Newsletter: Ekev Parshah Thoughts

Parshah Thoughts; Ekev

Blessing Before Or After?

Biblically, the blessing on food is only made AFTER eating. The blessing on Torah is BEFORE study. Why are they different?

Food is enjoyed by the body upon taste, therefore the Bracha is made upon eating. Torah, by contrast, is appreciated by the mind, anticipated in advance. Therefore we make the Bracha beforehand. (Chinuch).

The function of blessing before studying or doing a Mitzvah is 1. to ready us to perform the Mitzvah and 2. to announce and label that this action is a Mitzvah. This, by definition, is best done beforehand. Blessing on food is thanksgiving: best done afterwards.

Practical app: consider what you are doing by reciting that blessing!

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The Bigger Doctor

Dasan V’aviram were swallowed by the earth. This demonstrates Hashem’s power. (Dvarim 11:6)

Korach and his family were also swallowed up. In fact they were the main figures in that drama. Why talk of Dasan and Aviram?

Two desperately sick men were carried in, each suffering from the same disease. One doctor walked over and with a complicated program of treatments and medicine succeeded in curing his patient. The other doctor walked to the foot of his patient’s bed, manipulated a limb or two, and presto, the patient sat up, cured! Which doctor do you recommend? The second one is Boss: he cured even without instruments!

Which shows Hashem’s power more: Dasan V’aviram being swallowed up or Korach being swallowed? Korach had brought k’tores, something dangerous and deadly if unlawful. His fate could be ascribed to the effect of k’tores. Dasan V’aviram did not do anything dangerous. Yet were swallowed up too; that really shows Hashem’s power!

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Still Burning?

The Torah points out that when Moshe decended Har Sinai it was still burning. What’s the significance in this?

The commentators explain: The sin of the Egel was compounded by the fact that the Jews rebelled in full view of the Sh’china, represented by the fire on the mountain. This was an added chutzpah – to rebel in Hashem’s presence, which Moshe was bringing to their attention.

Alternatively, the Jews ought to have seen the Sh’china atop the mountain and not created the Egel. They should have realized that things were okay. Their mistake was unjustified.

We suggested a different tack altogether: After Moshe saw the Egel, he returned and prayed for the Jews’ salvation. What gave him the confidence to do so? It was that fire still burning atop the mountain. If indeed Hashem was through with the Jews, then why didn’t the Sh’china depart? Why did the fire yet burn? It must be that Hashem really wanted that Moshe pray for the Jews, and that Hashem would pardon them!

He is our Father, Our Master, and He is Our King, and Our Savior

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Its All About Us!

The Torah says (Ekev 7:16) that we ought not to worship idols for they will be a pitfall to us. Really?? Isn’t it is forbidden to worship idols regardless of whether or not they are a pitfall?

The Torah is not discussing the prohibition on idol worship here. Rather, Moshe is gives us a prescription to happiness. He says “Brethren! If you want to be happy, avoid idol worship, for it will bring curse upon you!” True, its forbidden besides, but not all that is forbidden rains down curse upon its doer. Idol worship does. And in this chapter Moshe is advocating toeing the line simply so that things go well for us, for our own sake.

We need to internalize; Mitzvos are not a sacrifice. Rather, they are our treasure, bringing us success!

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First, Find Common Ground…

“…And you shall love the Ger, for you were slaves in Egypt”

It’s relatively easy to love your neighbor: he is so much like you. But a Ger is an outsider, someone different, maybe even weird. What is the path to loving him?

The Torah here focuses us that we share a bond with the Ger. We have a nomad’s kinship with him: we too were once strangers. That’s our common ground. Now go ahead and identify with him and love him. He is not so different after all.

This is the secret of loving others: view him as a brother and friend by seeking and focusing on similarities.

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Rashi comments that there is special importance in “Ekev”-mitzvos – those small mitzvos that people step on with their heels: Hashem’s blessing is specifically for those. Why indeed?

Sefer Chasiddim tells of a father who taught each of his daughters a trade. As a result, they easily found shidduchim. One daughter, however, was taught to sew shrouds. Although everyone eventually needs tachrichim, people do avoid things reminding them of death, and this poor girl received no suitors. With no recourse, her father decided to entice shidduchim by offering a huge dowry for this girl, more that any of her sisters received.

So too, when Hashem sees how unpopular certain mitzvos are, He doubles and triples their reward. Those stepped-on mitzvos have double reward.

Rav Chaim Mintz shlit”a offered another explanation: Rabbenu Yonah says in Avos that we do not do the mitzvos merely because of their reward and punishment, but out of regard for Hashem, who commanded them. Someone who does mitzvos out of reward and punishment is ultimately thinking about himself, while someone doing mitzvos because Hashem said so is serving Hashem.

People would bring Rav Moshe Feinstein z”l a drink or a chair, even when he did not need it, because they wanted to do something for the Gadol Hador.

So too, we fulfill Hashem’s wishes just because He asked us to do it.

What separates the man doing mitzvos for his own benefit from the one doing Hashem’s will? It’s those “lightweight” mitzvos that people step on. Those mitzvos indeed don’t carry much reward. However if he wants nothing other than doing Hashem’s will then he will do those mitzvos with gusto. Mitzvos that people step on are the ones that indicates true service of Hashem.

No wonder they are so important overall!

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“And who takes no bribe” i.e. Hashem does not take a bribe.

What bribe might be contemplated? Rashi says that it refers to cash. He does not take money payoffs. The Mizrachi asks what can money mean to Hashem?!?

The Maharal says that money here refers to tzeddka – Hashem considers money given to a needy person as though it were given to Him. The idea then is that Hashem does not accept bargaining.

Normative human behavior is that when disaster strikes, – let’s say if someone is diagnosed with cancer, – they try to bargain with Hashem. They offer to do a big mitzvah in the hope that Hashem will trade for health. The message here is that Hashem doesn’t trade.

“Tzeddaka saves from death” we are told. How does that jive with this pasuk? Perhaps it works indirectly; Tzeddakah does not change Hashem’s decision, but it can add merit and tilt the scales in our favor.

©2013

kollel parshah | Tiferet Ramot 83-21, Jerusalem, Israel, 97290

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