The Bitter Terms of a Covenant

Usually the term brit has a positive connotation; two parties are bound together, covenantally, and are sworn to each other. It could be a pact, or a strategic arrangement. In the case of our forefathers, Hashem says very clearly that he placed his faith in Avraham because of his undying loyalty, and because He knew that Avraham would educate his children after him to walk in His paths. Hashem even asks himself prior to the destruction of Sodom: "Can I fail to divulge to Avraham my plans to destroy Sodom?" After all, Avraham is my partner, with whom I hope to make the world a better place. 

That would seem to be a very uplifting message; Hashem then carries out that destiny by instructing both Avraham and Isaac which of their sons can dutifully and honorably carry out that message. At the same time, it's familial - or maybe at a later time, tribal, in nature. 

The significance of that arrangement can be seen in this week's Torah portion, Bechukosai; very ironically, Hashem states that because of his covenant with Avraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov, he has no choice but to exile his nation. In other words, he is holding them to a stiff standard, one that they have failed to meet. Thereafter, though - and perhaps equally strange, Hashem states that because of his covenant He will bring the Jews back from exile. In the words of the Artscroll translation, "But despite all this, while they will be in the land of their enemies, I will not have been revolted by them nor will I have rejected them to obliterate them, to annual My covenant with them - for I am Hashem, their God. I I will remember for them the covenant of the ancients, those who I have taken out of the land of Egypt before the eyes of the nations, to be God unto them - I am Hashem." 

It would seem that something fascinating is happening here. It could be said that there are two covenantal relationships, each demanding a different level of fidelity, and devotion. The level demanded by the covenant with the forefathers is on a very high level, a level that requires unwavering faith to ensure our ability to cling to the land. If that level is not reached, there is a lesser covenant, a national one, the one that brought Hashem to save us from Egypt despite - as our sages teach, our dismal spiritual standing, the "49th level of impurity" that we were steeped in. 

Thus, there are two forces at play here. One, a higher level covenant, initially created and crafted with select individuals, our spiritual ancestors; that was extended to a nation, hoping that the spirituality would permeate the fiber of each and every individual. In jagged contradistinction, it is a covenant that leads us into exile, but its a similar covenant that extricates us from it. They are two different covenants, one we are expected to hold to at all cost, the other - the one crafted by our forefathers - aspirational, hopeful, bringing a promise that we as a nation have not always been able to meet. 

May we see a great return of our brothers and sisters from exile as we reach the level of purity and devotion that Hashem sought, and found, in our mothers and fathers.