Ziv: Parashat Behukotai 2


Each week, Gad Barnea or Sister Agnès de la Croix (from the Community of the Beatitudes) proposes a reflection on the portion of the Pentateuch that is read in the synagogue (parashat hashavua). This week the portion is from Leviticus 26:3-27:34 with the haftarah (additional reading) from Jeremiah 16:19-17:14. They call their reflection “ziv” – a ray of light.

ziv behukotay 2

I will be ever present in your midst

This week we read the last parasha of the book of the Leviticus. It contains benedictions for those who observe the commandments, and terrible curses for those who do not. In many synagogues, the reading of these passages are uttered in a low voice: as the words have the power to influence the world, it is better not to insist too much… At the beginning of the paracha it is said: “If you walk in my commandments” (26:3). This dynamic verb applies to all the commandments of the Jewish law, the Halakha. Unlike the angels that “stand” before God to serve him, man walks with him. He has the capacity to grow, to evolve, to repent if he does wrong. He can always change his ways. This walk recalls life in the desert, between servitude in Egypt, and the arrival in the promise land: it is a process of learning to live in freedom. The law is a source of life, as it is said in the Psalms. Mount Sinai acts as a frame to the end of this book: it appears at the beginning of the previous parasha, which is often read with this one,(25:1), and at the end of the last chapter (27:34), as a memory of all what Moses received and transmitted to the people of Israel. This mountain is in the middle of the desert, outside of the land of Israel, signifying that the vocation of Israel is universal. Here, Mount Sinai is not a geographic location. At the very beginning of Leviticus, it is said : “The Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of meeting, saying…” (Lv 1:1), followed by a list of different rules and statues. Were not all the laws of the Leviticus were given at Sinai?

In fact, whenever a person of Israel hears the commanding voice of God and commits himself to live by this voice, he can be considered as standing at Sinaï.

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