Behar-Bechukotai: What the Leaves are Trying to Tell Us

Last week, it was 90 degrees here in Philadelphia. In early May. I'm a big fan of warm weather, and I'm definitely excited for the pools to open, the barbecues to come out, 

and the sunscreen to get slathered on; but I also can't deny that 90 degrees in May seemed excessive and early. Tropical storms in the south, drought in the west, snowfall in the north - something is clearly going on. Interestingly, our Torah portion speaks to environmentalism and climate change, and I believe it offers us some important insights into what's happening to our planet, but also our own individual role in this shifting reality.

This week's parashah includes a series of blessings and curses, God's responses to us depending on whether we observe or ignore the mitzvot, commandments, in the Torah. The second half of our reading 

begins, "If you follow My laws and faithfully observe My commandments, I will grant your rains in their season, so that the earth shall yield its produce and the trees of the field their fruit... you shall eat your fill of bread and dwell securely in your land" (Lev. 26:3-5). Conversely, if/when we choose to forsake God's stipulations, the Torah tells us "I will make your skies like iron and your earth like copper" (Lev. 26:19), which I think is a very striking image. Sandwiched between iron and copper, with no food, no rain, no soil; how would we survive? The list of curses gets pretty detailed and graphic, but an image that I also think is memorable and significant comes in chapter 26, verse 36, when it says: "The sound of a driven leaf shall put them to flight, fleeing as though from the sword." Again, an important reference to nature.

On the one hand, you can see it simply as a metaphor. The people will be so filled with terror, so psychologically destroyed and vulnerable, that the sound of rustling leaves will send them into panic and retreat. Tiny, innocent, trivial 
things will seem to them like scary monsters and goblins. But I would also argue, on the other hand, that the actual leaf itself can be a poignant symbol as well. Because a fallen leaf in the wrong season IS scary. Barren trees when they should be lush and green, that is a legitimately terrifying image. Very often, we focus on the connection between these Biblical blessings and curses and things like idolatry, Shabbat observance, and keeping Kosher. But we shouldn't miss the ecological imagery that is so deliberately chosen in these passages. Rain and fruit will turn into iron and copper - that truly IS a frightening admonition.

So where does that leave us? Time and again, the Torah tries to speak to the individual - to YOU and ME. It isn't speaking in generalities, and it isn't speaking to ancient ancestors. It applies to us today - just look around at the weather forecasts in YOUR area - and change can, and must, be affected by every individual. Even if we said, for argument's 

sake, that our fate was inevitable, and your individual contributions couldn't avert the impending disaster. Don't you still have an obligation to try? How does ANYTHING happen on a mass scale, before one, single person decides to change his or her behavior? Please take an inventory. As we might have an annual financial conversation around tax time, or an annual spiritual accounting before Yom Kippur, we should also do a personal environmental examination on a regular basis. We sometimes call it a "carbon footprint," which really just means we look at the impact we, as individuals, families, organizations, nations, have on our earth. Perhaps you can take this opportunity to sit down - maybe outside with sunglasses on and some powerful sunscreen protection - and look at what you recycle, if you compost, what lightbulbs you use, and how you run your heating and AC. 

We're only stewards of this earth; we don't own the place. And if we're going to shift our curses back to blessings, and prosper together with our planet, we need to pay a little more attention to the sound of the rustling leaves. 

Photos in this blog post:
1. CC image courtesy of Stevekc on Wikimedia Commons
2. CC image courtesy of JaneArt on Wikimedia Commons
3. CC image courtesy of Alex Proimos on Wikimedia Commons
4. CC image courtesy of Notnarayan on Wikimedia Commons