Parashat Eikev
In our parasha Moshe reminds the Israelites that they are partners in a brit, a covenant with G-d that grants rights and privileges, but also bestows considerable obligations among the covenantees. What are these obligations?
Moshe asks the tough question:
“And now, Jewish People, just what is Ad-noy your G-d asking of you?….” (Deut. 10:12)
That is an essential Jewish question, one that we would all do well to ask ourselves each and every day. Just what should we be doing? And is it ever enough?
Moshe immediately gives us an answer:
“Merely to fear Ad-noy your G-d, and to follow all his ways, and to love him, and serve Ad-noy your G-d wholeheartedly and with total spiritual commitment.” (Deut. 10:12)
Yirat Hashem, an awesome respect for G-d, an utter amazement and trepidation that informs our being, and colors every action. We explored this idea briefly previously, and concluded that a fear-only based relationship, without a love component, was detrimental. Here Moshe is reminding us that yirah is essential, as the building block to a relationship, the first step in a sequential process leading to an active love of G-d.
By the way, in Hebrew, the word for physical fear that the Torah did not use here is pachad. The Torah is not telling us that the goal is to be physically afraid of G-d, of the cliche of lightning striking us down, or the giant hand coming from the heavens to knock us senseless, although this base fear needs to be acknowledged. Yirah is the epitome of reverent respect, an awesome awareness of the chasm separating our puny human intellect and divine truth.
Our tradition explains that Yirat Shamayim, an awesome respect for Heaven, is the only tool that we must obtain on our own. The Talmud, in masechet Megillah (25a) quotes Rabbi Chanina: “Everything is in the hands of Shamayim (Heaven) except Yirat Shamayim.” The Talmud then quotes our opening verse, …” Just what is G-d asking of you? Merely to fear Ad-noy your G-d….”
Seems pretty easy….
The Talmud asks, ” Does the Torah think this is such a small matter?“, and then answers, “Yes, for Moshe, this was a small matter! Like someone who is asked for a large item, and he has it, it seems small. But to one who does not have it it seems large indeed.”
Because of the massive challenge of obtaining spiritual sensitivity and refinement of practice we often choose to abdicate our responsibility in the arena of developing yirat shamayim. In our busy modern lives we are often unavailable spiritually, and lose our perspective of the awesome power of our Creator.
The Israelites had the same challenges. In our parasha Moshe had the following to say to the generation about to enter the land: Remember the entire path along which Ad-noy your G-d has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order that you live in want, to test you, so that you may know what is in your heart, whether you will keep His commandments or not. (Deut. 8:2)
Realizing that we are constantly being challenged is a key factor in developing yirat shamayim.
Moshe continues: He had you live in want; He let you go hungry, and then fed you manna which you did not know and your fathers did not know…..(Deut. 8:3)
Both the ease and the difficulty we find in living our lives is from above, a daily test. Yes, even our success is a test. When our needs are provided, we have the tendency to give ourselves the credit. and downplay the role of G-d in our lives.
…in order to teach you that man can not live on bread alone, rather, man can live on anything that comes from the mouth of G-d. (Deut. 8:3)
Rav Hirsch writes that bread is a symbol of man’s control of technology, in partnership with G-d. The Creator gives us the seeds, water and light to produce sheaves, but humans provide the process to turn wheat into bread. It is all too easy to fall into the trap of thinking that our efforts alone are responsible for our achievements.
He points out that the Hebrew word for bread, lechem, is also the root of the word milchama, meaning battle or war. If we see our successful efforts at earning our daily bread as purely our own means than we will be in a losing battle with our spiritual selves. Our existence is not predicated on the natural and human resources represented by bread, only on the care of G-d to sustain us.
The parsha closes with the second paragraph of the Shema, detailing the concept of reward and punishment. And it will be, if you really listen to My commandments that I command you this day to love the Lord, your G-d, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul,. I will give the rain of your land at its time, the early rain and the latter rain, and you will gather in your grain, your wine, and your oil. I will give the rain of your land at its time, the early rain and the latter rain, and you will gather in your grain, your wine, and your oil. Beware, lest your heart be misled, and you turn away and worship strange gods and prostrate yourselves before them. And the wrath of the Lord will be kindled against you, and He will close off the heavens, and there will be no rain, and the ground will not give its produce, and you will perish quickly from upon the good land that the Lord gives you. (Deut. 11:13-17)
…. Mah Ad-noy Elokekha sho’ail may’imach……Just what does G-d want from us?
To engage, to nurture the relationship. Anything less on our part will result in distancing us from G-d, and prolonging our spiritual and physical exile.
We are living in an age of unprecedented affluence. Yes, there are those that are struggling, but for the most part the Jewish people are free from the pangs of hunger.
Yet, we still live in exile, an exile spanning the rise and fall of the great empires of the world, without having achieved the ultimate goal of our covenantal relationship, world peace, and the Jewish people living in their ancestral homeland with the Shechina, the physical manifestation of G-d in the world, resting between the k’ruvim (the cherubs) in the inner sanctum of the Temple in Jerusalem, the holiest place on earth. Do we know what we are missing?
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Greg
