Parashat Bechukotai

On October 7th, Pri Gan – with a population of approximately 250 people – found itself invaded by terrorists. They had only two people with weapons to defend its residents. They put out a call to nearby towns for backup and were answered immediately by the nine members of the defense team from the town of Shlomit. Three of those who answered the call were killed. The rest were wounded. The terrorists ultimately retreated and not a single civilian from Pri Gan was wounded that day. 

Parashat Bichukotai starts by reminding us that we are the masters of our own destinies. We are told that if we live up to the expectations that God has set out for us, we will live a life filled with the bounty of God’s blessings. It then goes on with the admonition that if we do not fulfill those expectations, our lives will be filled with destruction. The message is clear, “God doesn’t do this to us; we do. Now take responsibility.” But the Haftarah tells a somewhat different story:
“אָרוּר הַגֶּבֶר אֲשֶׁר יִבְטַח בָּאָדָם – cursed is the person who puts his trust in his fellow human…” 

I believe that the tension between the Torah reading and the Haftarah can be reconciled. The Haftarah seems to be talking to us as individuals when telling us that when we abdicate our responsibilities to others, we will not find ourselves in the world where we would like to be. While it may be easy to find someone else to do things for us, they are less likely to turn out the way that we wanted. It becomes easy for us to look for whom to blame. Bechukotai on the other hand seems to be talking to us as individuals within a community. It tells us to look inward. What do I need to do differently? How can I be the best version of myself? What are the steps that I need to take to create a world around me that I would like to live in so that my entire community benefits?

Shlomit was founded as a town in Sinai. They were forced to move when Israel returned the Sinai to Egypt during the peace accords. After relocating as a community to Gush Katif, they were forced to move again after Israel’s disengagement from Gaza. Yet the members of Shlomit recreated the world in which they wanted to live each time they moved. The men who raced to Pri Gan on October 7th would have been justified to have stayed home to defend their own town should it be necessary – as was the case with everyone else who was called to help. But that wasn’t the world in which they wanted to live. 

I recognize that this may seem like the end of a story, but in fact, it’s the beginning. Approximately two months later, one of the residents of Shlomit who was injured defending Pri Gan had a son. The child was named Be’eri – the name of one of the Kibbutzim that was destroyed on October 7th. The hope that new life grows out of the destroyed communities of southern Israel was clearly part of the naming decision. However, there were deeper roots planted in that moment. The three men from Shlomit who were killed defending Pri Gan were Bechor, Aviad, and Reuven – whose initials make up the name of the Shlomit’s newest citizen. They recognized that they were the masters of their community’s destiny. When they rushed to help a neighboring town, they understood their responsibility to create the world in which they wanted their children to grow up.  May we be inspired by them to recognize our own responsibilities to do the same. 

Shabbat Shalom.