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B’CHUKOTAI
The book of Vayikra opened on a very high and positive note. Moshe is the recipient of Divine revelation and serves as the High priest of the Mishkan during its first week of its dedication. His brother Aharon is appointed as the permanent High Priest and the children and the descendants of Aharon remain the special family of kohanim throughout the ages of Jewish history.
After the revelation at Sinai and the acceptance of the Torah by Israel, and the dedication of the Mishkan, the Jewish people are apparently at the zenith of their national and spiritual life. Yet this rosy future is not quite what will really occur. At the conclusion of the book of Vayikra, which we read in this week’s parsha, a much more somber picture is portrayed.
Anyone cognizant of the story of the Jewish people over the centuries is well aware that all of the dire predictions that appear in this week’s parsha are not hyperbole. A professor of Jewish studies once wryly commented to me that Jewish history was “all books and blood.” That pretty much sums up the book of Vayikra as well.
Two of Aharon’s sons are destroyed, many laws and strictures are bought down as the Torah of Sinai is fleshed out by God through Moshe, and the awful events that will befall the Jewish people – destruction, exile and agony, are all painfully described in this week’s parsha. Thus the book of Vayikra becomes the true book of the Jewish story, in all of its glory and somber narrative.
What are we to make of all of this? That question has hovered over all of Jewish life in every location, generation and circumstance. Because of the inscrutable nature of God’s direction of Jewish affairs, the question has never had an even halfheartedly satisfactory answer. The books, the laws, and the commandments remain in the main to be mysterious as does the blood of Jewish history.
Because of this, Jewish history, aside from being composed of books and blood, is mainly composed of faith and belief. That is what the rabbis may have meant when they stated that the prophet annunciated the basic underpinning of all of the Torah – “the righteous person lives on faith.” And faith is truly a difficult commodity to achieve and maintain.
The past century of Jewish life has challenged traditional Jewish faith greatly and dealt it mighty blows. For many Jews it no longer is a viable commodity in their arsenal of life’s values. Yet it is obvious that it is the one and only value that can help us weather the uncertainties, contradictions, cruelties and dangers that make up current Jewish life.
The Torah itself charts no easy way to acquire faith – in fact, it has very little to say regarding the subject of faith itself. However, at the conclusion of the public reading of the book of Vayikra (as at the conclusion of all of the other books of the Torah as well) we rise and strengthen ourselves in our belief and faith. May it so be.
Shabat shalom.
Rabbi Berel Wein
