Baha Bukotai, the power of a curse.

The book of Vajikra draws to a close by outlining the blessings that will follow if the people are faithful to their covenant with God.

Then it describes the curses that will befall them if they're not.

The general principle is clear.

In biblical times, the fate of the nation mirrored

the conduct of the nation. If the people behaved well, the nation would prosper. If they behaved

badly, eventually bad things would happen. That is what the prophets knew. As Martin Luther

King paraphrased it, the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards

justice. Not always immediately, but ultimately, good is rewarded with good and bad with bad.

Our parcia starkly sets out the terms of that equation. If you obey God, there'll be rain in its

season, the ground will yield its crops and the you obey God, there'll be rain in its season. The ground will yield its

crops and the trees, their fruit. There will be peace. The curses, though, were almost three

times as long and much more dramatic in the language they use. But if you do not listen to me

and carry out all these commands, then I will do this to you.

I will bring on you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and

sap your strength. I will break your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the

ground beneath you like bronze. I'll say wild animals against you, and they'll rob you

of your children, destroy your cattle, and make you so few in number, that your roads will be deserted,

your land will be laid waste, and your cities lie in ruins. As for those of you who are left,

I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a

wind-blown leaf will put them to flight. They'll run as though fleeing from the sword

and they will fall even though no one is pursuing them. There is a savage eloquence here.

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