Omer 39 (tonight at sundown 40)
This week’s reading, Behar, speaks about the Sabbatical and Jubilee years, laws
regulating commerce and the redemption of slaves.
This week’s reading, Bechukotai, contains a vivid description of the rewards for
observing God’s commandments and the series of punishments if His commandments are
disregarded. The Torah then discusses different types of gifts given to the Temple, and
the animal tithe.
In this week’s reading, we read the list of blessings and curses that God gave to Moses to
teach to the people. In the midst of the curses, we read the following verse:
Lev 26:18 And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you
seven times more for your sins.
The LORD refers to the curses in Leviticus 26 as punishments. The Hebrew here is the
word yasar and is used generally to speak of chastisement or disciplinary measures like
the discipline that a parent might inflict on a child. The curses are not a sign of God’s
abandonment and rejection of His people. They are not an eternal damnation. On the
contrary, according to the Proverb, He who withholds punishment hates his son, but He
who loves him will discipline him diligently.
Godly discipline is an act of love, but it does hurt the Father’s heart to punish His
children just as we parents don’t enjoy that task either. We must remember that the
punishments have come upon Israel are evidence of God’s ongoing love for them. We
read in the book of Hebrews:
Heb 12:7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For
what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
Heb 12:8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are
illegitimate children and not sons.
Heb 12:9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected
them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?
Heb 12:10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he
disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.
The Rabbi Schneur Zalman once taught that in truth the curses are nothing but blessings.
Though on the surface each one of the terrible curses seems to be anything but a blessing,
each punishment of proof of God’s loving correction for His people.
When this section of the Torah is read in synagogue, it is tradition to read the curses in
a softer voice to lessen the impact of the curses. There is an incident told concerning ,
Rabbi Yekutiel Yehudah Halberstam (1904-1994 ), also known as the Rebbe of
Klausenberg and the reading of these curses.
Originally from Rumania, the Klausenberger Rebbe was a spiritual giant of a man who
had lost 11 children in the Holocaust and never sat shivah because he was pre-occupied
with saving as many lives as he possibly could. After the war, he settled in America and
eventually he relocated to Israel.
That Shabbat–The Rebuke was being read. When it came to the part of the curses, the
reader did what he always did. He lowered his voice and read in a softer tone. Suddenly,
the Rebbe shouted in Yiddish, “Hecher!” (“Louder!”). The reader was confused. He was
simply following the tradition of generations. Perhaps he was not hearing right, so he
continued reading in the softer tone. “Hecher! Hecher!” thundered the Klausenberger
Rebbe. “Let the Almighty hear what is being read! All the curses have already been
fulfilled. Now there must be only blessings for our people…“
Many of the modern day Jewish Sages have described the Holocaust as the birth pangs of
Moshiach and the ultimate redemption. Never will there be a repeat of such calamities.
We have endured more than enough of exile, wanderings, pogroms and persecutions.
The curses, in all their tragic, cataclysmic imagery have actually materialized. Now there
must be only goodness, happiness, warmth and blessing for the people of Israel. May it
be so!
Prayer for Israel from the Siddur
These audio files are stored (for free) at archive.org. CoM does not control or approve other content on archive.org