August 24, 2024
D’var by Vickie Korey
The Torah portion for this week, titled Eikev, is the third parsha in Deuteronomy.
This portion continues the speech Moses is giving to the People as they prepare to cross the Jordan River into the “promised land.”
The Hebrew word Eikev translates as “if only.” And there follows in the parsha, lots of “if onlys.”
If only the People will listen to the word of God their children will be watched over.
If only the People fulfill God’s commandments, God’s mitzvot, their flocks will thrive.
If only the People will remain in awe of God, if only they will love God, if only they will serve God… the list of “if onlys” is long.
In last week’s parsha, Moses instructs the People to place the words of God on your heart and in your soul, to bind them on the arm and in the center of the head, to teach the children the words of God, to speak of them at home, and on the road, when you lie down and when you get up, and affix them to the doorpost and your house. This is the prayer known as the v’ahavta.
In this week’s parsha, we read the verses that make up the next paragraph of the Shema. Torah says, “if you listen, really listen and do these mitzvot God will grant us rain in its seasons and good harvests. And if we don’t then God will close up the heavens to us and the earth will not yield what we need to survive.” The rabbis of the early Reform and Reconstructionist movements originally removed this paragraph from their prayerbooks because it felt either too supernatural or too transactional.
Continuing in Eikev, Moses recounts that he has asked God to be allowed to enter the Promised Land with the People, and God has refused.
Moses, in his disappointment, points out to the People that they are a stubborn people, that they provoked God in dissent and rebellion.
Moses recalls his ascent to the mountaintop, receiving the Ten Commandments. How he came down from the mountain with the two tablets and saw the behavior of the People, saw the idolatry of the golden calf, and threw down the tablets, causing them to break.
He then admonishes the People, reminding them he went back up the mountain, fasted for 40 more days and nights, prayed for them, prayed for Aaron, and begged God to remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the promise he made to them and their ancestors. Moses then returned to the People with the new Ten Commandments. He placed them in an ark and then tells the People that God has instructed the tribe of Levi to be guardians of the Ark of the Covenant. Moses reiterates all that God did for the People while they were in the desert, providing them with sustenance, with manna. Fighting their foes to save their lives.
Moses then warns the People against their nature towards the following:
-overconfidence
-idolatry
-self righteousness
They should not think that their success in the Promised Land is because of their strength and power.
They should not worship other gods or idols.
They should not think that because of their virtue or integrity they flourish.
Moses reminds them that they will flourish, they will be successful in the Promised Land, only, if only, Eikev, they follow God’s commandments.
Rashi, interpreting the parsha, explains that the contractual content of Eikev touches on the spiritual survival of the Jews’ existence and continuity. He indicates that it is the small things that merit the bounty of blessings described in the parsha. Rashi notes that contained among the many commandments of the covenant are mitzvot that anyone who prides themselves on being a Jew would not forgo- prayer on Yom Kippur, Passover Seders, mezzuzahs on the doorposts. These are the easy ones. Others get trampled and ignored. Rashi reminds us, in his interpretations of Eikev, to watch for the mitzvot that we tend to forget. This will ensure continuity. Rashi goes on to explain “Torah tells us to “walk in God’s ways.” This means God acts with loving kindness and so should we.
And what will happen if the People follow the “if onlys?”
There will be blessings too numerous to count. In a language that a people who live off the land will understand, Moses tells them that God will grant rain, their crops will flourish, their flocks will thrive.
Their numbers will increase, they will live in the Promised Land that God has chosen for them. They have been chosen by God and God will expel from the land stronger and more numerous nations and every area the People tread will belong to them. In Verse 11, lines 21 to 24, God promises that the People’s boundaries shall extend from the desert to the south, to the Lebanon to the north, from the tributary of the Euphrates River as far as the Mediterranean Sea.”
Rabbi Shira Milgrom, attending rabbi at Congregation Kol Ami, in New York, indicates that this line is referenced as a means to validate current Israeli settlement actions in the Middle East. She notes the contractual and conditional nature of the covenant with God.
In Deuteronomy verse 7, line 12 “and if you obey these…” Compliance, faithfulness will bring blessings upon the People and victories against enemies.
However, Rabbi Milgrom also notes that Judaism is evolving, the Torah is evolving, our interpretations of the Torah, are always evolving. Would we stone someone for not observing the Sabbath? For not keeping kosher? There are passages in the Torah that direct us to do exactly that. Rabbi Milgrom notes that it is not one particular passage in Eikev that should be the focus, nor one particular blessing that the People will receive “if only” they comply, but it is the gratitude one feels when blessed that is important. She goes on to warn against self-righteousness, as did Moses, and notes that our successes depend on countless others, on the larger society. “Life is not earned or won, says Rabbi Milgrom, “it is a gift for which we need to give thanks. Our residence on the land”, she says, “whether it be Israel, Palestine or America or the planet, is contingent upon gratitude. Shift from the paradigm of ownership to the receiving of a gift; for gratitude is the source of life.”
Rabbi Rachel Barenblat, aka The Velveteen Rabbi, of the Congregation Beth Israel of the Berkshires says that “much of Torah’s richness lies in her capacity to speak to us in ways beyond the literal. Our whole interpretive tradition is based on the understanding that Torah speaks on multiple levels. We take Torah seriously, not literally. She continues to explain that some Jews do take passages like Deuteronony 10 and 11 as evidence for who should hold the keys to which real estate. Rabbi Barenblat says, West Bank settlers and the government officials who support them, may read Torah as an eternal land grant. She goes on to teach, “Deuteronomy is the newest part of Torah, written down around 700 BCE. We’ve had a spiritual connection with that beloved land for a really long time. But that doesn’t mean we’re the only people who do. Whatever the future of that land looks like, it has to include both of the peoples who call it home.
The contractual nature of Eikev is noted by many other commentators.
Reform rabbi of Temple Beth Israel in Pennsylvania, Audrey R. Korotkin, asks, “If you follow Gods commandments, then you shall receive many blessings.” So then, she follows, “why do bad things happen to good people?” She notes that Rabbi Harold Kushner, in his well-known book, does not put forth the question in the title, as “why do bad things happen to good people, but WHEN bad things happen to good people.” Rabbi Kushner, she notes, came to believe that pain, tragedy, misfortune are simply part of the world as God created it. Rabbi Korotkin goes on to teach that bad things do happen to good people and bad people often reap the rewards of their misdeeds. She teaches that it is hard to accept what we read in Eikev, the Deuteronomic theology that if you obey God, you will be rewarded, if you disobey God you will be punished. In Deuteronomy verse 10 line 12 it states “And now oh Israel, what does God demand of you”. Only this-to revere God, walk in divine paths, love and serve with all your heart and all your soul.”
The early sages wrestled with this idea of contractual content in Eikev, and they formulated the notion of the “olam haba”, the world to come. A place where people would finally get what was due them. In the Mishna, it is taught, “All Israel will have a portion in the world to come”.
15th Century Mishna commentary pointed out that this might give some comfort to answer the question of God’s place in our lives, but we still have to live in the “olam hazeh” the world right now.
Dr Edward Goldman, Rabbinic Professor at Hebrew Union College boiled Eikev down to this lesson “We can only expect ourselves to do the best with what we’ve got, that is the comfort of this parsha.”
I pose to you the following questions relative to parsha Eikev and the d’var presented…
- As Reconstructionists, we do not believe in the choseness of the Jewish people. However, parsha Eikev describes the contractual nature of the relationship between God and the People. If only God’s commandments are followed, God will choose the Jewish people and bestow many blessings. Your thoughts?
- What do you think of Rabbi Milgrom’s and Rabbi Barenblat’s comments that Verse 11, lines 21-24 are used to justify current political and geographic actions in Israel? Are there other pronouncements of God, other statements in sacred texts; Jewish, Christian, Muslim, etc. that come to mind which are used to justify present day political actions, here and in other parts of the world by people of any faith?
- How do you personally reconcile “when bad things happen to good people” or when “bad people reap benefits of misdeeds?”
- And finally, any additional thoughts and interpretations of parsha Eikev are welcome.