Parshat Bechukotai

I will set My Presence among you, and My soul will not reject you. I will walk among you and will show Myself your God, and you will be a people to Me.

26:11-12

This means that My conduct with you will be well known, as when a monarch walks in the midst of his army, supplying them with all their needs. This then is the way of the simple sense of the words of the Covenant, and it is true, for so indeed will He do with them…Similarly, (this” alludes to the Divine attribute which our Rabbis have called Shechinah (the Divine Presence) dwells with Israel…Know, (however), that Israel never attained these blessings in their perfection, neither many of them nor as individuals, since their merits were never sufficient for them.

Ramban

Now God turns to the fourth blessing Israel will receive, namely His Presence among them. God says not to fear that you will not survive the presence of so much holiness as you were afraid you could not at the revelation at Mount Sinai. “My essence will not prove destructive to you.” The earth of the land of Israel at least, will eventually become so filled with holiness that “I can walk among you.” I will do so with you right on earth…My being your God and your being My people will be considered the most natural thing.

Moshe Alshich

While our parsha is known for its promises and threats, I think that the process they give rise to is more significant. Bechukotai describes the transition from a childlike belief in a world of black and white punishment and reward, through exile, alienation and remorse, to redemption and a renewal of the Covenant. Children who have received a solid foundation of love and trust begin with a black and white sense of the universe. Basic needs are met. Children are rewarded for being good. They are punished for being bad. Then one day there is a conflict of interest. What feels good to the child does not feel good to the parent. And the exile begins. This journey through alienation is the central theme of the portion…Spiritual adolescence is a time of torment. That process of breaking the bars of our yoke can be perceived either as an affliction or a gift. Often the simplicity of slavery seems better than freedom. Exiled from an ordered universe, we must learn to live with the anguish of the unknown. Like the Jews of the early dispersion, we long for the security of our land and seasons…then, from the meditations of our anguish, transformation is wrought. We look critically at our behavior…We take responsibility for our actions…If God is to dwell in our midst; it is up to us to make Holiness. At first these responsibilities feel like burdens…but as we recover our sense of responsibility, we also recover our sense of awe…So, we return from exile with our hands outstretched, not just as partners, but as one part of a whole…

Ann Brener

Leviticus may be suggesting that irrespective of the presence of the priesthood and the availability of the sacrificial system, each person as an individual is ultimately responsible for him-or herself, and the community as a whole is also ultimately responsible for itself. Thus the concluding chapters correctly concern the population as a whole, rather than only the Kohanim.

Richard Hirsch