In the Parshah of Eikev ("Because"),
Moses continues his closing address to the Children
of Israel, promising them that if they will fulfill
the commandments (Mitzvot) of the Torah, they will
prosper in the Land they are about to conquer and
settle in keeping with G-d's promise to their
forefathers.
Moses also rebukes them for their failings in their
first generation as a people, recalling their
worship of the Golden Calf, the rebellion of Korach,
the sin of the Spies, their angering of G-d at
Taveirah, Massah and Kivrot Hataavah ("The Graves of
Lust"); "You have been rebellious against G-d," he
says to them, "since the day I knew you." But he
also speaks of G-d's forgiveness of their sins, and
the Second Tablets which G-d inscribed and gave to
them following their repentance.
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Their 40 years in the desert, says
Moses to the people, during which G-d sustained them
with daily manna from heaven, was to teach them
"that man does not live on bread alone, but by the
utterance of G-d's mouth does man live."
Moses describes the land they are about to enter as
"flowing with milk and honey", blessed with the
"Seven Kinds" (wheat and barley, grapevines, figs,
pomegranates, olive oil and dates), and the place
that is the focus of G-d's providence of His world.
He commands them to destroy the idols of the land's
former masters, and to beware lest they become
haughty and begin to believe that "my power and the
might of my hand have gotten me this wealth."
A key passage in our Parshah is the second chapter
of the Sh'ma, which repeats the fundamental mitzvot
enumerated in the Sh'ma's first chapter and
describes the rewards of fulfilling G-d's
commandments and the adverse results (famine and
exile) of their neglect. It is also the source of
the precept of prayer and includes a reference to
the resurrection of the dead in the Messianic Age.
FROM THE WORDS OF OUR SAGES ON
THE PARSHAH:
--All the mitzvah... shall you observe to do
(Deuteronomy 8:1)
The simple meaning of the phrase "all the mitzvah"
is the entire body of divine commandment -- all the
mitzvot. The Midrashic interpretation is: do the
whole mitzvah. If you begin a good deed, finish it,
for a mitzvah is credited to the one who concludes
the task. (Rashi)
All the generations of history labored to bring
Moshiach, and certainly their contribution is
greater than ours. Nevertheless, we are the
"Generation of Redemption", since "a mitzvah is
credited to the one who concludes the task." (The
Lubavitcher Rebbe)
--Man does not live by bread alone, but by the word
that proceeds out
of the mouth of G-d does man live (Deuteronomy 8:3)
At the core of every existence is the divine
utterance that created it ("Let there be light",
"Let the earth sprout forth vegetation", etc.) which
remains nestled within it to continuously supply it
with being and life. The soul of man descends into
physical life in order to unite with and elevate
these "sparks of holiness" buried in the food it
eats, the clothes it wears, and all the other
objects and forces of the physical existence it
interacts with. For when a person utilizes
something, directly or indirectly, to serve the
Creator, he penetrates its shell of mundanity,
revealing and realizing its G-dly essence and
purpose.
A person may desire food and sense only his body's
hunger; but in truth, his physical craving is but
the expression and external "packaging" of a deeper
yen -- his soul's craving for the sparks of holiness
that are the object of its mission in physical life.
(Rabbi DovBer, the Maggid of Mezeritch)
--You shall consider in your heart, that, as a man
chastens his son, so G-d your G-d chastens you
(Deuteronomy 8:5)
When a father punishes his child, the suffering he
inflicts on himself is greater than anything
experienced by the child. So it is with G-d: His
pain is greater than our pain. (Rabbi Levi Yitzchak
of Berditchev)
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