Behar: A Godly Vision

There are some decisions in life that just seem so obvious. Should we move to a warm community or an unfriendly one? Send to an excellent school or a poor one? Or even, should we buy a pretty dress or an ugly one? You may have just been thinking; well, there must be an issue with the warm community, the excellent school or the pretty dress, because why else would you even have to make a decision? Why would this even be a question?

In this week’s parsha, decision-making seems to be incredibly obvious. ‘Im bechukotai teilechu,’ if you follow the ways of Hashem, you get a good life. You get a blessed life. You get a fulfilling life. The rains will fall at the right time and your riches will be protected by Hashem. You will have victory over your enemies and live in blissful peace. Sounds good! ‘V’im teilchu imi keri,’ if you act casually with Hashem and make light of His commandments, it is not quite the same situation. You will be vulnerable to wild animals, your enemies will be victorious over you and wage war against you. You will be plagued and desolated. Starving and bereft. Doesn’t sound as good!

So which do you choose? Need we even ask? The Torah is sending us a message so stark. If we choose to follow Hashem, we are choosing the great life. If we choose the opposite, we are turning our back on it. Why would we ever stumble in our decisions if the situation is so black and white?

How many times have you heard the following: ‘I wish my children were as smart as hers…’ ‘If only my husband was more generous like Family X…’ ‘Why can’t I have parents like my friend’s?’

Yet, we find something interesting towards the end of the parsha. There is a halacha (law) brought down in the verses about the exchange of a korban (sacrifice). A person is forbidden from swapping their sacrifice. Once a person has decided to bring up an offering to Hashem, they cannot switch animals. We can understand that if someone is bringing up a good, fat animal to be sacrificed, it makes sense that they cannot swap it for a less healthy or lower quality animal, since we would not want to downgrade our korban. What is perplexing about this is that the Torah forbids us from upgrading our animal! What if a person realises that they have better livestock? Or, what if they decide to be more generous and offer up a better quality animal? Why does the Torah prevent a person from elevating their sacrifice? Shouldn’t we allow for last-minute exchanges if it encourages more refined and beloved korbanot? 

Rav Moshe Don Kestenbaum explains with the words of the commentator, the Chizkuni. An animal can have hidden blemishes. Perhaps it has a concealed injury. Maybe it has a sickness. Or it could be that it is not actually kosher (fitting according to law) to bring up as a korban. It is not our place to start exchanging our korbanot, because we are unable to distinguish between a good korban and a bad korban. We do not know all the internals of the animal, and therefore, we are not good enough judges to make such a decision. Who are we to start exchanging, when we do not know in the first place what constitutes a good animal? 

So maybe life is not so black and white after all… 

How many times have you heard the following: ‘I wish my children were as smart as hers…’ ‘If only my husband was more generous like Family X…’ ‘Why can’t I have parents like my friend’s?’

We are endowed with a gift of vision. But our vision is only human, and it is petty and short-sighted in many respects. In Jewish law, our vision is so limited that we are not even allowed to swap an animal for a better quality animal, in case our eyes missed a hidden blemish. Why do we assume that in life we have laser-quality vision? If we are not even entrusted with selecting a perfect korban and distinguishing between good animals and bad, why do we assume that we understand the subtleties and nuances of our lives and that of our families and friends? 

We blur the good and the bad. We may see her husband, her boss, her kids as so much better than ours, but whose vision do we trust? Our shortsighted vision, or the all-encompassing vision of our Creator? We see the faults in our husband, our boss, our kids, but who are we to judge? Sometimes the animal that we see as blemished, is actually the most beautiful offering to Hashem. Our spouse, our family, our work environment, is the perfect set-up for us. It is good in the eyes of the One Who put us there. 

We may be living in the modern age, but truly, we lack 20-20 vision. Just like we are not given permission to make judgements on which animal makes a finer korban, we are not given permission to make judgements on which aspects of our lives could be exchanged, upgraded or refurbished. We are not allowed to substitute a korban, because we do not see what is truly good and what is truly bad. Very likely, the things we see as great in the lives of others, are not so simple at all, and the things we complain of in our own lives, are likely the most beautiful in the eyes of the Creator. 

As Hashem Himself said, (Shmuel I 16:7) ‘For man sees what is visible to the eyes, but Hashem sees what is inside the heart.’ 

This Shabbat, let’s take a moment to look around the table. Not to look for blemishes, imperfections or shortcomings, we aren’t the judge of those. But to look for beauty, potential and strength. Our human vision is blurry, but if we look close enough, Hashem will illuminate the blessing for us.