Behar bechukothai landed

The Parsha begins with Sinai  and ends  (twices [Leviticus 26:46 and Leviticus 27:34) with Sinai.

From  the year 70 until 1948, the edicts concerning the sabbatical  and jubilee  years  were  theoretical.  They  served as a reminder of the land, its existence  and significance. And it's message, conveyed in theis week's parsha,  includes the idea  that  the misfortune  of the Jew  was  the direct  result  of landlessness, the consequence of the exile

The land is the source of sustenance and wealth. The curse, the Tochacha,  devolves from  the loss of the land as a  source of food. It ends with the evils of life on the land of an other.

But the  revelation occurs  in exile. Exile, land of  desperation,   is  is where hope is revealed - along with the rules, the  rules  that are  always  broken  with consequent  despair.

The  recent history of my family seems to fit the paradigm of the end of Bachukothai, the reversal of the curse and the emergence of the blessing.

My grandparents lived  in the Pale of Jewish Settlement .  Father’s father was a farmer, not poor (by Polish peasant standards),  My mother, cynically, referred to  that grandfather as  “ Rockefeller from Bagatteles” [ Bagatelees was the name of a nearby town], Perhaps his wealth  qualified for ( Polish, rural,early 20^th century) middle class.  But that was at the height of his success,  The war confiscated everything,  His land, his goods, his children, his life, certainly he descended to the lowest point described in the Tochacha, the curse that makes up much of Bechukothai. Perhaps the prior success embittered the descent even more,  (prospect theory),

My mothers parents were poor, fiercely, even professionally, Jewish.  Her father was a melamed, a man who taught children the Hebrew letters, perhaps  chumash.  I actually spoke to one of his students on the telephone, My sister had found this nonagenarian in Florida.  We sang Oifen pripichuk (you tube) together on the telephone. The song is actually named "der aleph bais” It was what my mother sang and what my wife  and I sang to our children.

The first verse simply describes the melamed teaching the small children  the Hebrew letters. It conveys a sense of  clinging to the tradition despite economic and cultural hardships.  Learning lashon Kodesh was not a road out of poverty, and there were manu more interesting thngs for a child to do 

A  flag is proised in one of the versus .  I have that flag . That flag has the pre-1948 ,extended version of the Hatikva.  It is the flag of Zionism, the promise if the land that will heal the woes of the people…as promised in our parsha.

Another verse deals with how the perception of the letters will change as the student learns more and matures.  Viefil in die oysios liggen treren und gevein: how many tears and laments are encrusted n these letters.

Finally,  the song turns the letters into  the conveyance of strength  from the tradition: When the exile exhausts you, look into the letters and derive strength ( zolt yir fun die oysioith koyach shepen; kokt in zey arain. 

What is the Sinai tradition, its blessing and curse? It is hope from a distance, a call to commitment even when the reward is out of sight. It is an acceptance of hardship ...and wonder, perhaps confusion, when the reward arrives.