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Parshat Bechukotai
1997
A story is told of Menahem Nahum of Chernobyl. Once, on Shabbat Behukotai, he was given an aliah. As you know, it is always a great honor to read from the Torah and a great honor to be called up for an aliah. Yet, many Jews are so afraid of the tokhahah, the curses, in this parsha (Vayikra,26:14-46) that they shy away from these honors when this section is read.
In many places, it is the rabbi who reads this section, and in fact, that Shabbat, it was the Baal Shem Tov himself who was reading the tokhahah, the curses in the Torah reading. Still, Menahem felt uncomfortable. Why, dafka, did he have to be given an aliah for this section? Yet, as Menahem listened to the Besht read, a strange thing happened. One might expect the atmosphere to grow heavier and heavier as curses piled one upon the other.
However, just the opposite happened. As every curse was read, as every curse was uttered, instead the atmosphere grew lighter. In fact, even the physical pains and discomforts that had often plagued Menahem seemed to feel better and better. The Baal Shem Tov showed that by saying the words, by uttering these phrases, the pain was lifted and became easier to bear. (Ituray Torah, vol. 4, p. 154, English version in "Sparks Beneath the Surface" by L. Kushner and K. Olitzky).
I find that this is often the case in my work at Hillel. Sometimes we are afraid to state a problem, to acknowledge it out loud, for fear that speaking the words will make it so real, so serious, so weighty, that we won't be able to deal with it. Yet often, the very opposite is true. It is the problem that goes unstated, unacknowledged, that really turns into a curse.
When I am counseling a student, or someone comes to me with a story that is really troubling, a deep conflict with family or friends, a loss or a very hard transition, one of the first things I do is simply acknowledge, out loud, how difficult or painful the situation is. I'll often say to a student, "You're not missing anything.
This is really hard. You have reason to be so upset." It's surprising that many times by simply naming the curse, you can lift some of its power. Speaking the curse out loud then sets the stage and enables you to move on to talk productively about plans, strategies and solutions.
This happens in organizational settings as well. I've often seen people go out of their way to avoid naming and dealing with the real problems that cause discord in a group. Sometimes, students are so scared of conflict or have so little trust that they have the skills to work through problems that they avoid naming the issue, hoping it will disappear. It seldom does.
Curses tend to retain their power when uttered in the dark and repeated in secret. As staff, we can play an important role by helping students name and raise issues that cause conflict within a group. Sharing our stories, our perspective and experience of conflicts worked through and productively resolved is a great gift we can give to our students.
We live in an unredeemed world. While we have many blessings, we live with curses as well. Reading this parsha can remind us that there is a time to say those curses out loud, confront them and dissipate their power.
Prepared by Rabbi Jeffrey Summit, Tufts University
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