Parshat Bakhukotai contains a list of blessings and curses – I’ve always been troubled by the fact that the curses far out numbers the blessings in the Torah. Apparently curses and threats are more effective than blessings and promises. Still, the blessings in Bakhukotai are powerful and convincing. We are promised fertility and well-being. We’re told that there will be peace and security for those who obey God’s commandments. It’s no accident that these blessings begin with an aleph, the first letter of the alphabet in the word im and they end with a tuff, the final letter of the aleph bet, in the word komimiut. The list of blessings may be short but it’s all inclusive of everything from A to Z.

Of all the blessings in this passage, however, my favorite is in verse eight. Speaking of Israel’s ascendancy over its neighbors the Torah says, “Five shall pursue a hundred and a hundred of you shall give chase to ten thousand; your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.”

The image in this verse is reminiscent of an old joke we used to tell after the Six Day War. A platoon of Egyptians were camping out in the Sinai when an old Israeli codger came wandering over the nearest sand dune cursing at the Egyptians. The platoon commander ordered one of his soldiers to take the man back over the dune and ‘get rid’ of him. As the two men disappeared from sight there was a scuffle and soon the old man returned alone cursing and waving his fist at the Egyptians. This time the commander sent two soldiers. They went over the sand dune; there was a scuffle and again the old man returned by himself! A bit alarmed the commander now sent ten men with the old Jew. Again there was a scuffle and the alter yid came back all alone. So the commander now sent twenty five men to escort the old Jew out of the vicinity. Once again there was a scuffle…this time one badly bruised soldier came crawling back over the dune, yelling “Captain, Captain - run - it’s a trick! There are two of them!”

The Torah suggests that Israel will be so powerful that the few shall pursue the many. But Rashi points out that there is something wrong with this verse. Apparently Rashi knew his math. If five shall pursue a hundred (that’s one for every twenty) then 100 should pursue (go ahead do the math…) two thousand. Yet the Torah says 100 shall give chase to ten thousand! There’s something wrong with the numbers here!

Commenting on this, Rashi says, eino domeh muatim ha’osim et hatorah limeribim ha’osim et hatorah. “One cannot compare a few who fulfill the Torah to the many who fulfill the Torah.”

So what’s Rashi getting at? I believe his point is that there is such a thing as critical mass in one’s spiritual life. While quality is important, quantity has the ability to increase our ability exponentially. Nine people are a crowd – ten make a minyan. The more people who do good things, the greater their influence, not only proportionate to their numbers, but exponentially to their presence. In other words, as we grow in numbers our influence increases beyond our proportions. Five may be able to pursue one hundred but when there are a hundred of us with a common purpose and a single goal then we can pursue far more of our enemies.

Over the last year or so there has been a great deal of discussion in the Jewish community about population studies and demography. There is a sense of anxiety in the Jewish community these days, particularly here on the South Shore of Long Island. Communities are changing. Our numbers are dwindling. Once Conservative Judaism was the predominant group in the American Jewish community in general and on Long Island in particular; today Reform Jews outnumber us and Orthodoxy is growing at an amazing rate. Some of our leaders have tried to comfort us by saying that its quality and not quantity that counts. We are a smaller but we are also a stronger and more committed community then we were twenty years ago. I am not sure whether or not that is true, but I do know that Rashi was right: that “One cannot compare a few who fulfill the Torah to the many who fulfill the Torah.” We need numbers and we need to reach out to the Jewish community at large.

Numbers are necessary. Not only numbers, however. We need people who have a meaningful and authentic commitment to Jewish living within those numbers as well. We need people, as Rashi puts it, who are prepared to fulfill the Torah – who see Judaism as a challenge, and are constantly growing as spiritually. It’s not enough just to fill the pews; we need to fulfill the do’s (and don’t) of Jewish life as well. We need to increase our commitment to Shabbat, to Kashrut, to Eretz Yisrael, to learning and to living, to righteous giving and compassionate sharing. The more who do, the greater our influence will become not only proportionately but exponentially as well.

And maybe that is the other point Rashi is trying to make. Our blessings don’t just come from God; we create them as well. There is a blessing when we are a small community of five sharing a common purpose, but there is an even greater blessing when we become a community of a hundred or even a thousand. We bless one another, and we bless others.

So we are a small community who gather each Shabbat morning and on weekdays for minyan. That’s good but it’s not enough. We still have a job to do, each and every one of us. We must grow our community not only by getting other people to sign up but by encouraging people to tune in and get involved in Jewish life. And we can do that by sharing our commitments with others, by inviting people into our homes and into our lives – by letting people know that this is not a closed club.

An individual can light a candle in the dark. The few can influence their immediate environment. But the many have the ability to change the world. God’s blessing is there for the taking – it is up to us to make a difference with it.

Shabbat Shalom

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