Parashat Bechukotai provides the capstone covenant to the Book of Leviticus. Having shared so many rules and laws, the book ends with God sharing what rewards the people will receive should they adhere, and what curses and difficulties they will encounter if they don’t.

The curses section is much longer and more detailed than the blessings section. Perhaps this is because our behaviour is more responsive to the avoidance of negative outcomes rather than embracing positive outcomes. Sharing more of the bad possible outcomes has a different impact than highlighting rewards.

Sometimes, though, there is a blessing inside the curses. In our current moment, with all of the difficulties that Canadian Jews are experiencing on campus, at work, at school and among social circles, many people are finding their way to increased Jewish practice and expression. In the wake of Jewish institutions being harmed, attacked and vandalized, we are showing up and speaking up as one community and as one voice.

This Shabbat’s Torah reading makes clear that the curses being threatened would come to pass based on the poor behaviour of the Israelite people. Let me be clear. Our current state of affairs is not a result of our misdeeds as individuals or as a community. Yet our response to this situation has the potential to bring us so many blessings.

Blessings of unity. Blessings of intra-community understanding. Blessings of a strengthening of Jewish living among individuals and the institutions that facilitate Jewish expression. May we all meet this moment with commitment, passion and dedication. And may good things come our way, both through putting in the work and as a result of the work.