Parashat Bechukotai contains the first of the two tokhachot, the 'admonitions,' in which God warns of what will happen to us if we turn away from Him and His mitzvot (Vayikra 26:15-46). Towards the beginning, we are told that we shall fall before our enemies and that they shall rule us. We are then told that we shall flee; yet no one will be actually pursuing us (Vayikra 26:17). This is, presumably, a way of portraying utter terror. People are running away, yet, no enemy is present.
Rabbeinu Heschel of Krakow (circa 1595-1664) asks why the admonition relates that there is no one actually pursuing. Surely it is preferable to flee and not be pursued, than actually to be pursued! He answers this question by quoting a medrash in Parashat Emor (Vayikra Rabba 27:5), which teaches that God always seeks after one who is persecuted (the word"nirdaf" holds both meanings: pursued and persecuted). The argument is radical: "Even if a righteous man pursues a wicked man, nevertheless, 'God seeks after the pursued' (Koheleth 3:15)." God takes up the case of the persecuted, regardless of his own merit. Therefore, says Rabbeinu Heschel of Krakow, were we actually to have pursuers, God would have to come to our aid. However, since we would be fleeing without pursuers, we would not have hope of deliverance without merit.
Perhaps the logic is the following: God always comes to the aid of the persecuted. This means that whenever there is a rift between two people, God will take the side of the persecuted. It says something about how God intervenes in the world, and in history. But it does not mean that if someone brings upon himself a psychological obsession of being persecuted, he may hope to receive automatic attention from God.
This may be an important insight regarding various forms of suffering from anti-Semitism. Often, memories of persecution trigger a psychological state in which individuals, or communities, feel unstable, although, in reality, there is no danger present. It would seem that this verse relates to such a condition. Specifically then it may be especially hard to find God, and feel His closeness. No one is pursuing. There is no meaning to taking the side of the pursued individual, as, in reality, there is no chase.
Courtesy of Yeshivat Har Etzion - www.etzion.org.il