This week’s parsha, which concludes the book of Vayikra, portrays some vital aspects of Jewish national and personal life. On one hand it describes in rapturous terms the blessings of happiness, security and serenity that can benefit the Jewish people and the individual Jew. On the other hand, it vividly and graphically describes the prospect of exile, tragedy, and death.
Jewish history bears out the reality of each of these visions. We have lived through both and seem to have experienced much longer periods of darkness than of light, of more tragedy than joy or serenity. The Torah attributes observance of the commandments as the prime cause of security in Jewish life, their non-observance as the cause of tragedy. However, history and the great commentators to Torah qualify this simplistic impression.
God’s wisdom and judgments are inscrutable, beyond even elementary comprehension by us mortals. This is why we are left to speculate about the tragedies that descended upon the Jewish people and that continue to plague us today. Though there are those amongst us who are prepared to give and accept glib answers to questions about the causes of tragedy, the wise men of Israel warned us against taking such an approach.
Observance of commandments is enormously difficult to fulfill completely and accurately. This is why it is so hard to measure the "why" part of this week's parsha. We should still however take note of the "how it happened" part. This shows us that its depiction of contrasting periods of serenity and tragedy has been painstakingly accurate and contains not one word of hyperbole. The destruction of the Temples, the Crusades and pogroms, the Inquisition and the Holocaust are all graphically described in this week's parsha. Such is the Torah;s prophetic power.
In personal life, the longer we live, the more likely it is that misfortune will somehow visit us. The Torah makes provision for this eventuality in its laws of mourning. We all hope for good quality of life and for secure serenity. Yet, almost inexorably, problems, disappointments and even tragedy intrude on our condition.
The unexpected, sudden, but apparently regular changes of circumstance in Jewish national life mirror the same situation that which we recognize in our personal lives. We are constantly blindsided by untoward and tragic events. So, the jarring contrast that the two main subjects of the parsha present to us are really a candid description of life, its omnipresent contradictions, and its difficulties. Though we pray regularly for health and serenity, we must always be cognizant of how precarious our situation truly is. Thus, as we rise to hear the conclusion of the book of Vayikra, we recite the mantra of "chazak, chazak, v'nitzchazek"—let us be doubly strong and strengthen others! So may it be.
Shabbat shalom, Rabbi Berel Wein
