The Prelude to All That is Good

Parshas Eikev

Posted on July 29, 2021 (5781) By Rabbi Label Lam | Series: Dvar Torah| Level: Beginner

And it will be, because you will heed these ordinances and keep them and perform, that HASHEM, your G-d, will keep for you the covenant and the kindness that He swore to your forefathers. (Devarim 7:12)

 

And it will be, if you hearken to My commandments that I command you this day to love HASHEM, your G-d, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, (Devarim 11:13)

 

And it will be, if you hearken: Heb. וְהָיָה אִם שָׁמֹעַ תִּשְׁמְעוּ literally, And it will be, if hearkening you will hearken. If you hearken to the old [i.e., if you study what you have already learned], you will hearken to the new [i.e., you will have a new and deeper understanding]. – Rashi

 

I don’t know what “hearken” and “heed” mean. They are not words that we use often these days. That’s what happens when we study Torah translated to a different language. There is something always lost in the translation. “Hearken” and “heed” are really not bad substitutes for “SHEMA” – Listen! One verse literally reads, “V’Haya Eikev Tishmaoon” “if you will listen”. Eikev literally means heal and “V’Haya”, our sages tell us, always introduces good news. Good Things are coming because of this type of listening. Also, we have “V’Haya Im Shamoah Tishu… “If you will listen–listen to My Commandment”.

 

More good news is promised for that double form of listening. Rashi explains that if you listen to the old you will be able to listen to and learn the new. Somehow the search for new is dependent on success in reception of the old. In any case listening seems to be the master key to all the promises. Let’s explore how it works.

 

Everything in life filters down through 1) Thought 2) Speech 3) and Action. One of my teachers told us that this is true as well in each domain. In the arena of thought, for example, there is the “thought of thought” and then there is the “speech of thought” and then the “action of thought”. This has implications in the world of listening. There are many levels to listening. Listening is an art and like any art form there is a science to it as well.

 

There is a way of listening whereby one hears the words that are being delivered but they remain in the realm of the “thought of thought”. The words are all understood but they are remote, abstract, like a stone skipping over the surface of a pond but they do not penetrate the listener.

 

The legendary story is told that Mrs. Einstein was asked once if she understands what her husband is speaking about. Her reply was, “Every word! It’s just the sentences I am having trouble with!” It’s possible to hear every word and not understand and even to understand but still remain unaffected.

 

There is another level in listening whereby one cogitates on the words. He is digesting what is being said. This sparks an inner dialogue. Now in the realm of the “speech of thought” a bridge is being built between the mind and the heart. The listener begins to feel the message and empathize with the speaker. Their worlds are slowly merging and readying to become one. From being two separate circles, they are now touching and overlapping like a Venn diagram.

 

The next level of listening is where the message is validated inwardly, accepted, embraced, and even celebrated. The listener is enveloped by the message. The circle of the listener is surrounded by the size of the message.

 

Sometimes we sip an idea thinking we are larger than it but like the ocean it then swallows us and we are now swimming and bathing in its enormity.

 

From the heart it has traveled all the way down to the bottom of the foot. The heel is the darkest and most unfeeling part of our anatomy, yet it too is affected by message. That’s major!

 

This now is the realm of the “action of thought”. Here decisions are made, life changing decisions, and commitments. Now maybe we can understand the introductory words,”V’Haya Eikev Tishmoon” – If you will listen with the heel of your foot then you will be spurred by and inspired into action and that is the prelude to all that is good!

 

Letting Go

Parshas Eikev

Posted on August 6, 2020 (5780) By Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky | Series: Drasha| Level: Beginner

In this week’s portion Moshe talks about what was perhaps the most traumatic moment of his career. After spending 40 days and nights on the highest level of spiritual elevation, he returned from Mount Sinai to a scene that filled him with horror. At the foot of the mountain the Jews were reveling around a golden calf.

 

Naturally Moshe was appalled. Here he was, holding the luchos (tablets), a G-d-given immortal gift, and he faced a nation plunged into an act of idolatry. He smashes the luchos.

 

But if we analyze the narrative there is an interesting word that Moshe inserts as he describes his actions on that day. “I descended from the mountain and the two tablet were in my hands. Then I saw and behold! You had sinned unto G-d; you made yourselves a molten calf. So I grasped the two luchos and I threw them from my two hands and smashed them in front of your eyes” (Deuteronomy 9:15-17).

 

Moshe was holding the tablets when descending the mountain. Why did he clutch them before throwing them from his hands? Weren’t they already in his hands?

 

Shouldn’t the verse tell us “Then I saw and behold! You had sinned and you made yourselves a molten calf. So I threw the tablets from my two hands and smashed them in front of your eyes.” Why, and in what way did he grasp them?

 

A friend of mine told me a story about his great grandfather, a brilliant sage and revered tzadik. Whenever he saw one of his children commit an action that was harmful to their physical or spiritual well-being he would stop them. But this sage knew that stopping a child is not enough. The youngster would need a punishment too, whether it be potch (Yiddish for slap), reprimand, lecture, or the withholding of privileges.

 

But when a potch or harsh rebuke was due, the rabbi would not give it immediately. He would jot the transgression down in a small notebook and at the end of the week he would approach the young offender. After giving the child a hug and embrace, he reminded the child of the incident and explained to the child that his actions were wrong.

 

“I should have punished you immediately when I saw you commit your act,” he would say, “but honestly, I was angry then, and my punishment may have been one spurred by anger, not admonition. Now, however, that occurrence is in the past and I am calm. Now I can meet your punishment with a clear head. And you will know that it is given from love, not anger.”

 

He then proceeded to punish the child in a way that fit the misdeed. Moshe was upset. But he did not want to throw the luchos down in rage. He therefore grabbed them and held them tight before hurling them. Moshe, in his narrative tells us that he seized the luchos before breaking them. He wanted to send a clear message to the revelers below. That the mussar (ethical reprove) that he was affording with this action was not born out of irrational behavior or in anger.

 

Before smashing the luchos Moshe embraced them, just as a father hugging a child that he would soon admonish. Because Moshe wanted to tell us that before we let loose, we must hold tight.

 

Good Shabbos!

Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky

 

Earning a Living: The Great Life Test

Parshas Eikev

Posted on July 30, 2018 (5778) By Rabbi Ben Tzion Shafier | Series: The Shmuz on the Parsha| Level: Intermediate Beginner

“Who feeds you manna in the wilderness, which your forefathers knew not, in order to afflict you and in order to test you to do good for you in the end?” – Devarim 8:16

 

For forty years living in the midbar, the Jewish people ate mon. The Torah explains that one of the reasons that the mon was given to the Klal Yisroel was in order to test them. The Siforno explains the test: “Will you do His will when He gives you your sustenance easily without pain?”

 

It seems that the Siforno is telling us that the fact that the Jewish nation didn’t have to work was one of the great trials that they faced.

 

This Siforno is very difficult to understand. We know that HASHEM metes out many life tests. But where have we seen that not having to struggle is a challenge? How could the fact that it was easy to make a living be a nisayon?

 

Man needs needs

This seems to be the answer to the Siforno. The generation of the midbar was on a lofty plain. They had received the Torah from HASHEM and were living in a virtual yeshiva. While the mon took care of their daily needs, it was also as a great social experiment: would they attain the same closeness to HASHEM without having to earn a living? Would they still reach out to HASHEM if they didn’t lack? Would they still come to recognize their dependence upon HASHEM if they didn’t need to struggle to survive? The mon was a test to see if they could reach greatness without the normal life settings – without needs.

 

This concept has great relevance in our times when we are seeing tests of faith all around us. And we see many fall. Many fall prey to materialism; many fall prey to the great race to acquire more; and even more fall to the understanding that it is my efforts that earn me my daily bread. One of the results of this fallacious thinking is the questionable ethics that we see being practiced.

 

The sad reality is that lying, cheating, and stealing amount not only a lack of morality; it’s a waste of the great opportunity of life. HASHEM doesn’t need our money. HASHEM hand-crafted situations that allow a person to grow — to become a mentch. If he engages in dishonesty in the marketplace, it is ultimately himself that he is robbing because the entire scenario was only created to allow him to become great.

 

When I stop to understand that HASHEM doesn’t need me to work, but has put me in this very situation to allow me to grow, that changes the way that I deal with the entire concept of working for a living, and greatly impacts the methods I employ in doing so.