Bechukothai: Value

The parsha begins with a general description of the rewards for keeping the mitzvoth: peace and prosperity.  This is followed by a much longer ( about twice as long)  depiction of the consequences that devolve from from violating the mitzvoth: total degradation and (near) destruction. This is the roller-coaster of favor and disfavor, being treasured or rejected. The relationship between Gd and Israel is not linear, the mitzvoth are not individual points. When the payback begins, opportunity for correction is provided, but if it is missed, the punishment intensifies. The resentment that flows from castigation need to be overcome  by a broader view of the situation that leads to obedience. Those are the instructions.

I grew up in America, the delicious  (rica in Spanish)  land of entitlement.  In this worldview pain, suffering, decline, strife- these are not only unexpected, but violations, injustices. The idea that everything should go well is a deeply imprinted model that I involuntarily  impose on a surprisingly cooperative reality.  But on a "scientific" level, I know that entropy is stronger than the great promulgator of order: life.  Decline and death, scarcity and defeat, are more probable than the gifts Gd grants to the favored.  The purification of animal excrement to bacteriogically sterile sugar water by a plant is not a given, it is a miracle. And the miracle of my family's success after escaping from the wrath of the Nazis ( and Gd?) is comparable.

Immediately  following the description of the horrors of Heavenly rebuke ( and the eventual deliverance of the remnant), the text turns to the monetary values of persons.  This juxtaposition is disquieting.  The valuations are expressed as the amount that would have to be paid ( to the Temple treasury) if one pledged the value of a person, based upon gender and age. It feels like a yizkor pledge ( money pledged in honor of the departed at the  festival memorial ceremony )  or, perhaps, a formula for reparations.  It is,perhaps, another way to gain perspective.  Every life has infinite value... and finite value. 

Every life is a miracle...are miracles banal?