Our parsha is referred to by Chazal (Bamidbar Rabba, Parshat Naso) as "the curses of Torat Cohanim" and its parallel, parshat Ki Tavo, is called "the curses of Mishneh Torah." There is one very distinct common denominator shared by our parsha and parshat Ki Tavo and other places in the Torah. The Torah focuses only on tangible reward and punishment, and does not mention explicitly Chayeii Olam HaBa (life in the afterworld) or the eternal reward. The giants of Torah grappled with this issue, and an in-depth discussion on this point can be found in the Kli Yakar on this parsha (Vayikra 26:12) which brings seven explanations from the Rishonim. We will concentrate on the seventh direction, that of Rabbi Yosef Elbo ZTZ"L. Rabbi Elbo, the author of Sefer Ha'Ikkarim, states that the objectives of the Torah were given to the nation as a whole and not to the individual. The eternal reward is every individual's personal issue, culminating when he will stand before HaShem to be judged after the end of his physical life. In this world we are dealing with the nation, with Klal Israel. Therefore the reward and punishment will relate to the nation and the king ("HaShem will exile you and your king…"), to rains in the proper times and the produce of the field, to peace in the land and victory in war, to the bitter exile and to its opposite: a glorious kingdom and supremacy over the nations of the world.
 

The Torah aims to instill in us the understanding that physical reward in this world is not a function of the deeds of the individual, but of the merit of, and fortified by the condition of, the entire nation. This outlook liberates us from petty egocentrism and elevates us to love of the Klal, the Nation and the Land.

Since Simchat Torah of last year, when the atrocious attack against the State of Israel began, Am Israel entered a state of war, and we can sense deeply that the entirety of Am Israel, across all its segments, switched from personal, petty thinking to a national outlook – a transformation which engendered tremendous self-sacrifice for the nation and the land. Let us pray to HaShem that He will bring upon us a spirit of valor and deliverance from On High, and that we will manifest the verse from the beginning of the parsha: "And five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand, and your enemies will fall before you by the sword" Amen.