Overview of the Weekly
Reading: Ekev
To be read on the Shabbat of 18 Av, 5762 (July 27)
Torah: Deut. 7:12-11:25
Haftorah:
Isaiah
49:14-51:3 (2nd of the Seven Haftorahs of Consolation)
Pirkei Avot:
Chapter Five, (Chapter Four outside of Israel)
Stats:Ekev contains 6 positive mitzvot and 2
prohibitive mitzvot. Among the Weekly Readings,
Ekev ranks 26 out of 54 in number of verses, 16 in
number of words, and 14 in number of letters;
it is written on 232 lines in a Torah parchment scroll, 14
in overall length.
Eikev (Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25) opens listing the rewards the Jews receive
for keeping G-d's mitzvahs. G-d guarantees to overthrow the kingdoms
living in Israel to allow the Jews to live and prosper there. The Jews
are warned not to be distracted by physical comforts so as to forget
G-d, or they will be punished. Then they are reminded of all the good
and miracles G-d performed for them and His forgiving of their numerous
provocations, including the sin of the golden calf. Moshe tells how
he carved the 2nd tablets and learned Torah with G-d for 40 days and
nights. Moshe goes on to praise G-d, encourage the Jews to follow His
ways, and recognize His great deeds done on their behalf. The Land of
Israel receives G-d's constant attention., G-d will cause good rains
to fall (as well as other rewards) if the Jews keep His commandments
(verses 11:13-21 are the second paragraph of Shma).
FROM
THE CHASSIDIC REBBES (V:46-62/Ekev)
"Blessed shall you be above all the nations; there shall not
be a barren male or female among you." (7:14)
The Torah considers the Jewish soul the most precious commodity in the
world. The proliferation of the Jewish people, therefore, is the highest
blessing that can be bestowed upon them.
(Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch)
"As a man chastens his son, so does the L-rd your G-d chasten
you." (8:5)
A father's heart is heavy when he is forced to strike his son. Similarly,
G-d suffers with us when punishment is meted out.
(Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev)
FROM THE MASTERS OF KABBALAH (O:46-62/Ekev)
Selected with
permission from the five-volume English edition of Ohr HaChaim: the
Torah Commentary of Rabbi Chaim Ben Attar, as translated and annotated
by Eliyahu Munk.
The holy Rabbi Chayim ben Moses Attar was born in Sale, Western Morocco,
on the Atlantic in 1696. His immortal commentary on the Five Books Of
Moses, Or Hachayim, was printed in Venice in 1741, while the author was
on his way to the Holy Land. He acquired a reputation as a miracle worker,
hence his title "the holy," although some apply this title only
to his Torah commentary.
"All the commandment which I command you this day, etc."
[Deut. 8:1]
Moses was familiar with the workings of the human mind and psyche. He
realized that there is a built-in tendency in us to become progressively
more lax in our observance, especially if we have performed a number of
commandments meticulously and have chosen to perform one or two commandments
with special attention to all its details. Once one had done this, one
is apt to look upon oneself as a pretty good Jew and one tends to be less
punctilious with the performance of other commandments. Also, people who
are preoccupied with Torah study have a tendency to pat themselves on
the back and to disregard some of the commandments which they view as
being of minor significance. Moses therefore admonishes each and everyone
of us not to forget to perform the whole (range) of G-d's commandments.
The only effective way Moses found to bring this point across to us was
by describing all of the 613 commandments as one single Commandment, i.e.
"All the commandment."
He resorted to a way of illustrating his point which is incontrovertible,
based on the Zohar volume one page 170. According to the Zohar man has
248 bones and 365 sinews. G-d commanded us 365 negative commandments and
248 positive commandments, one each to correspond to each of these parts
of our body.
If one suffers a pain or hurt in one of his bones or sinews he should
examine which one of the commandments he had neglected so that the pain
in question might be due to such neglect. A man will not be satisfied
if in response to his cries of pain caused by the afflicted bone he is
told by his doctor that seeing that 247 of his bones do not hurt him he
should not really be complaining but count his blessings.
Similarly, we must relate to each one of the 613 commandments. We cannot
pride ourselves merely on the commandments we do observe but must be keenly
aware of the damaging effect on our spiritual health of any commandment
which we fail to observe when we have the opportunity.
All of these considerations are included in Moses' reference to the need
for us to observe the whole commandment, both the negative part and the
positive part. The reason for this is "so that you will live and
multiply and come and inherit the land." Inheritance of the land
of Israel is conditional on mitzvah observance, which in turn is
the guarantee of our spiritual and physical wellbeing.
You may query that the in parable we presented the example does not match
the subject matter of the Torah. In the parable we described the hurt
experienced by a single organ upsets the entire body's balance, something
that is not the case when applied to mitzvah-performance.
This is why Moses had to describe the commandments in the singular. He
wanted to make it easy for us to appreciate that when the 613 commandments
are viewed as a single unit hat the non-observance of even a single one
of them can destroy the entire balance of the fabric and throw everything
out of kilter.
An
essay from Rabbi Shaul Yosef Leiter
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