The forty-nine “curses” mentioned in Bechukotai are clearly connected to the mitzvah to count forty-nine days between Pesach and Shavuot, when we celebrate the giving of the Torah at Sinai. A beautiful allusion to this is the fact that Bechukotai is read before the holiday of Shavuot every year. Demonstrating another link between the two, the Torah uses the number seven in both instances.
In Bechukotai God repeatedly warns the Jewish people that if they do not fulfill the covenant they will be afflicted “seven times for your sins,” and the period of counting the forty-nine days is described repeatedly in the Torah as “seven times seven weeks.”
The Sabbatical year also partakes in a cycle of “seven times seven” years, culminating in the fiftieth year, the Jubilee year, when freedom was proclaimed and all Hebrew indentured servants went free and the land reverted to its original owners. The formula of seven times seven years followed by the Jubilee year is mirrored by the counting of seven times seven weeks that culminates in Shavuot, the fiftieth day. Shavuot is similar to the Jubilee year in that indentured servants are freed in the Jubilee year and the Giving of the Torah is perceived to have been the final act of redeeming the Jewish slaves from Egypt, for “one can only be truly free when immersed in the Torah.”
The connection between Bechukotai and Shavuot is also alluded to by the opening words of the portion, “if you walk in My decrees.” The Jewish people literally walked from Egypt to Mount Sinai. During this period of forty-nine days they had to cleanse themselves of the forty-nine levels of impurity they had sunk to in Egypt. Even today these days are ones of intense spiritual striving as we attempt to ascend a level each day, exchanging impurity for purity.
In Bechukotai, the Torah repeatedly describes Israel’s dismissive attitude towards spiritual advancement with the term “keri,” which, in this context, means casualness and implies a flippant and irresponsible attitude: “If despite these you will not be chastised towards Me, and you behave casually with Me” (Leviticus 26:23).
Elsewhere the word “keri” means intentionally wasting one’s seed, an act representing unbridled passion and capriciousness. When the Hebrew letters of the word “keri” are permuted they spell the Hebrew word “yakar” (precious). Thus, we can envision counting the fortynine days as part of a process of spiritual transformation wherein we go from being slaves to our petty desires and limited consciousnesses to free people who value the precious gift of Torah and the closeness to God one attains by walking in its decrees.
