Weekly Dvar Torah: Empowerment, Super Blessings, and Empowerment

Three highlights of our Parsha.

אִם בְּחֻקֹּתַי תֵּלֵכוּ = If you will follow my laws.

The simple meaning is, that Hashem says; if you will follow my laws I, G-d, will provide you with all that you need, and if not, G-d forbid, you know the rest.

Further on we learn all about the punishments that will come as a result of not following G-d’s will, and this part is called the curses of the Torah, and it’s so painful that we refuse to offer the Aliya to anybody to read this part of the Torah, so the Baal Koreh (official reader, cantor) makes the blessing uninvited.

Then we end the Parsha with Chazak Chazak V’Nischazek, we proclaim at the end of the reading, which concludes the book of Vayikra (Leviticus), be strong, be strong, and we’ll be strengthened.

On the surface one asks what’s so exciting to shout out Chazak at this point, when we just read about the curses, and even at the beginning of the Parsha which tells us of G-d’s blessings, they are very conditional and iffy, so what is there to be so enthusiastic about?

This is the gift of the teachings of Chassidus by our holy Rebbe’s.

אִם בְּחֻקֹּתַי תֵּלֵכוּ; let’s see the Chassidic translation.

The word אִם is translated not as “if”, but rather as “please”, G-d saying to the Jews, please follow my laws.

It gets even better, G-d says, please go with my engraved laws, G-d’s laws from which you will never separate because they are carved in your hearts like engraved in stone.

So, the three words, אִם בְּחֻקֹּתַי תֵּלֵכוּ, each word took on a whole new meaning.

אִם = please, Hashem is begging the Jews, and this in itself is empowerment from G-d to be able to follow His will.

בְּחֻקֹּתַי = My engraved laws, not just the rational laws, but go with My supra-rational laws, the infinitely inspired laws.

תֵּלֵכוּ = you will become a goer, a mover, you will no longer be stationary, you will grow beyond limits.

Then we move on to the curses.

When the Alter Rebbe read the curses, his son, the Miteler Rebbe, didn’t hear any curses, there were only blessings, because the Alter Rebbe explains that the blessings that are concealed in these curses are such incredible blessings that they could not be expressed in the normal lexicon of blessings, they had to be disguised in curses, but really they are very profound and strong G-dly blessings.

The Gemara tells a story of the Rashbi who sent his son Rabbi Elazar to be blessed by Rabbi Yonasan ben Asmai and Rabbi Yehuda ben Geirim.

They said: you should sow and not reap, you should import and not sell, you should spend money and bring nothing back, your house should be destroyed and you should lodge in temporary shelter, your table should be confused, and you shouldn’t see a new year.

Rabbi Elazar was horrified and came crying to his father, instead of blessings I was cursed terribly.

Rashbi said: These are all blessings:

“Sow and not reap” means, you should give birth to children and they should not die.

“You should import and not sell” means, that you should bring in brides for your sons and your sons will not die, which would cause their wives to leave.

“You should spend money and bring nothing back” means, that you should marry off your daughters and their husbands should not die, which would cause your daughters to return to you.

“Your house should be destroyed and you should lodge in temporary shelter”, this is allegorical, this world is temporary, and the World-to-Come is permanent, meaning you should live in a temporary home rather than in a permanent one, you should live a long life.

“Your table should become confused” means, that you should have many sons and daughters, so there will be noise and confusion at your table.

“You shouldn’t see a new year” means, your wife should not die, and you won’t have to marry a new wife and spend the first year with her as a newlywed.

This is an incredible description of how very special blessings are disguised in curses.

Finally, we come to the end when we announce חזק חזק ונתחזק = be strong, be strong and we’ll be strengthened, proclaiming how empowered we feel after finishing another book of the Torah with G-dly empowerment to become movers and grow infinitely, followed by such profound blessings, we march forward with confidence, strength and vigor, and we say it three times to make it a permanent Chazaka.

What a refreshing understanding of a Parsha, this is the gift of Chassidus.

Have a blessed Chassidishe Shabbos,
Gut Shabbos
Yosef Katzman