Bechukotai, בְּחֻקֹּתַי  "In My Statutes"   Leviticus 26:3-27:34

Statute Of Life

Poetic notes on parashat Bechukotai*

Adam

Where are you?

Searching for Adam

G-d found Abraham and his seed

And G-d said

The tree of the holy field

will give forth its fruit

as  in the Garden of Eden

When the holy people mature

and do as the Holy One decrees

never missing a beat nor a back beat

living in concert with the inspiration 

of the Holy One’s symphonic Torah

as master readers 

of the orchestral score

of heaven and earth

It is faith that sees the notes

written by the true Hand of Life

It is faith that hears the voice 

of the Conductor’s mighty wand

Eyes are blinded by a veil of fears

And ears cannot hear the unknown 

But faith listens to the Faithful One

and sees the music of angel choirs

Therefore reason has no foundation 

except faith in the Author of reason

But if reason stands alone

one foot stands upon the other 

like a dog chasing it’s tail in the dark 

The holy ones who follow orders

and toil to understand

and receive understanding like rain

are prepared 

like those who receive the rain with channels

The holy ones who follow orders

and do not demand to understand 

are hollowed vessels

ready and already filled

What decrees has the Holy One

given to the nations to obey?

One nation alone under heaven

wears tefilin and tzitzit 

One holy nation

holds a red heifer in its heart of hearts

One nation alone toils in Torah

One nation alone

because G-d is G-d alone

and took one branch from Adam

to reveal holiness through judgment

The hollowed out soul

is engraved with love for the Holy One

with the musical score of the universe

with its theme the morals of existence 

In the study of this score

they rise up and lay down to sleep

The nations point at them the finger 

saying Who are they?

We do not recognize them!

But they are the congregation

of the Master of Prayer

And they are all children 

of the Most High

And in answer to their prayer

the nations live and do not perish

For their immersion is in the river

of the tears of the Prayer Leader

who selflessly obeys the decrees

of the Holy One

Who decrees for the world

decrees of life and not of death 

For when the heart of Adam

had turned hard as stone

the wisdom of the Holy One came

in waves of grace

and softened it and broke it

and healed it to be as strong as 

eternal life

Many great minds have probed G-d

with multiple shields 

to withstand the Holy One's glory

Their shields fell away

G-d Himself has laid all souls to rest

The mind that approaches without fear

approaches eternal delusion

When one becomes wise

and has laboured

and has mastered the world's whole

orchestral score

then one obeys the wand of the Conductor

Then one obeys with perfect faith 

as if it were the first command of childhood

*Being a meditation on a Torah class on parashot Behar/Bechutokai delivered by Rabbi Baitelman of ChaBaD Richmond, B.C., based on the series, Torah Studies, by Rohr Jewish Learning Institute. Neither Rabbi Baitelman nor the JLI have reviewed or approved of the content of this post.