Just like so many other places in the Torah (and in life) this is metaphoric. Not everything in Torah is literal. I mean, let's be realistic here . . . an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth would leave us a blind and toothless people. The reality is that it is an issue of weight and compensation. How much is it worth? In this case, it is a matter of metaphor. It says, ten women will bake bread in one oven but you will eat and not be sated . . . we all know a greedy person is never satisfied, and not just in relation to food. When we talk about the financial crisis, we say we are doing this on the backs of our children. We aren't literally standing on our children's backs. We aren't condemned to literally eat our children. But when we act without thinking, with disregard to Hashem's guidelines, we eat away at their future and are causing them future harm.
And yet, G-d declares that G-d will never throw us out, G-d will never break the covenant that we have made with G-d, even if we act poorly. You see, again here, G-d is pointing out that G-d knows our behavior won't always be perfect and just like a parent to a child, G-d will always love us. G-d won't destroy us or turn G-d's "back" to us. But G-d wants to spare us from the pain, hence the strong suggestion to stay focused on the good things that are laid out for us.
Finally, at the end of Bechukotai, there is a shift in tone to the taxation code, to the safety of numbers, almost as if this parsha was so harsh, it had to turn to something boring to recover.
"Chazak, chazak, v'nitchazek
Be strong, be strong, and may we be strengthened!"
(We just finished the book of Vayikrah/Leviticus! We say this phrase when we finish a book of Torah. Now that wasn't so hard now was it?)
Parshat Behar from G-dcast.com
More Torah cartoons at www.g-dcast.com
Parshat Bechukotai from G-dcast.com
More Torah cartoons at www.g-dcast.com
Talia Davis is the daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter of rabbis. She directs the Jewish Portal at Patheos and manages the site's online community.
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