The parsha (weekly Torah portion) we read this shabbat is called Aykev which can mean, “Heel,” or, “To follow,” as in, “And it will follow you listening to these mishpatim (judgements)…” which is how the parsha starts.
So, what will happen if we listen? Well, the parsha goes on to say, not just listen, but also observe and do them. And, if we do these things, then haShem (god) will guard for you, the brit (covenant), and the kindness that he promised to our ancestors. This includes loving and blessing us, and increasing us and all we own.
We are told to consume the nations god gives us, without pity and without worshiping their gods which will are a trap for us. If we don’t think we can defeat them, we just need to remember what god did to Egypt.
However, god will remove the nations gradually, to prevent the wild animals from overrunning us.
I know this is sounding harsh, but remember, it is not against the whole world, it is only against the nations that occupy the land god promised to us, and who have not been acting in a way appropriate for the land.
All this is required for us to settle the land.
The Torah tells us we are to remember how god led us for 40 years in the desert, to make us suffer, to test us, to know what was in our hearts, and if we would observe god’s laws or not. We were served the mahn (manna) to show that a person does not live by bread alone, but by what comes out of god’s mouth. We are to know in our heart that as a man disciplines his son, so god disciplines us. We are to guard god’s mitzvot (commandments) and be in awe of him, for she is bringing us into a good land where we will not lack anything. We are to eat, be satisfied, and bless god for the good land that he gave us.
Take care not to forget god by not keeping her commandments, or else, as you and your wealth increase, you will think it was strictly your doing. Remember it was god who gave you the strength to become affluent. If we forget and worship other gods, we will perish, like the nations that we are removing from the land.
We are about to cross the Jordan river into the land of the children of giants of whom we have heard, “Who can confront the descendant of a giant?” We need to know, that god is crossing in front of us and that she will vanquish them before us, so we can quickly destroy them. Do not think it is in our merit that god does this, but rather, it is because of the wickedness of the nations already here, and to fulfill the promise made to our ancestors.
Moshe (Moses), who has been talking all this time, continues by reminding us of all the times we rebelled against god, and how he, Moshe, saved us when we made the golden calf.
Moshe goes on the tell us about the death of Aharon, and Elazar becoming Cohen Gadol (high priest), and how the tribe of Levi was separated out to serve god.
And what does god ask for all this? Only that we follow in her ways, and love and serve him with heart and soul, to observe her commandments which are for our benefit anyway. After all, the heavens and the earth, and all that is on it, all belong to god. Circumcise the foreskin of our hearts and we should no longer stiffen our necks; god is god of gods, who does not take bribes, who does justice for orphans and widows and who loves aliens. We will love aliens because we were aliens in Egypt. Be in awe of god and serve him and cleave to her and in his name, we will swear.
Moshe then says that he is only speaking to those who witnessed and experienced the discipline of god, of what he did in Egypt and for the last 40 years. Observe the commandments in order to be strengthened to take the land and prolong our days on the land. For, this land is not like Egypt, it required rainfall and god cares for it and the eyes of god are constantly on it.
“If you really listen to my commandments that I give you-all today, to love haShem, your-all god and to serve her with all your-all hearts and all your-all souls, I will give rain to your-all land in its time, the early and late rains, and you will gather your grains, and wine, and oil, and I will give grass of your field to your animals and you will eat and be satisfied. Guard yourselves lest you turn to your-all hearts and you-all stray and you-all serve other gods and bow down to them. haShem will become angry in you-all and stop-up the heaven and there will be no rain and the land will not give its produce and you-all will be quickly spit off the good land that haShem gave to you-all. You-all put these words on your-all hearts and on your-all souls and bind them for a sign on your hands and they will be for bands between your eyes. And you-all will teach them to your-all children, to speak in them sitting in your house and in your walking on the road, when you lie down and when you get up, and you-all will write them on your door posts of your house and your gates. For the sake of increasing your-all days and the days of your-all children on the land that haShem promised to your-all ancestors to give to them like the days of heaven on the earth.”
And if you guard this mitzvah (commandment), to love god and follow his ways and cleave to him, god will push out these nation from before you. No one will be able to face you; god will put your fear and awe over the entire land, as she spoke to you.
This is where the parsha leaves us. Whew. Quite a lot there, even with my leaving a lot out. What to make of it all? I know that there are many parts of this parsha that I have difficulty with; that I don’t understand. Hopefully in the future I will understand. Or maybe you will help me to understand what I don’t.
What I do get from this parsha is that we are given the land, not because we deserve it, but because of our ancestors: Avraham, Yitzhak (Isaac) and Yaakov (Jacob), who were promised the land, and that the people on the land no longer deserved to be on the land. This is the first thing.
The second thing I get is that it is strictly up to us how long we are allowed to stay on the land. If we love haShem and follow his ways, we lengthen our stay. If not, we are pushed off the land. What I find interesting is that we are given a couple of examples of how haShem is: she does not take bribes, he judges orphans and widows, she loves aliens, and he tells us that we need to love aliens because we were once aliens in Egypt.
Something is going on here. Why does god focus specifically on these people? Let’s see what kind of people they are. An orphan is a person who has lost both his parents. He has no-one to teach him or provide for him. He is all alone, and frequently under suspicion when a crime is committed. A widow has lost the love of her life, and has no-one to provide for her and is all alone. And an alien is all alone, and often has a hard time finding work, and is always under suspicion.
They all seem to have some things in common: they are alone, without support or loved ones, and orphans and aliens are often the first to be suspected of anything bad that happens. And god takes an active interest in them.
As we are made in god’s image, shouldn’t we also take an active interest in them? If our life in this land depends on how well we follow god’s ways, and god doesn’t take bribes and is just with those who have lost their loved ones and teachers and providers, shouldn’t we? If god says love the alien because we are aliens once, hadn’t we better listen?
Think of how many of us are orphans. We have lost so many of our teachers, and parents in the holocaust, and in Russia, and other places and ways. We aren’t just orphans, we are orphans of orphans. And these orphans of orphans were never taught about god or the ways of the Torah. We are widows who lost our loved ones in catastrophes, and as a result have lost god in these same catastrophes. How can a widow teach her children to love when she has lost love. Yet, these are the very people that god says to give a fair shake to. Don’t make them aliens, like we were in Egypt. Give them clothes and food, care for them, as god does.
The paragraph in quotes, that begins with, “If you will really listen…,” is said twice a day in prayer. To me, it is one of the most important paragraphs for bnay Yisral (a child of Yisrael). I find it interesting how it goes between the singular you and the plural you (you-all, or your-all), but that is a discussion for another day.
More to the point, it says very simply that if we love god and follow his ways with our heart and soul, we will have enough to live on the land. However, if we stray from god’s ways, we will be removed from the land. We are told what we need to do to extend our days on the land: teach our children the ways of god (which I talked about last week), and always be talking about god’s ways.
As I said last week, to teach your children, means you must do more that speak, you must do. And from what I get from this parsha, this includes not forgetting that everything comes from god, and to treat those who have lost, or don’t have providers and teachers, or people who are not at home in the land, with love and honesty.
What I like most about this paragraph is it also gives us a way of tracking how we are doing. If we get rain at the right time, we are doing well. If the rain is wrong, and the produce is lacking, and we are getting kicked off the land, we must not be following in god’s ways and each and every one of us needs to look at what where we might not be doing what god wants from us.
I find it interesting that we read this parsha so close to the month of Elul which is the time we start taking stock in what we have done the past year, good and bad, so we can correct the bad ways and extend our stay on the land.
May we really look at what is asked of us, what we are doing, and the reaction of the world around us, so we can know what we need to continue doing, and what we need to change in order to have the world we want. From now to Rosh haShanah is the perfect time to do this, and Rosh haShanah is the perfect time to committing to making these changes.
If you want to read what I wrote about this parsha last year, click here.
About the Author
Shmuel Shalom Cohen spent 10 years studying Torah in Jerusalem. Six years ago, he started Conscious Torah to help Jews connect to their tradition in ways they didn’t think possible. Shmuel also started, and is the executive directory of Jewish Events Willamette-valley, a non-profit whose mission is to build Jewish community, pride, and learning. In his free time, Shmuel likes walks in nature, playing music, writing poetry, and time with good friends.