָׁל לְמֶלֶךְ שֶׁהָיוּ לוֹ שְׁלשָׁה בָּנִים, וְשִׁפְחָה אַחַת מִשֶּׁלּוֹ מְגַדַּלְתָּן, כָּל זְמַן שֶׁהָיָה הַמֶּלֶךְ שׁוֹאֵל שְׁלוֹם בָּנָיו, הָיָה אוֹמֵר שַׁאֲלוּ לִי בִּשְׁלוֹם הַמְגַדֶּלֶת, כָּךְ כָּל זְמַן שֶׁהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מַזְכִּיר אָבוֹת מַזְכִּיר הָאָרֶץ עִמָּהֶם, הֲדָא הוּא דִכְתִיב: וְזָכַרְתִּי אֶת בְּרִיתִי יַעֲקוֹב וגו’ וְהָאָרֶץ אֶזְכֹּר. |
R. Shimon ben Lakish’s parable is striking. Rather than ask about his children directly, the king asks about the one who is tasked with taking care of them. Presumably, the King can tell how the children are doing by looking at the adult who spends time with them. This seems a little strange, but as I walk the halls of HACD, and look at the expressions of the teachers, one can see excitement and passion, and I can usually assume that the teacher has had a good lesson, and a quick look in at the students can confirm that. The reverse is not always the case. Occasionally, one sees a teacher whose face seems a little drawn; not every lesson goes perfectly, and no group of students is always “easy.” But frequently a teacher looks tired not because a lesson went poorly, but because teaching takes a lot of effort. So I don’t know if one can, as R. Shimon ben Lakish suggests, discern the state of the children from just looking at the caregivers.
What I do know is that the teachers at HACD are incredibly hard working and one can see the results of their work in the faces of the children and in the way the children build on what they’ve learned to ask more questions. I also know that I am truly grateful to our faculty for their efforts in raising our students and helping them learn. I look forward to seeing you at the Gala where we will, as a community, be able to honor them for the work they have done and continue to do.
Is the same true of the Land of Israel? Can we sense how well the people of Israel are doing by the state of the Land? I haven’t experienced that. I nonetheless think it is a powerful metaphor for the people of Israel to imagine that our actions have a direct impact on the Land. The particular reference to exile as a result of the violation of the Sabbatical year makes us attuned to the ways in which extracting too much from the resources of the Land can have that direct impact. May our actions as individuals and as a people give God joy and assure God’s favor so the the Land of Israel can also be satisfied with the morality of the people of Israel, that our place on the Land is secure and that we dwell in peace without fear. And may our actions outside of the Land also find favor in God’s eyes so that we can sense in the earth as a whole, a satisfaction that we are doing right by it as well.
Shabbat Shalom,
Jeffrey Spitzer