Two Minute Torah Podcast

Behukotai 5771 by Joel Udwin

Shalom, my name is Joel Udwin and I am a freshman at Boston University. Welcome to KOACH's Two-Minute Torah; a project of the College Department of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. Parashat Bechukotai begins with the line:

"םאִם בְּחֻקֹּתַי תֵּלֵכוּ וְאֶת מִצְוֹתַי תִּשְׁמְרוּ וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָ"

Which translates to "If you follow my statutes and observe my commandments and perform them …" The parasha continues with a list of blessings that g-d will bestow on the people such as peace, rain, and food, and a list of curses should the people CHOOSE not to heed g-d’s commands.

I would like to concentrate on one phrase in the parasha in particular:

"אִם בְּחֻקֹּתַי"

"IF you follow". Why this phrase? What makes this line so extraordinary that it deserves to be pulled apart from the entire parasha? Well it’s the small word at the beginning that is so important. IF. G-d tells the people "IF you follow my statues". This is important because the if means that we have the option not to follow G-d’s commandments … the "if" means we have choice.

Our choices and decisions define who we are. We make major decisions about where to go to college, what to study, who our friends are. We also make minor decisions like what to eat, or when to go to sleep. Perhaps most importantly we constantly make moral decisions based on what we know to be right or wrong, and sometimes in spite of it.

Going back to the first pasuk, some rabbis interpret the words

"תֵּלֵכוּ בְּחֻקֹּתַי"

not as following statues, but as laboring in torah, meaning studying and understanding the principles of the mitzvot. According to this interpretation the verse reads "If you labor in torah and observe my commandments and perform them …" So what who really cares, right?

Get ready. This is the sappy part that has broader meaning that directly connects to your life! We can learn from this one pasuk a lot about how we are supposed to make decisions. Decisions (even small ones) are powerful; the ability to decide is one of the components that shows we are made in the image of g-d. Just as we are supposed to study and understand the mitzvot before we CHOOSE to follow them, so too should we understand and study all the other choices we make in our lives. Bechukotai on one level is about g-d encouraging (with a carrot and a stick) us to follow the mitzvot. But on another level the parasha is also a lesson about free will and how we are supposed to use it.

Shabbat Shalom!