What do the
words “mom” and “if” have in common? Not much in the English language, but in
Hebrew they are written with the same two letters: Aleph and Mem. The connection
of Eem (if) and Eim (mom) is a wonderful lesson in both parenting and hashgafa
(Jewish thought).
Parashat Bechukosai begins, for the first 10 verses, by describing the amazing, successful society that Israel will have if they live by the laws (and spirit of the laws) of the Torah. But the tone changes starting with verse 26:14, and the Torah begins listing the dreadful consequences that will arrive if they do not.
Reading the punishments has striking correlation to the historical reality that is seemingly predicted in the Torah: exiled from the land, beaten down by the other nations, suffering under hardship…. Throughout most of time, as was once a common phrase, it wasn’t easy to be a Jew.
But verse 26:14 begins with the word “v’eem – and if.” God is Omniscient. He knows everything that is going to happen and the verse might rightly have said “kee lo tishm’oo – when you will not listen to me.” God knows Klal Yisrael’s weaknesses, and there had been plenty of demonstrations of it immediately following the exodus from Egypt and throughout the journey through the Wilderness.
God saw the Jewish people’s potential to do the right thing. If He spoke to the Children of Israel with the language of a given, with the prediction of their fall, then it would be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Parashat Bechukosai begins, for the first 10 verses, by describing the amazing, successful society that Israel will have if they live by the laws (and spirit of the laws) of the Torah. But the tone changes starting with verse 26:14, and the Torah begins listing the dreadful consequences that will arrive if they do not.
Reading the punishments has striking correlation to the historical reality that is seemingly predicted in the Torah: exiled from the land, beaten down by the other nations, suffering under hardship…. Throughout most of time, as was once a common phrase, it wasn’t easy to be a Jew.
But verse 26:14 begins with the word “v’eem – and if.” God is Omniscient. He knows everything that is going to happen and the verse might rightly have said “kee lo tishm’oo – when you will not listen to me.” God knows Klal Yisrael’s weaknesses, and there had been plenty of demonstrations of it immediately following the exodus from Egypt and throughout the journey through the Wilderness.
God saw the Jewish people’s potential to do the right thing. If He spoke to the Children of Israel with the language of a given, with the prediction of their fall, then it would be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Throughout the parsha, as the consequences escalate, the language is continually that of “and if you didn’t listen to the above,” because at each level, Hashem believes that the Children of Israel have the ability to correct themselves, to do teshuva.
This is the connection of eem and eim, if and mother. A mother, by nature, loves her child unconditionally and constantly expects to see them succeed. Parenting requires discipline, but at each level of discipline a parent believes that the child will overcome their urge and will choose to do the right thing.
God loves the Jewish people and so God offers them a warning of what will come if they stray from the path of the Torah, but that warning is laced with the hope that these things will not come to pass.
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