Blessings and curse, lots of them, form the basis of this final portion in Leviticus. Leviticus 26 stands in tradition as a powerful series of verses that, for the most part, outline the bad things that will happen if the Israelites spurn the path outlined in the Covenant forcing God to “act against you with hostility I, will discipline you sevenfold for your sins” (26:28). The Torah God exacts retribution for going astray for generations. Indeed, the Biblical Prophets saw this belief structure at work in the Assyrian and later Babylonian conquests. Destruction was brought about becuase of the actions of the people straying from the Torah true path. This theology raised many questions on the belief that the “sins of the fathers are visited upon the next generations”. What this also raises for us, is the challenge of what we do, or have done, and how those actions influenced others.
Judaism changed its’ theological position on the idea of responsibility as a result of historical realities. Emerging cenutries ago we saw a shift to individual responsibility.As we get older, we often ask ourselves as to what we do or have done, and how that has impacted others. Judaism empowers the value of choice, individual choice and the need to understand that we have ultimate responsibility for our life. Plaut ,in his essay on this portion, cites three conclusions that underscore this position. First, he states that “there is no necessary relation between a man’s merits and his fortunes” This echoes, in a way, the idea of the impact of randomness in life, or, Rabbi Kushner’s famous question of why bad things happen to good people. Secondly, Plaut cites the fact ths “the consequences of our conduct can rarely be limited to ourselves” This is another insight in to the passage in Deuteronomy 30:19 which states that we have the power to choose between good and evil and those choices influence others. Our choices do not occur in a vacuum. Finally Plaut says that it may only be in a world like the one in which we live and in which we can never be sure of reward or punishment, that we have the possibility of living an ethical life. “For the ethical decision is the decision to do the right because it is right and not for any advantage.” (“The Torah”. Rabbi Gunther Plaut, ed. p. 956)
What this means, I suggest, is that the power and importance of what and how we choose is of paramount impotance in life and become more important as we age. As the tradition reminds us, we have the power of choice, so choose wisely.
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Richard F Address
Rabbi Richard F. Address, D.Min, is the Founder and Director of www.jewishsacredaging.com. Rabbi Address served for over three decades on staff of the Union for Reform Judaism; first as a Regional Director and then, beginning in 1997, as Founder and Director of the URJ’s Department of Jewish Family Concerns and served as a specialist and consultant for the North American Reform Movement in the areas of family related programming. Rabbi Address was ordained from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1972 and began his rabbinic career in Los Angeles congregations. He also served as a part time rabbi for Beth Hillel in Carmel, NJ while regional director and, after his URJ tenure, served as senior rabbi of Congregation M’kor Shalom in Cherry Hill, NJ from 2011-2014.
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