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Behukotai
The Blessing of Food and the Blessing of PeaceThe Sages explain the verses that speak of the blessing of produce and food, but emphasize that the blessing of peace surpasses them all.
When the verse states: “Your threshing shall reach until grape harvest” (Leviticus 26:5), this means that you will be engaged in threshing in the spring until the time for the grape harvest arrives at the end of the summer. When it states: “And grape harvest shall reach until sowing” (26:5), this means that you will be engaged in the grape harvest until the time for sowing arrives in the autumn. When the verse states: “You shall eat your food to repletion” (26:5), there is no need to say that a person will eat a lot and be sated. It means that one eats a little and the food is blessed within him to satiate him, similar to what is written: “And you shall serve the Lord your God and He will bless your bread and your water” (Exodus 23:25). Lest you say: There is food and there is drink, but if there is no peace there is nothing; the verse states: “I will grant peace in the land” (26:6). It tells you that peace is the equivalent of everything good. Likewise the verse states: “Who makes peace and creates evil” (Isaiah 45:7). This tells you that peace is the equivalent of everything good [as it is the opposite of evil].