The name of this week’s parsha (Torah portion) is called Aykev which can mean the “heel” or “as a consequence of.” For what I wish to talk about today, I think I prefer the latter.
This parsha is the 3rd installment of Moshe’s last words to the people. In it, Moshe (Moses) tells the people that following haShem’s (god’s) ways will provide wealth and health and a bountiful land and victory over more powerful peoples. He goes on to describe the land full of streams of water and mountains and valleys and wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and (date) honey. Moshe then talks about how haShem protected the tribes in the wilderness and fed them manna, and then he says the reason they are getting the land is not their merit, but the wickedness of the people there, and the merit of Avraham, Yitzhak (Isaac), and Yaakov (Jacob). After all, the tribes are the ones who constantly complained while in the wilderness, and if it wasn’t for Moshe, they would not have survived and received the 10 sayings written in stone. Moshe then tells them that this land is different from Egypt, which has a dependable water source; this land requires rainfall to produce food. If the people follow haShem’s ways, the rains will come, and if not, the rains won’t come, and the land will spit them out. The parsha ends with a description of the borders of the land. Wow, Moshe certainly covers a lot of ground (pun intended :), and the above is just a condensed version!
What I wish to talk about today starts with something I heard at a Friday night Shabbat meal. The question came up that in Devarim (Deuteronomy) verse 8:3, Moshe says that haShem “afflicted you (the tribes) and tested you and fed you the manna that you didn’t know and your fathers didn’t know, for the sake of your knowing that not on bread alone does the Adam (man) live, that on all that comes out of the mouth of haShem does the Adam live.” What is curious to me is that he mentions that their fathers didn’t know of the manna. At the Shabbat table, we took the fathers to mean Avraham, Yitzhak, and Yaakov. Why did they not know of the manna? In simple terms, because they did not have enough people to populate the land. Now how is that an answer?
The reasoning goes like this: the manna is the ultimate test of faith. It appeared every morning and it could not be saved overnight – it would go bad. So, those in the wilderness had to learn to trust haShem. And that was the test and the affliction: could they trust in haShem enough to do what he wanted them to do for 40 years, never knowing if they would have food and water the next day?
Now, why were they the ones tested and not the forefathers (who were told to go to Egypt)? I think the generations of the forefathers did not have enough people to actually inhabit the land, and this generation did. Given that we now have a generation that could fully inhabit the land, the question becomes: would they follow haShem’s ways even if they made no sense? And could they pass on the following of haShem’s ways to their children? After 40 years, we find out that they can, and they are allowed to enter the land and settle it. That is their merit.
Why is such a test needed? Because the land relies on haShem’s attention to constantly be on it in order to make sure it gets proper rainfall, so the plants will grow and the animals and people will be fed. Now, if haShem’s presence is there, and that presence requires a certain attitude and level of tahar (purity) in the people, they need to behave in a certain way. The current peoples that are there are not acting in a way respectful to haShem, or the land, and so they need to leave the land.
Of course, the tribes just barely passed the test, with lots of help from Moshe. And this, Moshe reminds them of, so that they will know that they can’t slack off once they get in the land. Moshe tells them that they also passed the test due to the merit of Avraham, Yitzhak, and Yaakov. He tells them this so that they will know that they really need to trust in haShem’s mitzvot (which means commandments AND connections/pipelines as in pipelines to the divine – when you do a mitzvah, you are creating a channel between yourself and the divine), even if they don’t understand them, because they won’t have the help of their forefathers or of Moshe when they get in – it will be up to them. Moshe tells them that they have a guide to know how they are doing: if the rainfall is at the right time, they are doing well. If there is no rain and no food, they are falling off the path, and on the road to being kicked off the land themselves. All because haShem’s presence is in/on this land.
I prefer not to inject politics into these Torahs, but I wonder how much of what is going on in Israel these days is related to a lack of trust in haShem and in following her ways of connecting to him?
I leave you with Hillel’s (Hillel is one of the great sages of the second temple period) answer to the question, “Can you tell me what the Torah says while standing on one leg?” His answer was, “Do not do to others what you do not want done to you. The rest is commentary.”
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.