May 12, 2023 * Parshat Behar-Bechukotai

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Let Peace Fill the Earth


If you grew up going regularly to a conservative synagogue, you probably have the English words to the Prayer for Peace, as written in the full Siddur Sim Shalom, memorized.  I know I do.  


Right in the middle we ask God to “Fulfill the promise conveyed in Scripture” with the promise coming from this week’s Parsha in Vayikra 26:6:

וְנָתַתִּי שָׁלוֹם בָּאָרֶץ וּשְׁכַבְתֶּם וְאֵין מַחֲרִיד

וְהִשְׁבַּתִּי חַיָּה רָעָה מִן־הָאָרֶץ וְחֶרֶב לֹא־תַעֲבֹר בְּאַרְצְכֶם׃


I will bring peace to the land

and you shall lie down and no one shall terrify you.

I will rid the land of vicious beasts

and it shall not be ravaged by war.


This is an incredibly lofty promise.  One that we have been yearning to be fulfilled for thousands of years.  Also, it doesn’t come without strings.  Just five verses earlier, the chapter opened with 


אִם־בְּחֻקֹּתַי תֵּלֵכוּ וְאֶת־מִצְוֺתַי תִּשְׁמְרוּ וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָם׃

If you follow My laws and faithfully observe My commandments, 


I imagine the step-mother from Cinderella and her line “IF you get all your work done and IF you have something suitable to wear.”

WB2m image

This doesn’t seem to correlate though. Peace can’t come just because we followed the rules. That’s like saying that if I follow every traffic law, I will never get into an accident. My actions can’t control the outside world and the rest of the people in it.  

 

Rabbeinu Bahya (14th Century, Spain) explains that a promise of peace was already given back at the creation of the world. This kind of peace is between people, the kind of peace we can control. The Hatam Sofer calls this שְׁלוֹם הַתּוֹרָה (sh’lom haTorah), which means the peace of Torah. 


It isn’t just about following the mitzvot, but to first study them. Rabbeinu Bahya teaches that Torah scholars help increase the peace which is found on earth. They proved this from a verse in Isaiah, “when all your children are imbued with knowledge of the Lord, there will be abundant peace among your children.”


So if you are looking to increase peace in the world, I hope you are learning Torah and being kind to those around you. It is a lesson I will keep repeating until we have achieved the promise conveyed in scripture.  

Shabbat Shalom!


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We remember our Beloved

on the occasion of their Yahrzeits

Philip Klempner                                            Grandfather of Michael Binder

Elizabeth Weiss                                            Grandmother of Mitchell Weiss

Eva Leibowitz                                                Mother of Larry Leibowitz

Emma Rosenberg                                         Grandmother of Richard Hoffman

Sylvia Katz                                                      Mother of Susan Leibowitz

Emanuel Korenvaes                                      Father-in-Law of Cindy Korenvaes

Arthur Peltz                                                    Father of Jordan Peltz

Rose Cohen                                                    Mother of Alan Cohen

Nathan Seymour Scheiner                          Father of Adam Scheiner

Jennie Starr                                                    Grandmother of Donna Gray

Shelly Hirshorn                                              Wife of Stephen Hirshorn

Anne Daniels                                                  Mother of Alan Daniels                 

                                                                         Grandmother of Stacy Gad

                                                                         Grandmother of Lisa Caine

Jean Leibowitz                                               Mother of Edward Leibowitz

Fanny Schaechter                                          Mother of Doris Field

Ronald Schoenberg                                       Brother-in-Law of Diane Botwinik

Michael Cohen                                              Brother of Ruth Kline

Rose Kessler                                                   Mother of Arlene Capeluto

Phillip Lincenberg                                         Uncle of Sheri Peterson                              

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