Scriptures

Leviticus 26:3 – 27:34

Haftara:
Jeremiah 16:19 – 17:14

This parasha begins with the idyllic blessing that awaits the people if they live up to their covenant with YHVH. It then proceeds to the tochacha (admonition), a sobering account of punishments, frustrations, and curses that will result from attempts to destroy the covenant. Though YHVH’s underlying mercy prevents all of these curses from befalling Israel in any one unbearable instant, a careful reading of Jewish history shows that they have taken place at various intervals, before and after the exiles.

The blessings are given in general terms. The curses however, are given in great detail, because they are intended to awe the people into obedience to YHVH’s will (Ibn Ezra v.13).

26:3-5 The blessing of adherence to Torah. If we walk in all of the mitzvoth of Torah, YHVH will give fruitfulness to our Land andwe should have bread to the full. “I will give you rain-showers in season.” This alludes to the early rains and the latter rains – the yoreh and the malkush (Deut. 11:14).

26:6 By climaxing the above blessings with that of peace, the Torah teaches that peace is equivalent to all other blessings combined (Rashi; Sifra).

26:14-43 These horrendous punishments are meant not as revenge, but to influence people to repent. For that reason, they are inflicted in stages of increasing severity. If the first stage comes and we do not derive the desired lesson, the next and more severe stage of punishment will befall them, until repentance and YHVH’s mercy finally comes.

26:42 The order of the Patriarch's names is reversed. This indicates that Yaakov alone should be worthy of brining redemption to his children; and even if his merit is insufficient, there is Isaac’s merit. If even that is not enough, there is Abraham, whose merit will surely be sufficient (Rashi).

26:46 The word vehatorot is plural because it refers to the two Torahs: the Written Torah and the Oral Torah. This verse emphasizes that both were given at Sinai (Rashi; Sifra).

27:1-8 One may vow to contribute the "value" of oneself or of another person or thing. Here the Torah speaks of a specific form of vow known as erech, which for lack of a better translation we use the word "valuation."

27:9-13 If an animal is sanctified for use as an offering, and it is not suitable (i.e. blemished), it is redeemed and its value used for the offering for which the animal was originally dedicated.

27:32-33 The tithe of animals. The newborn herd or flock is put into a corral with a narrow opening, and the animals are allowed to leave one by one. The owner or his designee touched each tenth one with a paint daubed stick, marking it as the ma’aser or tithe (Rashi; Bechort 58b).

27: 28-29 Cherem, or segregated property. In the context of this passage, the word cherem refers to a person’s expressed resolution to consecrate an object and thus make it forbidden for personal use.

27:30-31 During the first, second, fourth and fifth years of the seven year Shemittah cycle, a farmer sets aside one-tenth of his produce, which he must take to Jerusalem to be eaten. It is known as the ma’aser sheni (second tithe), because it is separate from the crop only after the first tithe is separated for the Levite. The Torah permits the owner to redeem the tithe for coins, which he must take to Jerusalem and use it to purchase food or offerings that may be eaten.