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With Keri You Walked, With Keri I Will Walk

by Ram ben Ze'ev

With Keri You Walked, With Keri I Will Walk
With Keri You Walked, With Keri I Will Walk

There is a verse in ספר ויקרא (Sefer Vayikra – Leviticus) that pierces through time with unsettling clarity.


"ואם בזאת לא תשמעו לי, והלכתם עמי בקרי. והלכתי גם אני עמכם בחמת קרי"


“And if despite this you do not listen to Me, but walk with Me with keri, then I too will walk with you in fury, with keri...”— ויקרא כו:כז–כח (Vayikra 26:27–28)


The word קרי (keri) does not mean rebellion. It does not mean denial. It means casualness, indifference, happenstance. It refers to a spiritual attitude that treats the relationship with G-D as something incidental, secondary, or optional.


Heaven, or more accurately, G-D, does not operate like a human judge. G-D does not punish in the way people imagine. He reflects us. He allows the world to respond to our actions through the spiritual pathways we ourselves open—or close. G-D created a world bound by cause and effect, physical and spiritual. When we abandon תורה (Torah), when we forsake מצוות (mitzvot – commandments), when we distance ourselves from קדושה (kedushah – holiness), we remove the spiritual protection that would otherwise surround us. In this state of disconnection, we suffer—not because G-D strikes us, but because He withdraws His shielding Presence, as we have withdrawn from Him.



This is not a metaphor. According to הרמב"ם (Rambam), in הלכות תשובה (Hilkhot Teshuvah – Laws of Repentance), G-D does not punish as a king punishes a subject, but as a cause brings about an effect. When we choose to abandon Torah, the natural spiritual and physical consequences follow—not as random punishment, but as part of the structure of creation. G-D established the world with אמת (emet – truth) and דין (din – justice), allowing us free will and the responsibility that comes with it. If one jumps from a height, it is not gravity that “punishes”—it is the natural result of ignoring reality. So too, spiritual keri leads to spiritual collapse.


Throughout history, this pattern has repeated itself. Not as vengeance, חס ושלום, but as the natural consequence of our spiritual state. During the times of the destruction of the בית המקדש (Beit HaMikdash – Holy Temple), our sages taught that the downfall came because of baseless hatred, idolatry, and the neglect of Torah. We walked with G-D with keri, as though His laws were flexible, as though His presence was merely cultural or symbolic. The result was tragedy.


And today?


Today we see confusion in our identity, weakness in our resolve, and suffering that cannot be ignored—from antisemitism cloaked in modern terms, to Jews publicly divorcing themselves from Israel and tradition, to tragedies that shake our communities. We see Jews who wave foreign flags and wear foreign ideologies as their banner while turning their backs on the eternal banner of תורה ישראל (Torat Yisrael – the Torah of Israel).


Is this not keri?


This is not a call to blame victims. This is a call to take spiritual responsibility. To return to Torah not out of fear but out of clarity. To recognise that G-D does not abandon us—we abandon Him. And He responds middah keneged middah (measure for measure), not with wrath, but with withdrawal. It is our own spiritual coldness that opens the door to suffering.

But this also means the solution is in our hands.



If we walk with G-D in sincerity, He walks with us with compassion. If we renew our commitment, even in small steps—lighting candles, saying שמע (Shema – Hear), learning a verse, giving צדקה (tzedakah – charity)—we begin to reverse the flow. The reflection changes. Mercy flows. Protection returns.


We are not helpless. We are not victims of randomness. We are partners in the covenant. The question is: are we walking toward G-D—or only stumbling when the ground beneath us gives way?


Let this be our reflection. Let this be our return. Not through fear, but through truth. Not through suffering, but through teshuvah (תשובה – return).


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