MAY 6 • 2021 | 29

SPIRIT
TORAH PORTION
Take A Fresh Look
A 

couple of years ago, I 
had an encounter at my 
favorite grocery store 
in Royal Oak that I still think 
about today. I was in the produce 
section when I happened upon a 
group of elementary school stu-
dents, probably in fourth or fifth 
grade, with two teachers who 
were talking to them about fruits 
and vegetables.
I was immediately intrigued. 
I wondered if it was maybe a 
lesson about math and bud-
geting or maybe an economics 
class and the concept of supply 
and demand. But no; as one of 
the teachers spoke, picking up 
different items throughout her 
teaching, it was clear that this 
was a lesson about food. Where 
it comes from, how it gets to our 
stores and why it’s important for 

us to understand that journey. 
I was entranced. Because 
even though, intellectually, I 
already knew everything 
this teacher was saying, 
I realized that these 
truths (local fruits and 
vegetables compared to 
imports, foods that are in 
and out of season, butch-
ering, processing, etc.) 
rarely cross my mind 
when I’m at the store 
with a list in my hands 
and usually a self- 
imposed edict to be in 
and out as quickly as 
possible. 
We take food for granted. At 
least the average American does. 
Many of us are so dramatically 
disconnected from the journey 
of our food from its beginnings 

to its final place on our tables 
and in our stomachs. 
But it’s not too late for us 
to change that relation-
ship. As parashat Behar/
Bechukotei shows us, our 
ancestors in the midbar 
were pretty clueless as 
well. I mean, after all, they 
had been enslaved for 400 
years. But God knew that 
it was eventually going 
to be imperative for the 
Israelites to have a sense 
of autonomy when it came 
to provide for themselves 
and their families and for 
interacting with a land that 
they could call their own. 
The Promised Land wasn’t 
meant to be a utopia of leisure; it 
was to be the dream of rewards 
through labor, the pleasure of a 

relationship with creation in all 
of its splendor. The flow of milk 
and honey was a beautiful con-
cept because it meant that the 
sweetness of nature came about 
through the hands of those who 
endeavored to learn it, know it 
intimately and appreciate it. 
And so Jubilee, shmitah (rest-
ing the farmland every seventh 
year) and tithing are not arbi-
trary concepts. They are path-
ways to understanding. They are 
the lesson in the grocery store. 
We would do well to take a step 
back, let go of what we think we 
know and start again with new 
eyes that focus on gratitude and 
wonder. 

Rabbi Yonatan Dahlen is a rabbi 

at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in 

Southfield.

Rabbi Yoni 
Dahlen

Parshat 

Behar/

Bechukotei: 

Leviticus 

25:1-27:34; 

Jeremiah 

16:19-17:14.

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This home 
This home 
This home 
belongs to 
belongs to 
belongs to 
belongs to 
belongs to we
we.

Find a mortgage solution 
Find a mortgage solution 
Find a mortgage solution 
Find a mortgage solution 
Find a mortgage solution 
Find a mortgage solution that works for 
that works for 

we believe communities 
we believe communities thrive 
thrive 

through the power of homeownership.
of homeownership.

Learn more at 
TCFBank.com/WelcomeHome
TCFBank.com/WelcomeHome
TCFBank.com/WelcomeHome

All loans subject to credit approval 
All loans subject to credit approval 
All loans subject to credit approval and program guidelines. 
©2021 TCF National Bank. 
©2021 TCF National Bank. Member FDIC

