Rabbi Marla Joy Subeck Spanjer, "Histapkut—Simplicity: Recognizing Our Blessings" in Block, Rabbi Barry H.. The Mussar Torah Commentary: A Spiritual Path to Living a Meaningful and Ethical Life (p. 205). CCAR Press.
Parashat B’chukotai begins with a promise and a threat. The promise assures us that we will derive satisfaction in major areas of our lives, should we walk faithfully in the ways of Torah. The threat details the countless forms of discontent we will experience, should we turn away from a life of Torah. The language of blessings and curses is hyperbolic and vivid. Such lists of blessings and curses, presented as divine responses to human behavior here and elsewhere in the Torah, tend to disturb us.... Whether we perceive the circumstances of our lives to come from God, fate, chance, or other people, we often experience them as something thrust upon us without our doing. However, the ability to perceive a circumstance as a blessing is, in and of itself, a tremendous blessing, and Mussar calls that perception histapkut. By contrast, the perception of a circumstance as a curse is itself a torturous curse.
1) What are the blessings God promises in this text?
2) How might we understand these blessings through the perspective of Histapkut? In other words, in what ways are these blessings thrust upon us, and in which way does our attitude towards what we are given help shape the blessings therein?
1) What are the cuses in this section of the Torah?
2) How might we understand these curses through the perspective of Histapkut? In other words, what in the curses indicates something that is done to people, and where is there evidence that our attitudes might shape our perspective on what we experience, rendering it a "curse"?
Rabbi Marla Joy Subeck Spanjer
When we read, “You shall eat your fill of bread and dwell securely in your land” (Leviticus 26:5), a reasonable understanding is that we are being assured of sufficient food and a lack of violent enemies—or, at least, strong protection from such enemies should they exist. Similarly, “I will grant peace in the land, and you shall lie down untroubled by anyone” (Leviticus 26:6) might indicate that no one will seek to threaten or harm us or that no one will succeed in doing so, especially since this blessing is followed by examples of military victory. Yet, what physical circumstances could be described by the curse “I will wreak misery upon you” (Leviticus 26:16; also translated “I will direct panic against you”) or the threats of despair (m’chalot einayim) and despondency (m’divot nafesh) in the same verse? Some verses even state explicitly that a given curse refers exclusively to a state of mind. Examples include “You shall flee though none pursues” (Leviticus 26:17) and “As for those of you who survive, I will cast a faintness into their hearts. . . . The sound of a driven leaf shall put them to flight. Fleeing as though from the sword, they shall fall though none pursues. With no one pursuing, they shall stumble over one another as before the sword” (Leviticus 26:36–37).
Rabbi Marla Joy Subeck Spanjer
The blessing “You shall eat your fill of bread” (Leviticus 26:5) takes on a new layer of meaning when juxtaposed against the curse “And though you eat, you shall not be satisfied” (Leviticus 26:26). Apparently, one’s “fill of bread” refers to more than just the quantity of food available or consumed. Indeed, Rashi taught that “a single grain would become blessed [when consumed].” In other words, the amount of food would not change, but rather its effect on the person eating it.
DOES THAT MEAN IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES WE SHOULD BE HAPPY WITH WHAT WE HAVE?
Rabbi Shlomo ben Yehudah ibn Gabirol
Seek what you need and give up what you do not need. For in giving up what you do not need, you will learn what you really do need.
SIMPLICITY, NOT ASCETICISM
Alan Morinis
Orchot Tzaddikim, for example, provides an unflattering description of the extremely frugal individual, who “is of constricted spirit, for whom even a trifle suffices and he does not rush to obtain all of his needs.” This is the sort of individual who “consumes not even a penny’s worth of his own without dire distress.” Because frugality can be as negative and pinched as this description suggests, for voluntary simplicity to be good for the soul (as opposed to being merely miserly renunciation), it requires not only outer action but also a strong and positive inner attitude. Simplicity undertaken to bring the life you lead into alignment with your deepest values is a spiritual practice.
AND NONE SHALL MAKE YOU AFRAID. No evil beast and no enemy. On the contrary, you will chase your enemies and they shall fall before you.
SIMPLICITY AND FAITH
Alan Morinis
Ultimately, simplicity is about trusting God. All the worry, striving, desire, regret, and clinging that you pour into your possessions—those you have, those you lost, or those you aspire to—reflect your disbelief that you will be provided with just the right materials you need to fulfill your soul-mission in life. It’s not likely to be all you want, but there is no end to desires or the craving for gratification, and no satisfaction to be won by chasing the illusion that begins, “If only I had . . .” Being content means accepting that you have been allotted everything you need for the present, according to a wisdom that is higher than anything your human mind can assess. Though living a simpler life might seem at first glance to be a sacrifice, from a soul-perspective, it is nothing less than true liberation. It is the most practical thing you can do to extricate your life from the concerns of the material to devote to the spiritual. Simplicity brings you freedom: freedom from the bondage to possessions, freedom from insatiable desires, freedom from dwelling on the past and from making demands on the future.
SIMPLICITY MEANS FOCUSING ON WHAT MATTERS
Rabbi Marla Joy Subeck Spanjer
Our lives, we tell ourselves, will not be livable unless we get into the right college (or any college), unless we get the perfect job (or the one we want right now), unless we live where we want to live, unless other people do what we want them to do. The real blessing is to be able to live with what we have right now and to live with what we are right now. Our imperfect bodies, our imperfect minds, our imperfect lives can be enough, and when we know this, we are blessed beyond compare.
Alan Morinis. Everyday Holiness (pp. 117-118). Shambhala. Kindle Edition.
What the Mussar teachers decry is not the material world per se but our enslavement to it. Rabbi Dessler describes people whose “hearts remain attached to their material, animalistic desires.” “What a pity!” he writes. “They are like fish trapped in a net, or an animal inside a snare. They run back and forth to no avail.” This is our predicament, and to guide us in dealing with it, the Mussar masters taught the virtue of living a more simple life, and being content with what you have.
Rabbi Shlomo ben Yehudah ibn Gabirol
Seek what you need and give up what you do not need. For in giving up what you do not need, you will learn what you really do need.