The final parasha in Leviticus, B’chukotai meaning “ my laws,” is only read separately from Behar during leap years. B’chukotai is about keeping the laws of God, beginning with glowing rewards if they are kept, to be followed by negative consequences if they are not. This parasha, and the book, ends with the sanctity of human gifts to God in terms of Temple tax, animals for sacrifice and their value if redeemed since all what is given is now the property of God (Talmud, Bava Kamma 69b). But is this section not flawed to the modern mind? What does doing the right thing, in this case keeping the ways of God have to do with the assurance of rain, or if not kept the miscarriage of a pregnant woman? Does this mean that God’s willingness to bless Israel was solely conditional? They did for sure, and maybe if we think cause and effect - even if not the same - it is likewise today?
What does it mean in the opening verse of B’chukotai, Leviticus 26:3 that says, “If you follow My laws and faithfully observe My commandments?” According to the Sifra, an earlier Midrash on Leviticus, it means that “the Holy One … yearns that Israel toil in Torah [thus per Psalm 81:14-15] if My people heeded Me, that Israel walked in My ways!’ [Isaiah 18:19 saying their] peace would be like a river and your righteousness like the waves of the sea [keeping] all My mitzvot all the days, so that it be good for them and for their children forever." The Midrash teaches that we must busy ourselves to learn and live according to the ways of Torah in order to have life's riches guide our paths that we then pass down to our children, ways which pave the way of life upon the roads of peace and success. Okay, but what does that exactly mean?
Rebecca Goldstein, a teacher of Philosophy, wrote about the difference between "Jewish Secularism vs. Secular Jewishness." Simply “Jewish Secularism” is a matter of “sociology,” you engage in non-religious activity such as reading The Wall Street Journal, watching FOX news or CNN, going to a Baseball game, taking in a movie, all while being faithful to Torah. “Secular Jewishness” is about continuity and discontinuity with Jewish values and practices, something Goldstein would say is “an outlook, a platform, a code of behavior.” As such Goldstein further says that Secular Jewishness “is not a religion per se but it has something in common with religion, namely what philosophers call normativity, meaning that secular Jewishness makes certain claims concerning human values, the kind of life it is good to lead, the kind of life that one ought to lead.” In this case “Secular Jewishness” upholds a commitment to “the Jewish values” that resonate with a larger platform that is driven by a “secular worldview” (meaning non-religious). This is part of a much larger discussion on sociology and religion.
What about the laws then? The problem with the Law is we read them as rules as opposed to reflections of what is holy and good. If we see Jewish law in the backdrop of what Rebecca Goldstein calls “Secular Jewishness,” while a working theory of life, it is not necessarily connected with our "divine image" that propels our holy spark within. This of course presumes the belief that we are spiritually in relationship to our greater sense of self and God that powers us to do what we do in terms of our practices from Shabbat to the holidays, b'nai mitzvot to social action, or even just to be part of a community of like thought, traditions and practices, values, ethics or what have you. Still, it must be pointed out that these very same practices emerge from the laws of God that “Secular Jewishness” calls good life theories clothed in Jewish culture. Law in Torah is more than a system of religious practice, it is a road-map to our inner human world.
Imagine that world with me where we ”do not turn to idols or make molten gods for yourselves,” meaning we avoid the idols of greed or class distinctions, treating all with justice, thus “You shall not render an unfair decision: do not favor the poor or show deference to the rich.” What might the world look like if we do “not hate our kinsfolk in our heart,” or to that end do “not take vengeance or bear a grudge against members of our people,” reminding us to “Love your fellow [Israelite] as yourself,” as well as to those who are not like us (non-Jews in context), “you shall love each one as yourself, for you have been strangers,” or outsiders. From the perspective of Torah law reflects our inner holiness and sense of goodness as opposed to rules that many have come to see as antiquated or unnecessary although Jewish culture is still embraced in one way or the other. Modern minds or not, perhaps if we follow the laws as reflections of the yearning of our inner beings we will experience a world that looks very different than the one we see around us, or find peace and/or success, even though it might not look how we thought. The Laws of God might not not change the world, but it will change us within it.
And the end of a book of Torah we say, chazak, chazak, v'nitchazeik, may we "Be strong, be strong, and we will strengthen one another" as we learn and grow together.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Adam Ruditsky
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