Rebuke the Torah portion: Bechukotai

REBUKE FROM THE TORAH PORTION: The Tochacha

In this week's Torah portion of Bechukotai we read about the dire consequences should we, G-d forbid, fail to observe the commandments and believe in God. Amongst these punishments are the destruction of the Holy Temple, famine, drought, poisonous snakes, financial failure and much more.

Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, author of "Tanya" and founder of the Chabad Chassidic movement, encapsulates the Chassidic train of thought regarding these severe punishments:

"In truth, these are nothing but BLESSINGS"

While openly these verses speak of severe and harsh punishments, we must realise that in all of them there is an inner, subconscious element of blessings. By studying the Torah and adhering to its' teachings, we are able to strip the ugly layer off these punishments and see their inner goodness, and thus fully appreciate their worth.

This concept however, of punishments consisting of blessings in disguise do not originate with Chassidic thought. We read about this in the Talmud, going back thousands of years. When Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai sent his son R' Elazar to receive blessings from two of the great Talmudic sages, they responded with the following:

"May it be in God's will that you will sow and not reap. May it also be that would you bring in will not go out and what you take out will not come in. Let your house be desolate, yet you will inhabit temporary lodgings. Your table will also be disturbed, and you will not see a new year."

I'm not sure about you, but when I first read those words, they don't sound much like blessings.

When R' Elazar came home, his blessing was interpreted by his father -Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, incidentally whose anniversary of passing was marked last week at the site of his tomb in the northern town of Meiron by the hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over Israel (including me!) and from across the globe. The day of R' Shimon bar Yochai's passing is a day of rejoicing for on that day he revealed the secrets of the Torah and much light was brought into the world.

This is what the blessings truly meant:

"you will sow and not reap" - you will "sow" - have children, and they will not "reap" - die.

"what you bring in will not go out" - this means you will bring in daughters-in-law and your sons will not die, in which case the daughters-in-law would "go out" of your home.

"what you take out will not come in" - your daughters will marry, and their husbands will not die prematurely , in which case they would have to come in to your home again.

"Let your house be desolate, yet you will inhabit temporary lodgings" - because this world is temporary lodgings, and should be seen as such. The next world is the real home.

"Your table will also be disturbed" - by the wonderful children you will merit to have.
"you will not see a new year" - this means your wife will not die prematurely and you will not need to see a new wife.

At first sight, these words yielded severe curses. But these blessings are in reality so lofty and sublime that these blessings could not be expressed in a simple, straight-forward manner.

So next time you hear it; believe it: Every cloud does have a silver lining.

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