Parasha Behar-Bechukotai, Reap what You Sow; Leviticus 25:1-27:34, Haftarah, Jerimiah 16:19-17:14

Over this past weekend we were horrified, shocked, fearful and certainly angered that innocent souls were lost to gun violence once again.  This has become endemic in our country and quite frankly the people we elect to watch over us so we can go shopping, take in a movie or send our kids to school, are failing miserably to solve this problem over the rights of Americans to have guns and the safety measures that are associated with them.  I am not going to get involved with the politics of this issue here,  but the bottom line is that while we have the right to own and use guns we also are charged with the responsibility to do so correctly.  In this week’s double parasha, Behar-Bechukotai, the last reading in Leviticus, we learn that if the land, people, and animals are treated improperly there are consequences that impact the community. While we may find that the words of this Torah are written is a way that does not resonate with our modern worldview, the same holds true today, what we do and do not do has results and consequences.

In the beginning of Behar, in Leviticus 25:2, upon entering the land the Jews would have the responsibility to treat the land properly, giving the land itself a Shabbat rest in the Jubilee year (50 year), allowing what comes from the ground to grow naturally.  Later in Bechukotai from Leviticus 26:3 and 26:14 we read simply that if God's laws concerning the land are followed then there will be “rains in their season the earth shall yield its produce and the trees of the field their fruit,” but if they do not “you shall sow your seed to no purpose, for your enemies shall eat it.”  Rashi teaching on the meaning of “you shall sow your seed to no purpose, for your enemies shall eat it,” writes that “while you shall sow your seed [and] it shall not grow, but if it does grow, your enemies shall eat it [instead of you].”  Justice cuts two ways, kind of like karma.  Rabbi Yitz Greenberg notes that this Torah is about “a world of equality, justice, and universal dignity,” meaning that if those values are not upheld there will not be “equal justice,” and the enemy will prevail over the owner of the land.

While the people in Bible times saw this as direct Divine Karma in terms of Gods judgement over people, Maimonides had a different take on how that worked. Maimonides in his salient work, Guide for the Perplexed, talks about the relationship between Divine Providence and Divine Intellectual Influence.  Maimonides would say that both “good and evil fortunes are a result of justice,” although the mandate of God’s justice is determined by human action and the result of human choices that are guided by a person’s divine image.  Maimonides offers the example of one who grabs a rose stem and gets pricked, a lack of mental acuity (Divine Intellectual Influence), whereas the pain would be the result (Divine Providence); or if you place your hand on a hot stove you are going to get burned, so do not place your hand on a hot stove and then blame God when you are in pain!  In the case of the land per Leviticus 26:3 it is Divine Intellectual Influence that says there is a right and wrong way to treat the land and if the latter, mistreatment, then Leviticus 26:14 tells us there will be negative consequences, or Divine Providence; not to different then how we treat the environment and the results that are being reaped today.  Yet this is not about what God is doing according to Maimonides, more so than it is about people bringing on their own sense of Divine justice by what they do, right and wrong.  But there is another section in Bechukotai that should be looked at although not easy to digest.

In Leviticus 26:27-29 we read, “But if, despite this, you disobey Me and remain hostile to Me, I will act against you in wrathful hostility; I, for My part, will discipline you sevenfold for your sins. You shall eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters.”  First, this is why people have problems with God as a passage like the above “provides justification for those who reject both faith and God” (Sarah Sager, The Torah). If you read the above literally it sure sounds like God will violently punish people who do not obey; I have an issue with that God, and frankly so should you.  But then second, the flesh of son’s and daughter’s will be eaten, what the heck is that about. The Midrash says that this was an act of desperation when food became scarce and fear ruled the day (Sifra, Bechukotai, Chapter 6 3) whereas the Talmud (Jerusalem Talmud Peah 2:4:5) says the people should have known better. Maimonides (Mishnah Torah, Prayer and the Priestly Blessing 13:18) links this to fasting days, like Tisha B’av, writing that this will lead the community to repent and humble their hearts.

Maimonides is saying that tragedy remembered will lead to tragedy avoided. In the same way, a thorn will cause blood because it is a thorn, but did it not happen because of the human irresponsibility to grab it in the first place?  Should we not see this idea of the payback sevenfold in light of human responsibility as opposed to the Divine hand of punishment?  Again, Rashi taught that if the land is mistreated and still grow's food, whatever comes from the ground will be confiscated and enjoyed by enemies.  This can be understood to mean that poor perpetual choices produce bad consequences, meaning that bad choices will reap what is sowed, which for Maimonides is called Divine Providence, while others may call it karma.

Ending how we began. If we are incapable of coming up with laws and regulations regarding guns and how they are obtained and used, then the tragedy of what we saw in Dallas last week (let alone others place) will be tragedy unavoided in the future.  We will reap "sevenfold" the consequences of our irresponsibility in this matter seen in unnecessary killings that are like “[eating] the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters.”  Until gun control laws are seen in the light of human irresponsibility regarding the purchase and use of particular weapons that should never get into the public's hands then innocent people will continue to die while we argue about this issue.  This is not about opposing the rights of American's to own guns, its about recognizing that if we sow a message of no limits to gun ownership and subsequent usage then we will continue to reap the results of indiscriminate deaths of innocent people.  I am afraid, and hopefully I am wrong, but until this gets properly addressed this problem will not go away anytime soon.                     
 
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Adam