This week’s portion combines “Behar” and “Bechukotai”…
Parashat Bechukotai (Leviticus 26:3-27:34)
Leviticus 26 (continued)
26:3 If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them;
Comment: This verse starts the paragraph on blessings with the first letter “aleph” of the Hebrew Alphabet.
26:8 And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.
2026 Comment: Why does the description of chase start with “five of you’’?
Rashi explains these are five weak soldiers. https://www.sefaria.org/Rashi_on_Leviticus.26.8?lang=bi
This may be related to his earlier comment (on Genesis 47:2) that the five brothers Joseph brought to see Pharoah were the weak ones.
https://www.sefaria.org/Rashi_on_Genesis.47.2?lang=bi
However even the five weak soldiers can chase a hundred enemies, this must be because of G-d’s help. The number 5 may allude to the 5th Hebrew letter hei (corresponding to H), which is a letter from G-d’s name, which was added to Abram’s name to make it become Abraham. The number 5 is also related to the 5 books of Torah. So starting with 5 (physically) weak soldiers may convey the meaning of G-d’ help and that these are not just ordinary soldiers but also believers of Torah.
Rashi also mentioned here that the ratio of enemies they can chase increases with their size. 5 chasing 100 (ratio=20) increases to 100 chasing 10,000 (ratio=100). More believers of Torah brings synergy. The ratio increases from 20 to 100; so even the ratio itself increases 5 times, related again to the number of Books of Torah! A possible extension of this sequence from the mathematical view could be:
5:100, 100:10000, 10000: 5000000, …
26:13 I am the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright.
Comment: This verse completes the paragraph on blessings with the last letter “tav” of the entire Hebrew Alphabet. Although the paragraph on blessings does not look very lengthy, the starting letter “aleph” and the ending letter “tav” used here may symbolize a COMPLETE set of blessings. There is also an opposite hint about the two “bracketing” letters of the seemingly long paragraph on curses. See, e.g. https://evenshesiya.com/parsha-sheet-behar-bechukosai-reversing-the-flow-of-time/
Leviticus 27
27:1 And the LRD spake unto Moses, saying,
Comment: I do not know why this chapter is added here as the ending of the Book of Leviticus; it would look “more natural” to end this book with the previous Chapter 26 describing the rewards for obeying the commandments and the punishments for disobedience. There must be an interesting purpose.
27:7 And if it be from sixty years old and above; if it be a male, then thy estimation shall be fifteen shekels, and for the female ten shekels.
2026 Comment: What age is regarded as old in the Bible?
Leviticus 27 indicates that the estimations (“in value’’) of people between 20-60 years old were highest (v.3 and v.4), for both men and women. There is a sharp decline in estimation after age 60. This indicates that at that time in history, 60 starts the old age. It happens that China currently has also set the retirement age for men to be 60.
This, however, is not universal. Older men can still be useful to G-d. Moses was called to lead the Israelites when he was about 80 years old. His brother Aaron was appointed as the High Priest when he was about 83 years old. They both served G-d for about 40 more years.
27:32 And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the LORD.
Comment: Although the tenth animal may vary randomly in weight, quality, appearance, …, in the long run all randomness will be averaged out and 1/10th will be separated to the LRD. This concept is called the Law of Large Numbers in mathematics [1], about which the Creator of all mathematicians surely knows!
Footnote [1]: See, e.g., https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_large_numbers. This is, by the way, a concept that I often use in my secular research.