Torah · Weekly Parasha VideoParashat EikevRabbi Uri Nahum · June 19, 2017 · Eikev · עקב · 15 Min Parasha RoundupSave⌄ShareParasha class with Rabbi Uri Nahum, from BSD Productions’ 15 Min Parasha Roundup.Transcript4:14Parashat Eikev. This week's parashah has 111 pesukim, the third parashah in Sefer Devarim, and when we read the parashah on Shabbat, we will notice that there are many times when Moshe is warning and reminding the Jewish people to remember certain things. There's a list that some people say the end of tefillah, the Asarah Zechirot, the ten things that are mentioned in the Torah that Hashem4:21tells us to remember. In this week's parashah, we have five of those things, so a lot is found in this week's parashah. This week's parashah, we divided it into five different parts. The first part, a very short, the smallest part of the parashah, Torah tells us about the reward for keeping the mitzvot. Second part of the parashah, which is actually the largest part of the parashah, Torah tells us how to occupy Eretz Yisrael and how to stay, even more important, how to stay in Eretz Yisrael. Number three, Moshe reminds the Jewish people to remember Chet HaEgel and all the consequences, all the stories that happened in Chet HaEgel. And number four, Torah tells us about Hashem's request from the Jewish people. And finally, the last part of the parashah, Moshe describes to the Jewish people the characteristics of Eretz Yisrael and how it functions. Eight mitzvot in this week's parashah, six mitzvot aseh and two mitzvot lo ta'aseh, and their numbers in Sefer HaChinuch are from number 428 until 435. Let's get to the parashah now. Like we mentioned, the first part of the parashah, Torah tells us about the reward for keeping the mitzvot, and the Torah begins with the following words: Vehayah eikev tishme'un, and it shall be if you listen. Like you see in the Targum over there, ve'aved dechalaf di tishme'un, if you shall listen. And the mefarshim already point out. That it's a very strange lashon. It's weird. Usually, v'haya im shamoa dishmeaun. We say the word im, if. Over here, the Torah is using the word ekev. And there are many, many different פירושים, the mefarshim all take different approaches how to explain the word ekev. We will just say in very, very short, because the Torah right afterwards promises many, many, many blessings. In fact, these blessings seem to be so nice. There's a custom that many people have, Sefardim and Chassidim as well, on Motzaei Shabbat they say the pesukei berachah that are found in Torah, which begin v'eten lecha, and over there many of4:22this week's parashah, the beginning of this week's parashah, many of those pesukim are found in what we say on Motzaei Shabbat. So therefore, we have to understand: how do we receive those tremendous and great blessings? Torah says, v'haya ekev tishme'un. The Chachamim explain, v'haya. V'haya says the Chachamim, v'ein v'haya ela lashon simchah. To keep the mitzvot, one has to do it with happiness. Ekev. And you have to be careful even in the mitzvot that people think are insignificant and they disregard them; those you have to be very careful. Like ekev means the heel, the things that people step on. Tishme'un. How does one fulfill the Torah with happiness? How does one know to be aware of what's considered chashuv, what's an importance, and where a mitzvah is significant? Tishme'un, which means to understand and to study. By studying the Torah, we're able to keep the Torah with happiness, and we're able to understand where there is a mitzvah and what to do in order that we should receive the tremendous blessings from HaKadosh Baruch Hu. We move on now to the second part of this week's parashah, the largest part of the parashah. Moshe tells the Jewish people about occupying Eretz Yisrael and, more importantly, not just that you got in, but how to stay in Eretz Yisrael. It's like a person getting married. There's the first step; people go to many classes: how to date, and what should you do on a date? Should you open the door for the girl, and what should you wear on a date? But more important than the dating is the marriage itself. The marriage lasts for many, many, many more years afterwards. So too, Moshe tells us how to be able to stay on Eretz Yisrael. In the beginning, Moshe tells the Jewish people, when you enter Eretz Yisrael, you'll be confronted with many, many goyim that you'll have to go to fight against them. And you might say, Rabim ha-goyim ha-eleh mimeni. There's so many nations. There's much greater than me. They're greater in number. They're greater4:23in power. And you might get scared. So Moshe tells them in the beginning, don't get scared. And as a proof, what you saw in your own eyes, what Hashem4:27did to the goyim in Mitzrayim, the land of Egypt was the superpower of the world, and you didn't have any input over there. Hashem4:29took care of everything. You should know the same thing when you enter Eretz Yisrael. You're not the one fighting. It's Hashem4:59fighting on your behalf. Now, once Hashem5:18gives you Eretz Yisrael, Hashem tells Moshe, make sure you destroy all idols. You should keep nothing. Even if you want to take something as a memorabilia, you want to take something to put it in your museum to show, look, this is what the goyim used to worship, asur. You're not allowed to take it. In fact, that's an issur till today. Anything that has been worshipped, you're not allowed to take it, even though you're not planning to worship it. It's asur to have it and to bring it to your house. And then Moshe tells the Jewish people to remember the miracles that they personally experienced in the desert. And the Torah points out three miracles. Number one, pasuk says, Lo al ha-lechem levado yichyeh ha-adam, ki al kol motza פי Hashem5:42yichyeh ha-adam. How does a person live? It's not because he has bread. And the proof is what you saw in the desert. You didn't have any bread. You had man. In fact, the word man came because it means like, What is this? Whatever. You know, it was nothing. And that's how you lived. You lived on man. You lived on nothing, and Hashem6:13made you live. You know why you lived? You were able to survive? Because Hashem6:41decided that you should survive. That's miracle number one. Number two, the Torah tells us, Simlatecha lo baleta me'alecha. Your clothing didn't wear out. We all have clothing. After a while, we have to throw them out because either we outgrow them or they outgrow us, right? They rip apart. They get ruined. Torah tells us that the clothing never got ruined and never outgrew them. A child had a garment, it grew with him and never broke apart and never ripped apart. And the third miracle Torah points out is, Raglecha lo batseka. Batsek means usually dough, which means your feet did not inflate. It seems to be that the Jewish people didn't have any shoes. They were walking and they were traveling in the hot desert and nothing happened. Usually when you walk barefoot after a while, you start to get blisters and your foot starts to inflate. That was a miracle that the Jewish people experienced personally. Nothing happened to them. Why is Moshe telling them to remember the miracles? Because Moshe is telling them because now you can enter Eretz Yisrael. Even though you were tested in the midbar and Hashem7:04put you through a hard time, it's because Hashem7:16loved you. Hashem7:17loves you like a father loves a son. Only because a father loves a son does he discipline him, and when Hashem7:17disciplined you in the midbar, in the desert, it was out of love. And therefore, be careful. You're going to enter Eretz Yisrael. Eretz Yisrael is a rich land, as we're going to see later on. The end of the parashah describes how rich Eretz Yisrael was, and Moshe warns them, be careful. You're going to enter Eretz Yisrael. You're going to see a tremendous amount of success and blessing. You might think, you know what? It's our power that did this. We were able to do this on our own, and you might forget Hashem.7:20So Moshe warns us,7:22remember, Ki Hu7:24hanoten lecha koach la'asot chayil. Keep in mind,7:25all your success7:27only came because Hashem7:28gave you the ability7:30to have that success.7:31And7:32chas v'shalom, if we do forget7:34that our abilities came from Hashem,7:36then Moshe warns that the same thing7:38that happened to the goyim7:39will happen to the Jews.7:40Just like the goyim were kicked out of7:42Eretz Yisrael, they had no7:43zechut, no merit to be in7:44Eretz Yisrael, so too it will happen to the Jewish people7:46if they forget Hashem7:47and they stop keeping the Torah.7:50And Hashem tells them.7:51They should know,7:52the reason why Hashem is kicking out7:54the goyim from7:55Eretz Yisrael is not necessarily because of our righteousness,7:58but rather7:59it's because...8:00Because of the wickedness of the goyim, and because Hashem promised our avot, Abraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, that He's going to give this land to us.8:08And we move on to the third part of this week's parasha.8:12Moshe tells us to remember the chet ha'egel and its consequences,8:15and it begins with Moshe telling them how he went up to Shamayim for forty days where he didn't eat and didn't drink,8:22and at the end of the forty days, Hashem gave him the luchot, which were handmade by God and written by8:27God. And at the end of the forty days, unfortunately, Hashem tells him, Go down,8:31for the Jewish people have sinned; they've made the8:34egel. Moshe comes down when he personally sees the8:37egel, and he says clearly, Hashem, that Moshe says in this week's parasha,8:40I took the luchot and I broke them in front of you to show you how bad your actions were.8:46And then Torah tells us over here, where up till now we didn't know, the Torah doesn't tell us,8:51but Moshe went up for a second time to the mountain for another forty days,8:55and again no food and water, and Moshe prayed on behalf of the Jewish people.9:00What Moshe accomplished in these forty days were two things.9:02Number one is the Jewish people were forgiven,9:05and number two, Aharon, originally, because he was the one who made the9:09egel, he had a decree that all his four children should die.9:12Moshe was able to minimize that decree, and he saved two of Aharon's children.9:20Nadav and Avihu, we know, eventually died.9:23That was because they were part of the9:26gezeirah. And then afterwards, Moshe tells the Jewish people that he goes up for a third and final time for forty days again,9:32and we know that those forty days concluded on Yom Kippur, where Hashem says,9:37Salachti kidvarecha, and Moshe was given now new tablets, new luchot.9:41Not like the first ones; these ones were carved by Moshe, but they were written by HaKadosh Baruch Hu,9:46and Moshe was commanded by Hashem to make a special aron, a special box, to store the luchot, which Moshe did,9:54and afterwards something changed amongst the Jewish people.9:58Shevet Levi replaced the firstborn in the service of HaGad, because Shevet Levi did not participate in10:07chet ha'egel. And now we move on to the fourth part of this week's parasha, where— Pasuk says,10:16Ve'atah Yisrael, mah Hashem Elokecha sho'el me'imach. Moshe tells them, What is Hashem asking of you?10:20Ki im leyirah et Hashem. That's what He's asking. He wants you to have yirat10:24Shamayim. And you see, Hashem is asking of us that we should have yirat10:28Shamayim. And over there, the pasuk continues and says,10:30guard His mitzvot, and the Gemara in Megillah already speaks about that yirat Shamayim is not such a small thing.10:35How can Moshe say only this thing?10:37And the Gemara discusses exactly that thing.10:39If you look in Mesillat Yesharim, in the introduction to Mesillat Yesharim, you'll see over there that this whole pasuk is spoken about in depth,10:47and he clarifies it and explains in a beautiful way, very practical ways how a person, a mekayem, could fulfill this pasuk.10:55And then Moshe starts describing that you should know the greatness of Hashem,11:00that the Jewish people should know who they're working for.11:02They're not just doing mitzvot; you should know who you're having a relationship with.11:06And he tells them,11:08Ki Hashem Elokeichem hu Elokei haElokim. He's the God of all11:14gods, Adonei haadonim, the Master of all masters, haKel hagadol, hagibor vehanora, the great, mighty, fearsome God, awesome11:18God. And some of the descriptions Moshe describes about the greatness of Hashem: Hashem11:23lo yisa fanim v'lo yikach shochad. He doesn't take bribery; there's no favoritism.11:28Hashem mishpat yatom v'almanah. He judges the wicked.11:31Ohev ger latet lo lechem v'simlah. He loves the11:33strangers. Hashem provides for everyone.11:35He provides even for the downtrodden.11:37He's not somebody who's just so high up11:39and he doesn't realize he's so high up, as the Gemara says,11:41yet he's very conscious and very aware11:43and very close to even the lowliest of people in this world.11:48And then Moshe concludes describing Hashem.11:51He tells them that Hashem also, you should know, besides His greatness and His good deeds,11:56Hashem also punishes the11:58wicked. Hashem gives punishment to the wicked12:01as you yourselves, Bnei Yisrael, personally experienced by two people.12:06Who are they?12:07By Paroh Mitzrayim,12:09because of what they did against you.12:11And even by the Jewish people,12:14Moshe specifies Datan12:15va'Aviram. Why Datan12:17va'Aviram? Because Datan va'Aviram were considered important people amongst the Jewish people.12:21And even though they were wicked, but the Jewish people at the time didn't realize that they were really wicked,12:26and they were chashuvim people. Their oil is listed.12:28They were one of the people who were the shotrim, that were considered the policemen by the Egyptians in Mitzrayim,12:38and still Hashem punished them.12:41Hashem has no favoritism, no partiality.12:43If a person is a rasha, Hashem judges him,12:47no matter how important he is. If he's wicked, Hashem also punishes the wicked,12:51and therefore that's Moshe's warning to the Jewish people:12:54you got to be careful.12:55Hashem, you can't say, you know, I'm doing mitzvah12:58and doing aveirah and I'll get away with it12:59because, you know, I did a mitzvah.13:01No.13:02Datan va'Aviram, although they did good deeds,13:05still because they were13:08ba'alei machloket, therefore Hashem punished them.13:11And then we move on to the final part of this week's parashah, the fifth and final part,13:15where Moshe describes the characteristics of Eretz Yisrael.13:19First of all, a description of the physical nature of Eretz Yisrael. We all know13:26Eretz zavat chalav u'dvash. It's a land that flows with milk and honey.13:30It means it's a very rich land.13:32And it's not only because we saw by the spies how they saw it was rich,13:37but Eretz Yisrael was always known throughout the history of the world as a very rich land,13:41as we see till today.13:43The success that we see in Eretz Yisrael is because of the blessings that are found within the land.13:47However, irrigation depends on the rain,13:50and the reason for that is that this way we have to be always on— Up to par.13:58If we're doing what we're supposed to be doing, Hashem will send the rain.14:01And another description about Eretz Yisrael is,14:07עיני ה' אלוקיך בה תמיד. Hashem's eyes are always on14:08it, meaning it's always in God's mind. Hashem's mind is always looking above Eretz Yisrael.14:12Eretz Yisrael is the central point in our lives14:15because it's the central point in Hashem's eyes at all times.14:18As we see in the news, it's always Eretz Yisrael.14:21And then Moshe tells them,14:24the second part, what we say in the Kriat Shema,14:27and the reason why it's mentioned over here in this part of the Torah,14:32והיה אם שמוע תשמעו, as Chachamim say that the second paragraph of Kriat Shema is14:36קבלת עול מלכות שמים, where we accept the yoke14:41of—excuse me—קבלת עול מצוות. We accept the yoke of mitzvot,14:43because that's the blessings of Eretz Yisrael,14:46the dependent on us accepting mitzvot and keeping the mitzvot.14:50And finally, the final warning is given to the Jewish people14:55to keep the Torah,14:57and by us keeping the Torah,14:59Hashem will remove all of the goyim from our way.15:01As the pasuk, as the Torah finishes with this following pasuk:15:04לא יתיצב איש בפניכם. Nobody will stand in front of you.15:11פחדכם ומוראכם יתן ה' אלוקיכם על כל הארץ. Your fear will be—Hashem will place on all the people of the land.15:16And we come now to the final part,15:18the lesson of this week's parasha.15:20And like we mentioned, the word עקב is different from the norm.15:24The Torah usually uses the word15:25אם. And one of the pirushim that I saw was that15:29עקב means the heel, which is at the end of the body.15:33And the explanation is that15:35sometimes we do mitzvot, and we do good things,15:38and we don't see the reward coming.15:40And sometimes a person may give up and say,15:42Come on, you know, I'm such a good person.15:44How come God is not blessing me?15:45It's already the end of the year.15:46I was so good from Rosh Hashanah, and now it's almost Elul.15:49I was so good. God didn't bless me yet.15:51Sometimes the blessing doesn't come right away,15:53only comes at the end.15:56V'haya ekev tishme'un. When you listen, the reward sometimes comes only at the end.16:00One has to be patient and has to believe and has to know that the blessing surely will come for those who are Tishma'u, for those who listen.16:33Shabbat shalom.