Menachem Mirski
Thoughts on Parashat Bechukotai 5784
Sometimes when you read the Torah, you encounter sets of more general rules that belong fundamental principles of the brit:
If you follow My laws and faithfully observe My commandments, I will grant your rains in their season, so that the earth shall yield its produce and the trees of the field their fruit.
Your threshing shall overtake the vintage, and your vintage shall overtake the sowing; you shall eat your fill of bread and dwell securely in your land.
I will grant peace in the land, and you shall lie down untroubled by anyone; I will give the land respite from vicious beasts, and no sword shall cross your land.
[Your army] shall give chase to your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.
Five of you shall give chase to a hundred, and a hundred of you shall give chase to ten thousand; your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.
I will look with favor upon you, and make you fertile and multiply you; and I will maintain My covenant with you. (Leviticus 26:3-9)
Several important things are mentioned here: faithfully observing commandments – following the Torah. It seems like a lot, and it is a lot – the Torah is, in itself, a very nuanced and sophisticated system of laws, despite the fact that some of them seem to be brutal for us now – it’s still a sophisticated and thought-through moral and ritual code. But we also know that ultimately this whole sophisticated system boils down – according to Hillel – to the rule of loving your neighbor as yourself or at least not hurting others.
Keeping the commandments essentially means prioritizing action over faith and belief. Actions are a better indicator of morality/righteousness than words. All of that implies, in my opinion, that we should pay more attention to the person and his or her actions rather than to the ideologies they believe in. Beliefs are important because they inspire action but at the end of the day actions matter more, just because they bring about objective changes in the world around us.
If we observe commandments and judge others on the basis of their actions, not beliefs, God will grant us peace. But our actions and judgements are rarely perfect, peace, in itself, needs to be cherished and pursued.
Love your neighbor as yourself, see the person and their action before their beliefs and always pursue peace within your society – these are the fundamental principles that many of us would call trivial. Yet, the world we live in is constantly lacking their fulfillment; it desperately needs these principles to be followed more thoroughly.
Shabbat shalom, Rabbi Mirski
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