Shabbat Table Topics – Parashat Bechukotai/0/he

נושאים לשולחן שבת – פרשת בחקתי

What Brings Forgiveness?

Do confession and repentance necessarily bring atonement in their wake? In the curses of ויקרא כ"ו, the Torah describes how, after an initial punishment, the people will confess their sins.  Surprisingly, however, the text tells us that this will lead not to forgiveness, but to redoubled punishment!  How is it that Hashem rejects the nation's repentance?

• While עקדת יצחקויקרא ע'אודות ר' יצחק עראמה suggests that the people's repentance was not sincere, אבן עזראויקרא כ"ו:מ'-מ"אאודות ר' אברהם אבן עזרא asserts that the text does not really mean that Hashem continued to punish them. Do these reinterpretations conform to the simple meaning of the verses?  What support can you bring for either position?  What marks repentance as sincere or insincere?
• ר' אברהם סבעצרור המור ויקרא כ"ו:מ'אודות ר' אברהם סבע prefers to maintain the literal reading of the text, and he claims that the assumption that repentance must avert punishment is simply wrong.  Do you find this claim theologically troubling?  Why or why not?  For elaboration, see תשובה שאינה מתקבלת?

Autobiographical Parshanut

In trying to determine when the prophecy that the people will confess their sins but nonetheless be further punished was fulfilled, R. Avraham Saba looks to his own time.  The Jews of Castille, who had initially lived in exile like royalty, were expelled to Portugal and from there again to surrounding Arab lands. These Jews were righteous people, who had confessed their wrongdoings numerous times, but nevertheless continuously suffered. For more on this reading, see תשובה שאינה מתקבלת?

Can you think of other cases where commentators read the events of their own eras back into Tanakh? 

Here are a few additional examples:

• R. Chasdai Crescas understands the Egyptian bondage as being afflictions of love.  He thereby attempts to comfort the oppressed of his own time by telling them that their exile, too, stemmed from love, and not, as contemporary Christians claimed, from punishment.  See מטרות שעבוד מצרים.
• R"A Saba reads Esther's being forcibly taken to the King's palace in light of the forced conversions of Portuguese Jewry in his own time.¹ See יחסי אסתר ואחשורוש.
• U. Cassuto portrays Yitro as a diplomatic leader coming to visit Moshe so as to recognize the new people which had just emerged from slavery and joined the league of nations.  In this reading, he was likely influenced by events of his own day – the establishment of the State of Israel and the hope that it would similarly gain recognition from surrounding countries.  See ביקורו של יתרו – מטרתו ומשמעותו.
• Many medieval Spanish exegetes, themselves courtier Jews on good terms with their monarchs, read such relationships back into Megillat Esther, portraying Achashverosh as a positive figure with a favorable view of the Jewish people.  See תדהמת אחשורוש וכעסו.

Disproportionate Punishment?

Justice would seem to dictate that people should never receive a greater punishment than deserved. Yet, ויקרא כ"ו repeats multiple times that if the nation continues to sin, they will get a seven-fold punishment, apparently seven times more than their crimes warrant.

• To solve this theological problem, several commentators attempt to reread the text, suggesting either that the nation's sin in the verses is more egregious than it appears, justifying the "seven-fold" punishment,² or that the punishment described is really less harsh than assumed.³  How might either option work with the simple sense of the text?
• כלי יקרויקרא כ"ו:י"חאודות ר' שלמה מלונטשיץ, in contrast, suggests that sometimes, as punishment for sin, Hashem leaves the world to chance.  Under such circumstances one might indeed suffer more than deserved. How might this approach be understanding the phrase "וְאִם תֵּלְכוּ עִמִּי קֶרִי... וְהָלַכְתִּי אַף אֲנִי עִמָּכֶם בְּקֶרִי"?
• Are there any circumstances in which it might actually be fair to inflict a harsher punishment than deserved?  If doing so will prevent future crimes from taking place, is it justified?

More...

For more, see: Parashat Bechukotai Topics.

¹ R. Saba speaks from personal experience and anguish; his own two sons were forcibly taken from him and baptized during the decree.

² See ספרא ויקראכ"ו:י"חאודות הספרא ויקרא and ר' יוסף בכור שורויקרא כ"ו:י"חאודות ר' יוסף בכור שור.

³ See אבן עזראויקרא כ"ו:י"חאודות ר' אברהם אבן עזרא.