Leviticus 26:3-27:34
The book concludes with blessings for faithfulness and warnings against betrayal of the covenant. History is framed as morally responsive: choices shape destiny, individually and collectively. Yet even in the darkest moments, God promises that the covenant with Israel will endure.
In Spinoza, Parashat Bechukotai, Parashat Behar and Shabbat by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo
The terrifying curses of Parashat Bechukotai have long troubled readers. Are they truly punishments—or warnings? In an age of anxiety, environmental crisis, and technological overload, the breakdown of spiritual discipline could lead to psychological and even physical consequences.
The Realism of a Biblical Verse
The sudden rediscovery of Jewish identity in Israel since the start of the war has led me to understand a verse in the Torah that I never really understood before. In this verse, God promises peace in our borders under certain conditions. Due to all that we have experienced in the last weeks—the trauma of the attacks and then the incredible new awakening to what it means to be a Jew—perhaps we need to reconsider this verse.
To be satisfied is one of the greatest blessings that can ever be bestowed upon human beings. The Torah teaches us that when the People of Israel live in accordance with the requirements of the Torah, what will matter is not what a person “has” but what a person “is.”
In Holocaust, Jewish Thought and Philosophy, Theodicy, Parashat Bechukotai and Yom HaShoah by Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo
It is difficult to argue that the Holocaust was caused by divine anger for the violations of Torah precepts and deliberate heresy.