B’chukotai
Leviticus 26:3-27:34
Jeremiah 16:19-17:14
“Therefore, I am letting them know, once and for all I will make them know My might and power; and they shall know that I am called the Eternal” — Jeremiah 16:21.
Why were verses from chapters 16 and 17 of Jeremiah chosen as the Haftarah for this week’s Torah portion?
This portion, the last in the book of Leviticus (“Vayikra” in Hebrew), contains the great revelation of Israel’s fate, given to Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness. The destiny of their descendants, the Jewish people, would depend on whether they were faithful to God and the Torah.
Many centuries later, the prophet Jeremiah witnessed the destruction of Solomon’s Temple and of the city of Jerusalem, and the fall of the Kingdom of Judah in 586 B.C.E. Yet he did not lament over the ruins.
Jeremiah, intoxicated by his faith in God, exalted the greatness of the mission that God had given to the Jewish people. They were to wander in exile, suffer persecution and misery, but only so that they would learn the hard lessons God intended for them to teach to all humanity. There is nothing like their story in all human history.
Under the Babylonian empire, the tiny Jewish state collapsed during Jeremiah’s lifetime. The Jews were carried off into exile.
They later were given a period of return to the Holy Land, and were able to build a Second Temple, but that, too, was destroyed, this time by the Romans in 70 C.E. The resulting exile lasted nearly 2,000 years.
While the rest of the world underwent nation-state building, the Jews had no opportunity or prospects for political independence. Only a mere 60 years ago was the Third Commonwealth of Israel established.
Spiritual conqueror
Jeremiah correctly foresaw that without political or military power, without the apparatus and authority of a nation-state, without a central religious focus or sanctuary, Israel’s position would be one of perpetual exile, a puppet in the hands of future powers.
And yet Jeremiah proclaimed that Israel was the spiritual conqueror of the nations. The Jewish faith in God would be the mainstay and anchor for all the moral and spiritual hopes of the world.
Even in their condition of exile, servitude and dependence on the goodwill of others, the Jews would be the victorious herald of God’s Truth. Their knowledge and wisdom would save humanity.
Jeremiah understood that the Babylonian devastation was a passing phase in Jewish history. It was God who allowed the Israelites to become a powerless, helpless, and scattered people. It was also God who gave them the spirit to endure and carry their faith as a torch for the rest of the world.
It was God who let trouble fall upon the Jews, but always helped them find refuge and salvation in every hour of danger and tribulation.
It was God who let the Jews always walk on the edge of the abyss, and yet always planned to elevate them to their former greatness and, through them, gather all of the nations to the Divine Self.
It has not been a pointless exercise in historic futility for the scattered Jews to wander among the nations of the world for thousands of years without the material support and self-defenses that maintain the well-being of all successful nations.
The Jews have gone without a land of their own, without monarchs or princes, without priests, without their Temple and without visible manifestations from God as during biblical days.
And yet, they have seen all their oppressors and persecutors, the tyrants and empires pass away into oblivion. They have seen the modern State of Israel come into existence despite huge odds against it.
This one tiny little nation, alone with its God, wandering the earth, maintained its eternal youth and freshness until the long-dreamed of return to the Promised Land.
This experience ought to tear the blindfolds from the eyes of humanity. The nations ought to recognize the truth of Israel’s ethical message and the Torah.
The non-Jewish nations ought to understand that there is no permanent happiness for those who do not believe in, and follow, the same moral principles that God revealed to the Israelites.
Larry Hurwitz, M.D., is the senior editor for Torah Productions Inc. (www.torahproductions.com).
Loading ...