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Bechukotai: On Reward and Punishment

Parashat Behukotai, 5763

Our parasha is very clear. In reward for good behavior we will be granted wheat, fruit, and peace. As a punishment for bad behavior, the Jews will be banished from the land and will suffer immeasurably.

We can ask three questions on this parasha.

1. Doesn’t the Mishna in Avot say that we should not worship G-d like servants who work only to get reward? Why does the parasha emphasize reward?

2. Why does the parasha emphasize the physical and concrete rewards of fruit and wheat when the deeper reward is the spiritual reward of the world to come, the afterlife?

3. Doesn’t the Talmud in Kiddushin say that Rabbi Yaakov says, sechar mitzvah b’hai alma, leka, that there is no reward for mitzvot in this world, only in the next?

Let us now answer each of these questions.

1. Ibn Ezra says that it is true that we should worship G-d for the more ethereal rewards, and that we should not worship him for any reward, ideally, but that for the masses, material reward is important and they would find the reward of the afterlife too vague and intangible. What is the afterlife? It means getting closer to G-d, understanding and knowing G-d in new ways. This is a pleasure we humans appreciate very little.

2. Why does the Torah emphasize the concrete rewards of food and peace rather than the more significant rewards of the world to come? Maimonides writes that these are not the ultimate rewards. By having sustenance and peace, a person can find time to focus on mitzvot. This enables him to reach higher levels which may eventually lead to his or her getting the ultimate reward in the afterlife. The rewards in our parasha are not rewards but things which enable one to do more good.

3. It is true that there is no reward in this world, says the Sefat Emet, the Gherer Rebbe, but if one takes away the sins, how is this world supposed to be? Look at the Garden of Eden before we sinned. It is natural for the Merciful One to bestow on us all good things, it is just that we can’t often access these blessings because of our sins. If we don’t sin, we have access to the overflowing blessings from G-d. When we sin we are unable to access his outpouring of love. This is not a matter of reward and punishment, it is a matter of accessing or not accessing that which is already there.

We have asked three questions and given three answers. Now let us learn three lessons from our answers.

1. From the Ibn Ezra we should learn that while the goal in life is not to make money or to buy a bigger house or a fancier car, we are not ashamed, in Judaism to talk about wealth and fulfilling our material dreams. Judaism may not guarantee a big house but it does have some very real, concrete payoffs. Yes, there is divorce, abuse, alcoholism, crime, etc. in our communities, but I would like to think, and I believe it is true, that we have a better divorce rate than others, lower crime rate, less substance abuse than the general society. And to whatever extent we don’t fare better than society, then let us redouble our efforts to live more authentic, deeper Jewish lives which will certainly lower the potential for these maladies.

2. From the Rambam, let us learn to remember what our ultimate goals are. Yes, we all hope for the dream house, the dream vacation, etc. But when we get what we want, what will we do with it? Rambam reminds us that the goal of having free time is to study torah more, to do more mitzvot. The goal of a comfortable life is that we could attend more at Shul and go to more classes, and spend more meaningful time with our families. Let us not forget our priorities and our goals.

3. Finally, let the Sefas Emes remind us of the blessings that are within reach which we need to seize upon. A popular TV theme song in the 70’s went like this; Love is all around, why don’t you take it? Love is all around, no need to waste it. The Sefas Emes might paraphrase that song and say, Blessings are all around, why don’t you take them? Blessings are all around, no need to waste them. By doing more mitzvot and living with more appreciation of life and of G-d, we should be able to see the blessings which are all around us.

Let’s learn the lessons of B’hukotai. Let’s remember that there are real concrete benefits to a Torah life. Let’s remember as we dream, that we dream not only to live it up, but to live meaningfully. And let’s remember to seize those blessings which are all around, "im b’hukotai telechu" if we go in G-d’s ways and if we open ourselves to be blessed.