Tocheichah

The Tocheichah or Tochacha, meaning admonition or reproof, is the section in chapter 26 of Leviticus which highlights the consequence of a failure by the people of Israel to follow God's laws and keep his commandments.^[1] It forms part of the parashah Bechukotai, the final portion of Leviticus. It is distinguished from the preceding section,^[2] which relates to God's blessings which will be bestowed if the people of Israel do walk in God's ways and keep his commandments.

Deuteronomy 28:15–68 has a similar series of curses proclaimed by Moses as the consequence of a failure by his people to follow God's laws and keep his commandments.

Because of the distressing nature of the admonitions - terror, disease, warfare, famine and desolation - this section is traditionally read in a low voice in synagogue readings (but loud enough to be audible to the congregation) ^[3] The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch of Rabbi Shlomo Ganzfried prescribed that the Tocheichah must always be read without a break, and that three verses before the admonitions and three verses after the admonitions, read in a normal, fully audible voice, must always be included in the reading.^[4] Thus the admonitions would always be accompanied by the message that God would remember his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

References