Bechukosai: Does Hashem Ever Truly Loathe Israel?

Our gut reaction to this question is, "No!" but the verses in the blessings and the curses indicate that the answer is not so simple.

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Bechukosai: Does Hashem Ever Truly Loathe Israel?

The blessings promised at the beginning of Parashas Bechukosai sound lovely, with one exception toward the end:

If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments and do them … I shall place My dwelling in your midst, and My very Being [1] shall not loathe you. (Vayikra 26:3)

Imagine a newly engaged couple talking excitedly about what life will be like once they’re married. Imagine how the bride-to-be would react if her fiancé said, “We’ll get married, and we’ll live together, and I won’t loathe you!” She would rightly take this as a backhanded compliment and wonder what prompted him to say it. That’s how “My very Being shall not loathe you” feels. It raises the question: If we’re obeying Hashem’s will, why on earth would we think He might loathe us?

Ramban (ibid. 26:11) takes note of this and strengthens our question:

But I do not understand the reason for this. Why would Ha’Kadosh Baruch Hu say that in our observance of all the mitzvos and our doing of His will, He will not loathe us with His very Being? And behold, even in our transgression of His covenant and our committing of great abominations, He said: “I have not rejected them, nor have I loathed them” (26:44). And the prophet said at the time of the curse: “Have You utterly rejected Judah? Has Your Being loathed Zion?” (Yirmiyahu 14:19).

Not only does it seem odd for Hashem to reassure us in the blessings that He won’t loathe us, but if He already assures us in the curses that He won’t loathe us—both in our parashah and again when the curses come to pass during the destruction of the First Mikdash—then why would we need to be told this now?

Alas, Ramban does not provide an answer—at least, not one in the peshat (straightforward meaning). He introduces his answer as “one of the secrets of the Torah.” But since he warns us, his readers, in his introduction to the Torah not to attempt to understand his “secrets” unless we’ve been initiated into mysteries of Kabbalah, we will not cite his answer here. It is clearly not intended for us and, for our purposes, amounts to no answer at all. [2]

Fortunately, our question is taken up by N.H. Wessely (26:11). He begins by stating his view:

“And My very Being will not loathe you” – That is: “My very Being will not be disgusted by you.” Do not fear that after many generations I will become fed up with you and choose another nation to exalt above you, for “I, Hashem, have not changed” (Malachi 3:6). [3] If you do your part by walking in My statutes, “My dwelling will be among you” forever. Ibn Ezra (ibid.) said: “I am not like a human being who becomes disgusted with dwelling in one place,” and he explained this well.

He then raises our question and criticizes Ramban’s treatment of it:

But it is astonishing: How can one even conceive of Hashem loathing those who observe Torah?! And regarding those who abandon the Torah, the verse [later] states: “Even so, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them nor loathe them” (26:44). If so, what need is there for this promise here? Ramban did not offer any explanation on the level of peshat. I am astonished by him, for according to his view, the verses contradict one another, for earlier it says “My very Being will loathe you” (26:30)!

Wessely is not only bothered by Ramban’s neglect of a peshat-based answer; he also criticizes Ramban for selectively quoting verses in a way that makes it seem as though Hashem never loathes us, when in fact, verse 30 explicitly states, “My very Being will loathe you”!

We are now faced with three questions: (1) Why, in the blessings, does Hashem assure us that He will not loathe us? (2) Why does He need to reassure us of this if, at the end of the curses, He says that no matter what, He will not loathe us? (3) If He won’t loathe us when we are at our worst (26:44), how can He loathe us earlier (26:30)?

Wessely now offers his full theory on Divine loathing:

The truth is that the word gi’ul (“loathing”) has several meanings.

The first, as we have said, refers to a loathing of dwelling continually among them. That is what this verse promises: “My very Being will not loathe you” (26:11) for “I, Hashem, have not changed” (Malachi 3:6).

The second is loathing due to sin, in which case He removes His shechinah (presence) from them and punishes them for many days, until they have expatiated their sin. Then He returns to rejoice in them for good. This is the meaning of: “My very Being will loathe you” (26:30)

The third is a complete loathing: either by removing them from the land, or by annulling His covenant forever. This is what the Torah assures will not happen at the end of the rebuke: “Despite all this … I will not reject them nor loathe them to destroy them, to annul My covenant with them…” (26:44), as I will explain there. This is clear.

This resolution of the contradiction is elegant: Hashem may loathe us for our sins and temporarily withdraw His hashgachah (providence) until we return to Him. But no matter how far we stray, He will not loathe us to the point of severing the relationship entirely. As for our original question, Hashem assures us that He will not loathe us without cause, as a human might grow weary in a relationship that has gone stale.

There is a profound nuance in Hashem’s reassurance. Wessely underscores twice that Hashem’s promise not to loathe Israel when we follow His statutes stems from His unchanging nature. The only reason Hashem would ever deviate from His covenant with Israel would be if He, Himself, underwent a change—which is impossible. Thus, His reassurance is unlike that of human beings, who cannot guarantee that their feelings will remain constant. Only Hashem, Who has no feelings, can truthfully say, “I will Be Who I will Be” (Shemos 3:14) and mean it. “I am Hashem, I have not changed, and you, the sons of Yaakov, you have not perished.”

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Footnotes:

[1] Literally, the verse says, “My soul will not loathe you.” But as a monotheist who holds that Hashem is absolutely One (with no parts or divisions), it makes me metaphysically uncomfortable to speak of “God’s soul.” Since nefesh is sometimes used in Tanach to mean “being,” I’ve chosen that translation here.

[2] Lest you think my refusal to cite Ramban’s explanation stems from anti-Kabbalah bias, feel free to read his warning in his own words (Introduction to Torah, final paragraphs, added by Ramban in the last edition) and decide for yourself what he would want us to do:

Behold, I enter into a faithful covenant. It offers sound counsel to all who look into this book: let him not devise opinions or entertain thoughts regarding any of the allusions I write concerning the Secrets of the Torah. For I make it known to him faithfully that my words cannot be comprehended or known at all through any intellect or reasoning, except from the mouth of a wise mekubal (i.e., one who received the Kabbalah via the chain of transmission) to the ear of an understanding mekubal. Speculation about them is foolish thinking, bringing much harm and withholding any benefit. “Let him not trust in vanity, deceiving himself” (Iyov 15:31), for through his conjectures nothing will come to him but evil. For he speaks perversity against Hashem, for which he will not be able to atone, as it is stated: “The man who strays from the path of reason will rest in the congregation of the dead” (Mishlei 21:16). “Let them not break through unto Hashem to gaze” (Shemos 19:21), “for Hashem your God is a devouring fire, a God of jealousies” (Devarim 4:24). And He will show His wonders from His Torah to those who are pleasing to Him. Rather, let the reader examine our commentaries for novel insights in both the peshatim and the midrashim, and let him take moral instruction from the teachings of our holy Rabbis: “That which is greater than you, do not investigate; that which is stronger than you, do not inquire into; that which is wondrous to you, do not seek to know; that which is concealed from you, do not ask about. Contemplate what you have been permitted to know, and do not concern yourself with hidden matters” (Bereishis Rabbah 8:2).

[3] It’s possible Wessely chose this verse to support the idea that Hashem doesn’t experience emotions, as the Rambam uses it:

Since this is so, all such [anthropomorphic descriptions] and the like that are stated in the Torah and in the words of the prophets—all of these are metaphor and allegory … concerning all of these statements, the Sages said: “The Torah speaks in the language of man” … Behold, it is stated: “I am Hashem, I have not changed” (Malachi 3:6). If He were sometimes angry and sometimes happy, He would change. (Hilchos Yesodei ha’Torah 1:12)

However, it’s also possible that Wessely is referencing the full verse: “I am Hashem, I have not changed, and you, the sons of Yaakov, you have not perished.” I’m inclined to assume the former, since he could have quoted the entire verse but chose not to.

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What do you think of Wessely’s answer? How would you answer the three questions he raises?

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