Buchukothai:the Line

 

Buchukothai: the Line

Growing up in America, one of the phrases I found most disturbing was “The Hebrew Gd of Vengeance.” This descriptive title  helped to explain why Jews are different from Christians. The Cristian gd, the American gd, was merciful and forgiving. The American gd would bend the rules. Transgression was an invitation to repentance. Their core story was the prodigal son. The Jewish Gd was not so forgiving. Transgression brought fire, brimstone, destruction, exile, starvation, persecution…and that was just getting started. There is no bending of the rules with a people who have such a Gd. A pound of flesh means every ounce.

 

As a Jew in America, I took this description as an invitation to abandon the old ways in favor of a gentler, more merciful world view.  Clinging to the old ways of my ancestors relegated me to a world of cruelty; thus, I deserved cruel treatment by others. But how could I abandon my origins? I am the child of Gd’s cruelty, progeny of the Holocaust.

 

This parsha displays the Hebrew Gd of Vengeance.  There is a promise of prosperity as a reward for going in the path of the edicts and guarding the commandments.  This section is followed by a much longer passage, whispered in the public reading, that describes the consequences of rebellion against these edicts and commandments, in just enough detail to terrify. The passage of destruction is read in a soft, low tone,  an act of stagecraft.  Suddenly, the listener’s attention is focused as the volume of the chant is reduced to a whisper. The hush tones punctuate the ugliness of the message and convey a hope that these tragedies will never come to pass. It is also reminiscent of the Yom Kippur service

 

וּבְשׁוֹפָר גָּדוֹל יִתָּקַע. וְקוֹל דְּמָמָה דַקָּה יִשָּׁמַע.

 

A great shofar is sounded, and a silent, gentle voice is heard;

 

 

My generation, the post Holocaust, grew up in the shadow of the tochahah, the rebuke, read in this week’s parsha.  Jews, and selected others, suffered punishments that exceeded those described in the parsha. In my home, the stories of that time were also told in a whisper and that murmur colored my religious life. How does one relate to the Gd that threatens such punishment … and delivers.

The concept of discipline and instruction through penalty is antithetical to modern pedagogy.  We now consider corporal punishment child abuse. Violence begets violence begets violence. Our worldview wants to break that cycle of brutality. The litany of the tochachah conflicts with the modern worldview.

It is worse than that.  Failure to recognize misfortune as punishment, and failure to reform, is chastised with additional, more severe adversity and disaster. Until the penitent sees his error and repents, things just get worse; and it gets harder to see the errors while hungry, dirty, and enslaved.   How can the victim feel about the Disciplinarian after her family is wiped out; after living like a hunted, burrowing animal for years. A hush comes over the whole Jewish enterprise.

 The survivors and their offspring are confused. Which parts of this conglomeration of text, tradition, superstition, values, assimilation, accomplishments, etc.  that we call Judaism, are at fault?  What needs to be abandoned to prevent further tragedy? What should be kept? What was the value of the agony?

 To me, the Holocaust, this fulfillment of the tochaha, the passage of rebuke, read in this week’s parsha, was evidence that Gd exists; and exists as described. This love of the tormentor, this Stockholm syndrome, fosters a belief that cannot be shaken by circumstances.

 

 

The root of the name of the parsha,   בְּחֻקֹּתַ֖    Buchukothai, is חֻקֹּ, chok . In context, this means the rules. The arbitrary  is strongly implied by the word chok. It is an edict that does not require, and may defy, explanation.

 

The Hebrew dictionary used in Sefaria defines chok :

 

statute,  ordinance,  limit, something prescribed,  due

 

 

The core meaning seems to be limit, a boundary that should not be violated. The penalty for crossing that line can be severe.

 

In modern Hebrew, natural laws are called chok.  It is appealing to me to think that these terrible consequences are merely nature without Divine constraints. Gd does not cause these horrors; Gd prevents the atrocities; and violation of the rules removes the protection. We live in a world that is made so pleasant, entertaining and comfortable by secret, hidden processes whose causal essences we do not expect to understand. The admonition in the parsha need not be seen as a declaration of power.  It can be a revelation about nature (חֻקֹּתַ֖י, Gd's edicts). 

 

I am confused. Lost, I don’t know where the line is.  What happens if I cross it accidentally?  I will try to be careful.