Thursday, May 17, 2012

Parshas Bechukosai- Blessings that Hashem promises!


This week’s double parsha begins with Hashem promising the Jewish people that He will bless them if they study and fulfill the Torah. By studying and observing the Torah, Hashem promises the Jewish people the following:

1.    Fruit will be produced during the proper times of the year. Rain is the determining factor of how fruitful the crops will be in a given year, so to, if the Jews follow Hashem’s Torah, Hashem declared that He would give them rainfall ‘in it’s proper time.’ What does this mean in it’s proper time? The rainfall will occur in the fall and in the spring, so that the spring rain will not make the fruits soggy and the fall rain will not destroy houses. Moreover, Hashem will bring rain at times where it will inconvenience people the least (i.e typically when people are in doors more often).
2.    The soil and trees will be as productive as they were in Adam’s time. When the Jews follow Hashem’s commandments, they will be blessed with a fertile earth.  Trees will bear fruit the very same day they were planted. Moreover, every single type of tree will produce some type of edible produce, and not only will the fruit be edible, but so will the bark. Additionally, mountains will drip fruit juice and the soil will produce delicious cake. Initially, when Hashem created the earth, He created it to produce rapidly; however, after Adam’s sin, Hashem punished the earth and cursed people with having to work the land using all their time and energy, “with the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread.” Fortunately for us, through committing ourselves to Hashem’s Torah, the curse will one day be lifted and we will no longer have to toil as we have, our days will thereby be focused on serving Hashem.
3.    Hashem will make us satisfied with little. Although the output of the harvest will exponentially increase, after following Hashem’s Torah and receiving His blessings, He will continue to bless us that in the future we will be satisfied with eating very little. Because eating takes up much of our precious time and is an extremely physical act, in the future,  Hashem will diminish the amount that we eat so that we can focus on our spiritual development and to connecting with Him.
4.    Hashem will bless Israel with peace. No matter how much material and spiritual elevation one has, it amounts to nothing unless there is peace in the land. Not only will there be no wars, but there will be peace amongst all the wild beasts and humans, as it was during Adam’s time.
5.    Hashem will bless Bnai Israel with miraculous victories. If Bnai Israel shall pursue their enemies, their enemies will fall by sword and Bnai Israel will not need a big army. The spiritual powers that we will possess will immeasurably crush any enemy armies.
6.    Hashem will bless the Jewish families, so that their children will resemble their parents morally and spiritually.
7.   Hashem will bless the harvest, causing it to improve with age.
8.    Hashem Shechina-Hashem’s presence- will dwell amongst our midst. In other words, this is Hashem’s final spiritual blessing to the Jewish people, relying to us that we will never be exiled, and Hashem will ‘walk amongst us,’ as He did with Adam in the Gan Adan.

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