Dvar Torah: Bechukotai, May, 12, 2018/5778 - Walking Upright

Israel is 70 years old, but Jewish settlement and connection to the Land go back much further.  

For us here in the Diaspora, we look to Israel through a variety of lenses – Israel is a center of Jewish spirituality and identity, a homeland, a refuge, a symbol of Jewish survival, place where Hebrew language was reborn, it’s the Startup Nation, leader in technology, the names are many and clearly there are those in the world who for decades have spoken negatively of Israel as the apartheid state, as an occupier, and the like.

With the disturbing rise in anti-Semitism, often married to anti-Israel activity, it’s as important as ever that there continues to be a Jewish State, a place where in the spirit of the prayer we recited just a short time ago, our people can go with heads held high.

We prayed, “May God bring us in peace from the four corners of the world, and brings us komemiyut, with heads held high, to our Land.”

The word komemiyutappears in our Torah reading today as God promises to break the bonds that hold us back and lead us forward komemiyut, standing up straight, as Rashi reads it, and as Rashbam explains, once the weight is removed, we naturally can stand up straighter.

I find myself focusing on this idea of us holding our heads high, in strength and with a confident presence as we hear reports of Israel taking initiative against Iranian aggression in Syria including sending a drone into Israel and positioning its troops and weaponry near Israel’s border.

Just as God reminds our ancestors how small a people we are, we remind ourselves of how small Israel is – how quickly jet planes can reach Israel’s borders from surrounding hostile nations, how small Israel is overall and how unstable the region has been for the last 100 years.

The Rebbe of Mezhibizh reminds us that although we stand tall and stand in strength against our enemies, the Rebbe teaches, that God, the One Who Looks into the Heart, knows that inside we must continue to be humble before God.

Rabbi Natan Tzvi Finkel, famous head of the Yeshiva of Slobodka in Belarus, emphasized that his students should walk upright, with heads looking straight ahead, and with a strong and confident stance.  Students of Torah can be both humble, compassionate, and also project confidence and strength at the same time.

This is the lesson of our Torah reading this Shabbat, a reading that comes as we round out our reading of Sefer Vayikra, the Book of Leviticus and say chazak ve’nit’chazek, let us be strong and our strength renewed.