Behar-Bechukotai: A Selfish Curse

When we are in crisis, we don't care who we hurt. It's sometimes hard to admit, but if we are in pain - whether because of sickness, financial trouble, physical assault, depression, or something else - we tend to shut down all other concerns, and self-preservation takes over. We often cannot help it; it's just our nature. But that is rarely the best approach to a crisis situation, and it is unlikely to help resolve the issue at hand. The real question is, how can we shift our mindset away from this detrimental and unproductive way of thinking?

In this week's Torah portion, Behar-Bechukotai, we read about a long series of curses; outlined

for us as the consequence of ignoring God's laws. If we refuse to live a life of holiness and ethical behavior, we can expect crops to fail, poverty to rise, enemies to attack us, and fear to spread rapidly. We read this chapter with shock and horror. How can God do this to us? We may even turn it around, looking at the disasters around us and asking if this is punishment for disobeying God. Was Hurricane Katrina an act of God? Was the Haitian earthquake???

My answer is an emphatic and unequivocal "NO!" When we ask such questions, we're missing the point of this Torah reading entirely. Look at the reading more carefully. It doesn't just talk about disobeying God's command. It talks about people ignoring the sabbatical year and overworking the land; destroying the planet's natural resources. THAT is why there is hunger and poverty! Also, the Torah tells us that, "With no one pursuing, they shall stumble over one another as before the sword" (Lev. 26:37). We're not being attacked by an evil enemy, we are sacrificing others to save ourselves, fleeing instead of defending those who cannot defend themselves. When I read about these curses, I see calamities that human beings inflicted upon society, not God. They are unrelated to natural disasters over which we have no control.

The Torah describes these as curses from God, because when we're in the midst of personal crisis, we blame someone else and refuse to admit fault. When we read more closely, however, we see that our society and the culture we've created really brought these curses upon us. No one person is to blame, but I believe one particular attitude is a BIG part of the problem:

selfishness. Rather than focusing on what's best for myself or my immediate family, I need to think about society as a whole. If we cannot change the selfish attitudes and "me first" mentality that is displayed all around us, we can only expect more "curses" to strike us. We cannot expect change to come from someone else. It starts with me. And it starts right now.