In Parshas Eikev there is an interesting repetition of the idea of eating and being satisfied that is located in Devarim 8:10 and 8:12. Although it is not so uncommon to find repetition in one section of the Torah, in this case the repetition is actually a juxtaposition of the right way to live life and the wrong way to live life. Verse 8:10, which states “And you will eat, and you will be satisfied, and you shall bless the Lord, your God, for the good land He has given you,” is the conclusion of the description of the experience of Hashem’s fatherly love, a love in which we are sometimes tested in order to help us grow strong and a love in which we are rewarded with a wonderful, fulfilling, and independent national life.
Devarim 8:12, on
the other hand, is a warning. On its own it reads: “lest you eat and be satisfied, and build good houses and
dwell therein.” A seeming bracha except for that word lest…Lest you “forget the
Lord, your God, by not keeping His commandments, His ordinances, and His
statutes, which I command you this day” (8:11), the previous pasuk.
The same idea of eating and being satisfied – an allusion to
comfort and wealth – is transformed from an act that brings reward to an act
that leads to destruction, and the biggest difference is the inclusion of the
action of blessing, the active acknowledgement of Hashem. Devarim 8:7-10
describes living in a beautiful land of abundance. So does Devarim 8:12-13. The
difference is that these latter verses are a warning against becoming haughty
and forgetting all that Hashem did for us, in which case we risk being destroyed
as Hashem destroyed the nations that came before us in the land.
How do we avoid the “lest”? How do we keep from becoming
haughty? The key, we learn in Parshas Eikev, is love. It sounds a bit corny,
but the term love (ahava) is used seven times in this weeks parsha. Sometimes
it is Hashem’s love for Bnei Yisrael, as in 7:13: “And
He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will bless the fruit of
your womb and the fruit of your soil, your grain, your wine, and your oil, the
offspring of your cattle and the choice of your flocks, in the land which He
swore to your forefathers to give you...”
Other times, however, later in the parsha, the word love is
used in the language of commandment, in the language of instruction: “And now, O Israel, what does the Lord, your God, ask of you?
Only to fear the Lord, your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, and
to worship the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul”
(10:12).
The
question is frequently asked in relation to the first paragraph recited after
Shema, the paragraph known as v’ahavta (Devarim 6:5-9), how can one be commanded
to love? Love is an emotion. Love is a feeling. But Jewish tradition speaks of
love as something we can build and control. Love is a feeling that is directly
connected to acts of giving. The more one gives to another, the more one loves
that other. In order to love Hashem, we must give to Hashem, which seems an
impossible act.
How
can Bnei Yisrael give anything to Hashem? He is the Almighty. It is an
overwhelming concept, but it is achievable and the Torah explains how: “[Therefore] you shall love the Lord, your God, keep His
charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments, all the days”
(11:1).
Every time a mitzvah is performed, someone is loving Hashem.
Every time one of the Torah commandments is observed, someone is loving Hashem.
This is how Bnei Yisrael can give to God.
Another means of
giving to Hashem is prayer – not the prayer itself, really, but the action of
remembering and acknowledging all the Hashem does. “V’achalta, v’savata, U’VERACHTA
- And you will eat, and you will be satisfied, and YOU SHALL BLESS the Lord”
(8:10) is the source for the commandment to say Birkat Hamazon, the Grace After
Meals. There is no more basic need than food. This seems an obvious point. But
eating is actually quite complex. Eating fills far more than a sense of hunger.
Eating meets a physical need, a psychological need, an emotional need, and a
spiritual need. In this pasuk, eating represents all of our needs. When our
needs – from the smallest to the largest – are met, we must remember to bless
Hashem, to acknowledge Him as the wellspring of all that is in the world.
V'ahavta sounds
like an easy mitzvah. It is not. It is in our nature to take our blessings for
granted, to assume our own power and greatness. It is in our nature to hurry on
to feed and satisfy our next need or desire. This is why v’ahavta and u’verachta
are commandments.
Hashem loves us
and wants us to live our lives in the best possible way. Our job is to remember
that He has already given us the key to achieving that goal.
Wishing you a
beautiful Shabbas
*Eat Pray Love was
a book written in 2006 that was then made into a movie.
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