THE REWARD
In this Parasha, the Tora promises us His blessing of prosperity and peace if we diligently observe the Tora, our pact with God. The Creator promises us rains in their time and that He will protect us from our relentless enemies. The Tora gives us some details of this blessing, guaranteeing peace on the land, eliminating wild animals, and God’s intervention to grant us military success. The epitome of Divine Intervention in this area is manifested when the Tora mentions: “Five of you will pursue (defeat) a hundred (enemies), and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand!” The Tora also promises an abundance of crops and the permanent presence of God among us.
THE PUNISHMENT
But then comes the other side of the coin. What will happen if the people of Israel turn away from God and abandon His pact? If we turn away from God, He will not intervene in our favor, and by our own making, we will be left to the mercy of nature and our enemies. The process, more or less, goes like this. The interruption of the Divine blessing –rain in its time– will bring starvation, and hunger will cause weakness and illnesses to the inhabitants of Israel. Wild animals, which also suffer from hunger when there is no rain, will stalk us in our own cities. Being weak, we won’t have the strength and means to face relentless enemies. Those Gentiles that are always lurking will identify our weakness (=God is NOT with us), invade our land and take possession of it. And we will be expelled into exile. The non-observance of the sabbatical year – when we forget that the Land of Israel is Divine territory – is pointed out as one of the main reasons why we will lose the merit to continue living in our land. In exile, we will be considered unwelcome foreigners, and we will be completely exposed to their whims, their cruelty, and their hatred. They won’t leave us in peace. They will humiliate and persecute us with the sword. Our lives will become filled with panic and anxiety. However, when we return to God, He will remember the merit of our ancestors and won’t allow the enemy to exterminate us.
MORE MITZVOT
After this long warning about the consequences of abandoning the commandments, the Tora moves on to a completely different and unrelated topic: the voluntary donations to the BetHaMiqdash and how to evaluate them and quantify them. These donations can be land, animals, and other possessions. The Tora also mentions the role of the firstborn animals and indicates how to replace or redeem them. In the end, the tithes of the harvest are briefly mentioned, which must be consumed in Jerusalem, as well as the rules of the tithe of animals.
