EKEV_DEUTERONOMY VII,12 – XI,25
Our chapters affirm that Ekev, as a consequence of the fulfillment of the Mitzvot, the Divine ordinances, the Eternal will watch over the Brit, the covenant He concluded with our ancestors. Our fulfillment of the Mitzvot results in Va’ahevcha uverachecha vehirbecha,” and (God) will love you, bless you, and multiply you”. We note that the concept of love is present and mentioned several times in this biblical text. Indeed, the word love plays a very important role in a chapter of previous readings that is very notable for being considered as the pillar of our faith. We refer to Shema Israel, the paragraph that begins with the statement: “Listen Israel, the Eternal, our God, the Eternal is One.”
In the Hebrew language Lishmo’a, which means to listen, also means to understand and obey. Thus, Shema Israel is not merely an invitation to hear a statement about Divine oneness. Shema tells us that it is necessary to understand the implications of this uniqueness in a general way in relation to the universe, and in particular, its consequences with regard to human behavior.
On the one hand, the oneness of God leads us to conceive a logical ordering in the structures and laws that govern the cosmos. The notion of the existence of a unique creator and designer of the universe allows us to think that each effect has a cause. This monotheistic conception becomes the genesis of science that explores and classifies to find convincing explanations of the phenomena of nature. At the same time, the one God is a factor of democracy within the diversity we find in the human species. The Creator himself is responsible for the existence of all beings without exception.
A generally accepted feature of Jewish tradition states that action is paramount. Ikar hama’ase, action is all-important, avers a motto of our Chachamim. In the Jewish tradition, faith and belief do not necessarily lead to salvation. The practice of good deeds and honorable conduct is indispensable in order to be worthy of religious approval. However, the importance attached to the phrase Shema Israel suggests to us that mere listening is a moral desideratum.
The biblical paragraph mentioned, Shema Israel, states that the oneness of God demands as a consequence, Ve’ahavta et HaShem Elohecha bechol levavcha…, “and you shall love the Eternal thy God with all thy heart…. Of course, you can’t command love for another person or another being. By definition, we consider spontaneity to be the defining quality of genuine love and, therefore, cannot be induced by a set of artificially manufactured or compulsorily imposed feelings. Ve’ahavta can be reached perhaps, as a result of certain global behavior and as a consequence of being immersed in Vehagita bo yomam valaila, in the constant study of the Torah as a way and a means for an approach to the Creator.
My teacher Harav Yosef Dov Haleví Soloveitchik taught me that there are four ways to approach God. We thereby transcend the abyss that separates the infinite from the finite. These paths are Talmud Torah, study, Ahavat HaShem, the love of God, Shemirat hamitsvot, the fulfillment of ordinances, and Tefilah, which means prayer.
If we start from the premise that God knows everything, Talmud Torah becomes an instrument to approach and identify with His knowledge. It is a way to draw near to God’s intellect. In study, we share divine knowledge and produce a fusion between the finite and the infinite. God is revealed through nature, the cosmos, and in the moral order, which in Judaism is represented by the Torah. The study of the universe and a better understanding of the ethical and moral parameters are a way of appreciating and apprehending, although without ever fully understanding, the essence of the Divinity. Jewish tradition orders study as the most precious good by enunciating Talmud Torah Keneged kulam, that the study of the Torah surpasses all (the other virtuous acts).
Love of God, Ahavat HaShem, has to be the consequence of a life that is governed by compliance with the rules ordained by the Divinity. The life of Mitsvah serves to mobilize our emotions and feelings, to recognize in every experience and event, the benevolent intervention of the deity. Ahavat HaShem is the irresistible inner response to the apprehension of the Divine Presence in the universe, which is what gives sustenance and existence to the cosmos. In the absence of God, existence and being are an impossibility.
Man serves God through the exercise of his moral will to reach decisions of ethical content. The purpose of Halachah, according to Soloveitchik, is to bend the will of man to the Will of God. The purpose is to raise man to a higher spiritual level, guiding his biological impulses and instincts so that they have transcendental content and significance. The goal of the Mitsvah is the transformation of what is mechanical and habitual in our lives, into actions that are situated on the spiritual plane of Kedushat haguf, the sanctification of the body.
In some other religions, the body is considered to be corrupt and irredeemable. In Judaism, on the other hand, the synthesis and fusion between body and intellect are sought to forge a spiritual being. Although Talmud Torah is essentially addressed to the intellect, the Mitsvah involves the whole being, to achieve harmony and integration between body and mind.
Talmud Torah, Ahavat HaShem, and Mitsvah are human activities that are intended to foster rapprochement and encounters with Deity. But Tefilah has an additional characteristic, which is the existence of an interlocutor and reciprocity. The human being raises his prayer to God, and God responds to him. (The answer may also be of a negative nature, yet it is an answer). In a figurative sense man ascends the mountain of prayer and God descends from the heavens for them to meet halfway.
Thus says the Bible in the book of Shemot, Vayered HaShem al Har Sinai…, vaya’al Moshe: “and God descended on Mount Sinai…, and Moses ascended” (so that an encounter between the two may occur). Prayer is not a monologue but a participatory dialogue. In Tefilah there is movement on the part of both, while, in the first modalities mentioned, man is the action being and God is the passive entity.
Jewish tradition describes God as Shome’a tefillah, Who hears prayer, because, without the interlocutor, prayer becomes an act of self-suggestion and ceases to be a dialogue. Prophecy is a way for God’s communication with a man (according to Rambam, the Navi, the prophet, is a person of great spiritual preparation that allows him to be connected to the Divine message).
The Anshe’i Knesset Hagedolah, the members of “The Great Assembly”, instituted prayer at the end of the period of prophecy, in order to continue the Divine relationship, and to begin a new period in our spiritual history, this time in the form of dialogue. Although prayer has an important dose of Techinah, which is the petition, its primary motivation is the encounter with the deity.
These ideas are clearly set out and contained in the words of our weekly text, Ve’atá Israel mah HaShem Elohecha sho’el me’imach, “and now Israel what does the Eternal thy God require of you”, Ki im leyir’a et HaShem Elohecha lalechet bechol derachav ule’ahavah otó,”but to fear Him and follow His ways, loving Him”, Vela’avod et HaShem Elohecha bechol levavecha uvechol nafshecha, “and serving Him with all your heart and with all your soul”. Lishmor et mitsvot HaShem ve’et chukotav asher anochi metsavech hayom, “fulfilling His mandates and precepts which I prescribe to you today”, (because the basic and essential purpose of all the above is) Letov lach, “for your good”.
MITSVAH: ORDINANCE OF THE TORAH IN THIS PARASHAH
CONTAINS 6 POSITIVE MITZVOT AND 2 PROHIBITIONS
- Deuteronomy 7:25 To obtain no benefit from the ornaments of an Idol
- Deuteronomy 7:26 Not to possess an object belonging to the cult of idols or to derive any benefit from them
- Deuteronomy 8:10 Blessing God after eating bread
- Deuteronomy 10:19 Loving those who convert to Judaism
- Deuteronomy 10:20 Fearing God
- Deuteronomy 10:20 Pray to God
- Deuteronomy 10:20 Associate and adhere to Torah scholars
- Deuteronomy 10:20 Swearing in the Name of God when making a vow
