Parshiyot Behar-Behukotai – 5786

A D’var Torah for Parshiyot Behar-Behukotai

By Rabbi Inna Serebro-Litvak

Last month I was trying to make plans to meet with friends for dinner. We kept going through our calendars in search of a convenient day. Twice we actually thought we had found a date that would work for us all but then someone would remember another event that was already scheduled for that date and we would have to start all over again.

Finally, we settled on getting together on June 13, which was two months away from the time we started figuring it out!

We all have such busy calendars that we almost never have a chance to experience the spontaneity of just calling someone and getting together that same day. These days we almost always have to make plans in advance!

But I have a much different experience when I travel to Israel. When I am visiting friends and family there, I can never make plans to meet up with them ahead of time. In fact they always poke fun at me and joke that I have become such an American when I try to schedule time together.

The thing is – in Israel hardly anyone makes any advance plans. This has become especially true in the last few years because they say, “What is the point? Life is unpredictable.” That is why I gave up scheduling. I just call them when I am already in Israel and we meet when it is convenient.

Of course, there is a certain excitement associated with impromptu get togethers but not when it is contingent upon ceasefires or short-lived times when Israel is not at war.

You see, here, in the United States, we have the ability to plan, to schedule, and to make advance arrangements. This ability gives us a sense (sometimes a false sense) that we are in control of our calendars and of our lives.

Vice versa, one may think that Israelis are deprived of that sense of control. Rarely do they plan vacations, birthdays, weddings, anniversaries or other celebrations in advance.

Yet, we should not be fooled by their seemingly laid back attitude, because there is also an underlying sense of readiness.

It is like being constantly on stand-by in the face of a persistent threat that comes from the neighboring countries – which means that their enemies outnumber them. This situation is not anything new – not for the modern State of Israel, nor for the land of Israel in ancient times.

One verse in this week’s Torah portion summarizes the disproportionate number of enemies Israel faces, in Leviticus 26:8: “Five of you will pursue a hundred of them. A hundred of you will pursue ten thousand of them. Your enemies will fall before you by the sword.”

Rashi notices something unusual about this verse. The numbers don’t add up. Five pursue a hundred—but a hundred pursue ten thousand.

What he points out is that when people stand together, their strength is not just added—it is multiplied.

And that kind of multiplied strength doesn’t come from planning, or rather it does not come only from planning—it comes from being ready and prepared together.

In this text, God promises the Israelites that if they follow His commandments then He will help them to mobilize against the enemies that outnumber them.

This is not a promise of peace everlasting, the assurance of a quiet life where people can make plans for months, or even years, ahead. No – this is an ultimate outline of the reality Israelites will face for the centuries ahead. It is a promise of the help that will come when people live in a state of readiness – spiritually, morally and physically prepared for what is ahead.

This readiness can be empowering because it can demonstrate that people have the ability to act when needed, and to do so in a unified and disciplined manner. It also teaches that when people demonstrate a readiness to respond at any given moment, it actually helps them to have, in a way, a stronger sense of control.

We have seen in the most painful way what the lack of readiness can look like. On October 7, 2023, life changed in an instant for Israel. A Shabbat of Simchat Torah holiday that began like any other Shabbat became a nightmare that no one could have fully anticipated or planned for.

The October 7th attack tested “readiness” in an unprecedented way. After the initial shock, even paralysis, people mobilized and responded as reservists, police, volunteers, and ordinary citizens rushed to help.

That is what readiness looks like. Not perfect foresight. Not complete control. But the ability to rise, to act, and to stand together when history suddenly calls.

We spend so much of our lives trying to control the calendar, trying to plan every detail. But life—especially as we see it in Israel—does not always wait for the calendar.

So we must heed the lesson of the Torah as it teaches us that strength is not measured by how carefully we schedule our lives, but rather by whether, when life calls unexpectedly, we are ready to respond.