Ekev

With God’s help, you and I are beginning the study of the weekly portion Ekev, and we will read from verse 12 of chapter 7 of the book of Devarim.

What do these three components mean – tishmeún, ushmartém, va'asitém? Tishmeún – you will listen to these laws. To listen means to listen closely, to go deeply into it and to try to understand. What is meant here is not simply being present at the proclamation; it does not mean sitting silently with folded hands at the back desk. No, here one must really listen and try to go deeply into it, to understand the essence of these laws. Ushmartém – you will keep these laws, guard them, treat them with care, be interested in their being kept. There are people who keep the law of the state, or the rules of running some business, or some other laws, but they do it so that no one finds fault with them, so that they are left in peace, for the sake of their own peaceful life. Here, however, it says that one must put effort into keeping the laws. Va'asitém – you will observe these laws. These are the three necessary components. If a person only listens to the law, he may well do nothing at all. More than that, there are people who are very well versed in the letter of the law, they know the law very well and use this knowledge of theirs to get around the law. Lawyers often work this way. It is precisely lawyers’ knowledge that is often used not to keep the law but to get around it. Or some tax specialists, tax advisors, who do not advise how to pay taxes most thoroughly, in full, but advise how to create the appearance of it. So, three components are necessary: listening, desire, the effort to keep and keeping, that is, fulfilling the commandments willingly. And then what is said in the second half of the verse will come true, with the very same verb lishmór (to guard, to keep, to observe), that is, to try, to make efforts, in order to move.

What does covenant and mercy mean? And why is it not written only covenant? A covenant is an agreement between two parties. The LORD said that He promised to give the Fathers the land as an inheritance, that He would make them fruitful, multiply them, bless them and much else. And one could have stopped at the word covenant, one could have said: “I swore, and only for that reason I will do it; this bare minimum that I promised, you will receive.” But here it is said differently: “If you make an effort, if you come to Me wholeheartedly, then I too come to you wholeheartedly.” If you make an effort to move toward the LORD, then the LORD, insofar as one can say this of Him, will make an effort to do better for you. He will have the intention not only of fulfilling the agreement, because it was promised, but also of showing mercy to you: the covenant will be kept, the promise to your Fathers, and mercy to you will be shown.

That is, the children who are born will also be worthy, healthy, intelligent, blessed; and the blessed land of Israel will give blessed fruit: grain, and the juice of the grape, and oil – not just vineyards and olive trees, but precisely wine and oil, that is, their very production too – all of this will prosper. These promises were given to the Fathers, they are in the book of Bereshit: “And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, and you will be a blessing (12:1).” “I will bless you and, multiplying, I will multiply your offspring like the stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore, and your offspring will take possession of the gates of its enemies (22:17).” “And I will multiply your offspring like the stars of the heavens, and I will give to your offspring all these lands, and in your offspring all the nations of the earth will be blessed (26:4).”

Moshe here reminds the people of the blessings that were given to the Fathers. And these blessings are no longer connected with the conquest of the land, but with what kind of land it will be: the state will be blessed, the population blessed, the economy blessed.

Barrenness was perceived as a curse. The presence of barren people means the presence of some impurity in the people – not in the barren male himself, not in the barren female herself, but in the people, on the level of the people.

It is also very interesting to note here that in chapter 23 of the book of Shemot, in verse 26, we read: “There will be no miscarrying woman and no barren woman in your land; I will make the number of your days full.” Here only women are spoken of: the miscarrying one (it is clear that this can only be a woman) and the barren one. And when it was not clear which of the spouses was barren, the woman was blamed; this is so among very many peoples. And in order to protect women, Moshe says here, explains: “There will be no barren male and barren female among you,” and a man can be barren too, this is the result of the impurity that is in the people. That is exactly why a great deal of attention is paid to treating infertility in Israel. This is a long-standing tradition; the state invests a great deal of money in helping a woman become pregnant. And, of course, prayers for a woman and for a man who are barren are always blessed, prayers that the LORD would give them fruit, would give them the possibility of bearing a child.

Again, look, as in the previous verse, where it says that the LORD will remove barrenness, will lift it, as one lifts some curse, as one removes some impurity. It is probably more correct to say impurity, because this is not an inflicted curse, it is a self-generated curse – like a fungus, like some impurity. The verb lasím (to lay) is used in the sense of laying something somewhere or on someone: the LORD will not lay these diseases on you. First, to remove them, to cleanse you of them, and second, not to lay them on you. By the way, hatred of Israel can also become a cause of diseases.

What Egyptian diseases are being talked about? In Egypt there are many diseases that are called endemic, that is, characteristic only of a particular region. There are endemic trees, which grow only in some particular region. There are endemic animals, such as kangaroos in Australia and Oceania; they live only there. There are endemic diseases, which also exist only in a particular region. In the Egypt of those times these were diseases of the skin, of the eyes, dysentery, elephantiasis (a persistent enlargement of some part of the body). Pliny the Elder, the well-known ancient Roman historian, calls Egypt the mother of skin diseases. Very many skin diseases originated in Egypt and for a long time existed only in Egypt. Most likely, the Israelites knew these diseases not by hearsay. And here the Most High says: first, I will remove them, and second, I will not lay them on you any more. And, as if these diseases must exist, they have to be somewhere, the LORD says: “I will lay them on those who hate you.” However a person lives, if he hates Israel, hates the people of Israel, then for that alone diseases can be brought upon him.

Here eat up is as if an animal attacks its prey and eats it up. And perhaps you will want to have pity on someone because he is small, or because he is old, or because he is beautiful, or because he is clever, or he has a rich inner world. Who knows what reason can be found to have pity on an enemy. Here the Most High says: “Let your eye not have pity on them.” The eye follows the heart, the eye is the window to the soul, that is, let your soul not have pity on them. Do not show them that you could have pity on them, so that they do not find a way to play on your pity or influence you in some other way. Do not admire their beauty and their aesthetic sense; let them find no mercy, do not give them refuge with you – neither them nor anything of theirs, because that is a snare for you. This sounds, of course, very cruel, but one must understand what kind of peoples these are and how they live.

There is one more danger, which Moshe warns about further on.

Egypt was probably the largest empire in the region. And you saw what the Most High did to Egypt and to Pharaoh. Therefore do not be afraid, and the LORD will help you overcome these peoples too.

That is, if you have become afraid, what is the medicine for fear? To remember all those signs, and wonders, and terrifying deeds that the LORD did to Pharaoh and to the house of Egypt. Remember that the LORD is not telling you fairy tales, and Moshe is not telling fairy tales. Remember that you have already seen the LORD in action, and remember this. And remember that He can defeat any people, can break any empire; do not dread them. Such is the medicine for fear.

You are going to conquer a land. Naturally, the inhabitants of this land know it like the back of their hand. Perhaps they know some crevices, mountains, caves where one can hide. They can hide in forests and in underground hideouts. And here the LORD says: “I will bring horseflies upon them.” The word tzir'á means some kind of stinging insects. But in the languages of many peoples, both Semitic and European, this also means (in a figurative sense) panic, confusion. And there where they hide from you, I will make them run around, make them panic, and I will destroy them with horseflies.

God is so All-Powerful that He will act even where you do not know that one needs to act, there where people have hidden, concealed themselves and are trying to make it so that you do not notice them. And if you do not notice them, then it is no big deal: the LORD will get them.

As soon as Israel enters the land and the LORD with His power drives out the peoples from the whole land, it may turn out that the Israelites will not be able to settle all of it at once. Some regions will remain neglected, undeveloped for a long time, and in these regions the beast of the field may multiply. And then it will be hard to develop these lands. Therefore the LORD says that gradually, according to your abilities, you will develop this land.

Here one could say: “Wait, we have just been talking about how Great the LORD is, what miracles He is able to work. And we know for sure that by the will of the LORD any growth of any beasts of the field can be stopped, if the LORD says: there will be neither mice, nor tigers, nor hippopotamuses. Why does the LORD say here so that the animals do not multiply?” Because the LORD’s miracles do not always intervene in nature, intervene in the natural course of events. Nature is also a miracle of the LORD, only a tuned, constantly operating miracle. And if it is possible to act without breaking the laws of nature, then one miracle does not intervene in another miracle without special necessity. Besides, the people of Israel must be taught to live in the land of Israel, to develop the land without relying on open miracles. It is very important that a person be aware of the hidden miracle and not expect open miracles in his everyday life, in his everyday work. Therefore the LORD says: “For now, conquer this land gradually, not all at once, because there are not enough of you to settle across this territory, there are not enough of you to seize all this territory at once. I will give you this territory as you become ready.” One might think like this: if I have such a Great God, then let us conquer the whole land at once; and why stop at the land of Israel – let us conquer the whole world!” The LORD says: me'át me'át (bit by bit, little by little). And this is how the LORD acts in the whole process of the redemption of Israel and of the world, that is, gradually, step by step.

The LORD will not only give these peoples into your hands, He will also confound them, that is, deprive them of the ability to collect their thoughts, to assess the situation; He will cloud their minds.

Why is it said about their kings? Because in those times the land of Israel was under the power of many small kings. In almost every city there was a king; there was no single state. Therefore here the LORD says: “And their kings will be given into your hands.” The kings were often also local gods. Many kings (and this happens today too), some rulers, some presidents, immortalize their name with mausoleums, monuments, the renaming of cities. Here the Most High says: “No memory, nothing will remain, so that no one can come and say: here it is, this place, here was our, or a foreign, king so-and-so. You will wipe out their memory from under the heavens.” And there will be such confusion in the ranks of the peoples that they will not even be able to resist you until you destroy them.

What to do next? What to do when you have come, and here they are, conquered, the memory of the kings destroyed, and these territories are in your hands?

Under the ban – that which is subject to destruction, like that abomination which you brought into the house, having coveted some adornments on the idols, which can be very beautiful. And whoever takes this himself comes under the curse, and one must be careful with this. The greater part of pagan art arose as a result of the desire to serve and please their gods. And since pagans believe that their gods are real, not false gods, they do not offer them shoddy work. Therefore many idols, many works of art connected with idols, are very beautiful, and it is very tempting to take gold or some adornments from them. Here the LORD says: “If you take them, you will be cursed, under the ban, like them.”

So, if we briefly repeat Moshe’s instruction, one must not only listen to the law, but also make a heartfelt effort, try to keep it, so that God’s mercy is revealed in our life. And further – a kind of memo for the conqueror, an instruction to the warrior.

When you conquer the land, you may see pagan shrines, temples, idols of other gods that will seem beautiful to you. Do not give in to this, do not bow down to other gods; this is a trap.

Someone may seem sweet to you or worthy of mercy, for mercy is such a good feeling, and it seems that it is always good to have pity on someone, to take them under your wing, not to destroy them. And here Moshe warns that this too is a trap; through this too you can get caught in the nets: for if they find out some point where you show unnecessary mercy, then through it they can open the doors of your heart, and you will be manipulated.

You may begin to fear your enemies because they are numerous. And then remember all the might of the Most High, everything He did in Egypt, and understand that with such a weapon as the LORD within us, we do not fear Pharaoh with his empire, and these small cities all the more do not frighten us. You may think that the peoples can save themselves thanks to their knowledge of the terrain, you may fear that you do not know this terrain, but the Most High says: “Here I will help you, I will find them in all the remote corners with the help of My own messengers, and My messengers can be horseflies too.”

And the LORD also says, and Moshe reminds: some idolatrous trinket may seem beautiful to you, you may like something golden or silver, you will want to take it for yourself: after all, it is only aesthetics, we are not bowing down, we just took some little thing. But then you too will come under the ban and be cursed, like this very little thing. Do not do this to yourself.

This is the memo that Moshe gives here.

With God’s help, you and I are continuing the study of the weekly portion Ekev, and we will read chapter 8 of the book of Devarim.

The phrase kol-hammitzvá (all the commandment) is indeed written in the singular and can mean the whole law, all the commandments, this whole integral complex of the Most High’s commands. But it can mean all the commandments in a collective sense, as in Russian one says all the fish, meaning fish in the plural too.

Here some half-asleep student sitting at the back desk in Moshe’s class could ask: “Teacher! This is how many times now that you are telling us the same thing. We have understood! We perhaps understood already the first time that – yes, one must keep the commandments, the laws, the statutes in order to be blessed, so that the LORD blesses us, the fruit of our womb, our livestock, our agriculture. Why do you keep repeating this?” In fact, Moshe repeats it each time from a new angle, each time he reveals a new facet, a new depth, teaching a person new tools, a new understanding, in order to make this keeping of the commandments easier for him, to move him not simply to keep them, but also to want himself to keep them.

Here a very important question arises. The LORD is the Knower of Hearts, He sees the hearts and tests the inward parts. No one has any doubt that He sees a person’s heart better than the person himself. Does He really need a forty-year social experiment in order to understand something about some person, or about some people, or about one of us in particular? The Most High says here through Moshe, revealing His plan: “I led you forty years through the wilderness so that you yourself would learn to test yourself. This is our joint experiment. I am teaching you to understand your heart, to come to know whether you will keep the commandments. Will you keep the commandments when you are full and it may seem that you do not need God? Will you keep the commandments when you are hungry and it may seem that God has abandoned you? Will you keep the commandments if the Catastrophe, the Holocaust, happens, and a huge part of the people perishes, many people close to you? Will you keep the commandments even then?” That is the kind of test this is for the human heart.

That is, not simply in order to teach, but so that you would become one who knows, so that you would gain such experience that you would not have any doubts at all – that is what to give knowledge means. When we eat something, be it lasagna, a steak or a piece of bread with butter or without it, it seems to us that it is this very food that satisfies us. But we must remember what we read in the very first chapters of the Torah, in the very first chapters of the book of Bereshit: everything that the LORD created, everything was created by the Word of God. And when we eat bread, we eat the power that was placed into this bread by the Word of God. And the Word of God is revealed everywhere. And you must see that it is not the bread itself that feeds you, you must see that the true calories are not in the bread itself (although in the physical world that is how it is revealed): in reality it is the Word of God that feeds you and gives you life. And this walking through the wilderness was meant to teach you this experience. Neither bread, nor meat, nor fish, nor the flesh of some living creature or something from plants – it is not this that satisfies you (although in the physical world it seems so), but what satisfies you is the Word of God, the Word by which all of this was created. And God by his Word can lend you strength, give you strength, both through the man, about which your Fathers and you yourself knew nothing, and in any other ways whatsoever.

Remember that behind everything you have, behind everything that gives you strength, stands the Most High. God led you forty years through the wilderness so that you would come to know this and remember it.

For forty years the people walked through the wilderness, where there are not only no boutiques but also no markets with clothing, and one cannot buy anything new. But the clothing did not wear out on you and the footwear did not wear through, did not become uncomfortable, and for whoever walked barefoot, the care of the Most High took the place of footwear. The talk is now not only about food, which gives strength, but about ready-made clothing, about a product of human hands, about fabric, which is preserved from decay, from wearing out, by the same Word of God. In other words, the Most High feeds, sustains the clothing too; one can translate it that way as well, very many speak of such an understanding.

 We men take a much simpler attitude to this. If we have a set of clothes, some wardrobe (insofar as this applies to men’s clothing), that will not wear out for forty years, that is great! You open the closet, put on whatever fell out of the closet, and off you go. Men often do that. For a woman everything is more complicated. If she has a dress, two dresses, three dresses, five dresses, which she will not change for forty years, then for her it will simply be a nightmare. Of course, one wants to change clothes. And some commentators say that it changed on the women, it did not become old not only in the material sense, but it did not go out of date, it continued to delight the women. There are midrashim that speak of such care of the Most High. Well, maybe that is how it was, although, of course, this is not written directly in the text.

Punishes (yeyassér, from the verb leyassér) here does not necessarily mean in the form of suffering. That is, instructs in some morality, sometimes also through certain deprivations, but far from always. A person does not punish other people’s children, we try not to interfere in someone else’s upbringing. And sometimes punishment is an expression of care for the child; only a father or a mother can do this.

Here it is also said veyada'tá, that is, you will come to know this from your own experience. You really had to come to know (not believe, not suppose, not give in to suggestion) in the wilderness that the attitude of the Most High toward you is like the attitude of a father toward his son: both instruction and care. You saw both the one and the other. And when you saw this, you understood that nothing here is yours. All the labor of the people in the wilderness consisted in gathering the man. Imagine that a whole generation of people grew up who had never gone to work in the sense that is usual now. Even those who had livestock did not eat up this livestock, but accumulated it in order to enter the land of Israel with it. That is, a person did not earn his living, did not work for his sustenance. A whole generation lived all the time on a kind of subsistence minimum (or subsistence maximum), gathering the man in the wilderness. What does this lead to? It leads to humility, it leads to the feeling that in reality you are not you, and everything you do in this world, everything you can do, everything it seems to you that you have already done – this is in reality a gift from the Most High. All the good deeds that you do, that is not you, that is from the Most High. And this humbles: there becomes less of you inside yourself in terms of merits, you ascribe your merits to yourself less and less. And later, when you come into the land and build up cities, and your livestock multiplies, and you develop the economy of the land, and when you suddenly think: “Wow, how cool I am, how I have developed, how I have got everything going!”, then you will remember the wilderness, you will remember that, in fact, it is neither your livestock nor your meat that feeds you, but the Word of the Most High. This is the very humility that is being talked about: to learn to understand that everything is not from you, but a gift of the Most High. To learn to make into knowledge what constantly exists in your consciousness, in your worldview, what you constantly remember: everything that happens is not from you. And in punishments too to see the hand of the instructing Father, which, on the other hand, also gives the joy of feeling how much God gives you and how He cares for you.

When you remember your way in Egypt, when you remember how the LORD cares for you, remember that He is a Father to you, you will return to this humble state and will keep the commandment of the Most High.

A land that is not only fertile, but also rich in mineral resources.

From here we learned the tradition of blessing God after eating, when you are satisfied; therefore there are prayers after the meal with thanksgiving for the food. Moshe says: “God led you through the desert, taught you humility, taught you to live in scarcity, to see His care in scarcity.” But it is easy to see God’s care in scarcity; perhaps it is harder to see God’s care in prosperity, when you have everything.

When you live in complete abundance, it will be easy for you to forget your childhood in the desert, from where the LORD brought you out, where there was no one to take care of you, where you did not become a street child, because there the LORD took care of you.

Such a memo for a rich person: to remember the time in the desert, where he had nothing and the LORD took care of him. To remember that there is no difference between the fact that now he is rich and the LORD takes care of him generously, and the time when he was in the desert and the LORD took care of him in just the same way. To remember that it is the same situation.

That is: “I myself am responsible for my prosperity, I achieved everything myself, no one helped me!”

Beware! Do not forget who gives you all this – not who gave it once, but who gives, constantly gives, as today. Remember this. A very dangerous thought may creep into your heart, that you did all this yourself. You may lose the knowledge acquired in the desert, forget the lessons learned in the desert. What will happen then?

We again see the word ékev (because of; for the fact that), as at the very beginning of our weekly portion. In everything that you receive, in all your achievements, in all your successes – in the houses built, in the vineyards planted, in the olives gathered – listen to the voice of the LORD, your God. See the hand of your God, never forget that it is He.

This is a recipe for making sure that the blessing you will receive does not spoil you. For forty years He taught you to look closely into your heart: will you keep His commandments when it becomes hard for you to keep them. And in the case when you have lost everything, one must keep His commandments. And in the case when you have gained everything, one must keep His commandments. And remember how the LORD, your God, brought you back, and instructed you, and taught you. This is the lesson of chapter 8 of the book of Devarim, such a memo for a successful businessman.

With God’s help, we continue to study the weekly portion Ekev, and we will read chapter 9 of the book of Devarim. In this chapter Moshe gives the people of Israel one more important instruction.

In part this is a metaphor: today we call a tall building a skyscraper, as if it reaches the sky. Of course, the walls of the cities of that time were somewhat lower than today’s skyscrapers, but the archaeology of the land of Israel gives us an idea that these were truly very fortified cities, with very high walls, with a very developed system of defense.

There is a very important detail concerning Moshe’s rhetoric. He speaks before the whole people and with the whole people, but he does not say you, people of Israel, but youiRussian has two different words for “you”: a plural one for addressing the whole people and a singular one for addressing one person. Moshe uses the singular here, but English has only one word for both., as if he is addressing each person, so that each of those present would hear and perceive it in such a way that he is being addressed personally, and would try what was said on himself. This concerns not only those who listened to Moshe then, but also us, who listen to Moshe now.

You have heard various legends, of course, about these giants, and you saw Og, king of Bashan, the last of the giants. And after all, these are their descendants, sons of giants, perhaps not so tall, but still pretty serious guys, and one would have to completely lose the sense of self-preservation to start a war with them. And therefore it is quite reasonable to ask: who will go out to battle with them? Anyone might think so.

Many here are troubled that Moshe says: “You will drive them out quickly.” After all, in chapter 7, in verse 22, we read that you will not manage to conquer the land quickly; you will drive out the peoples me'át me'át (gradually). But one can understand this to mean that each individual war will be quick: there will be no long, exhausting wars, but there will be a long series of lightning wars, a long series of blitzkriegs. “You will drive them out quickly, but remember at the same time…” Indeed, to go against these giants one has to be crazy. But it is not you who goes against them; it is the LORD, your God, who goes ahead of you like a devouring fire, it is He who fights, and you go after Him; such is the tactic of the war. Always remember this.

Probably this is relevant for our life too, for we often expect a big, lightning-fast victory, a sharp breakthrough to great success, so that everything comes at once and plenty of everything. When small victories happen, we may not see the Most High behind this, and it is precisely this that the Most High teaches here. This concerns not only the conquest of the land of Israel, but also some of our other affairs. Perhaps our project as a whole will be carried out slowly (so that the animals do not become an obstacle for us, as we read in the previous chapter), but some small steps may succeed for us quickly. This should make us glad, and behind this one can see the fulfillment of a great plan. But it is important to learn to see the Most High also behind small steps, behind small victories. And here an error can arise, against which Moshe wants to warn the people of Israel.

Moshe understands what a person may think: “We repel each other, since wickedness cannot be neighbors with righteousness. These strong, healthy giants are flying off from me because I am a righteous man, and they are wicked – that is how righteous I am!” And Moshe goes on to say: “No, do not think so. Remember that it is the Righteous LORD who goes before you, and it is from Him that they fly off.” You may think that the physics of the process is completely different, that the strategy of the war is completely different, but it is not so at all: it is the LORD who goes before you and fights your war, and not at all for the sake of your righteousness.

The LORD does not pass unrighteous judgment. And the nations that live in this land are driven out not simply because the LORD has already promised you this land. They are driven out because they are wicked, and the punishment that comes to them is truly deserved. But your reward, your undeserved reward – that is the fruit of the LORD’s oath to Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, your Fathers. There is no righteousness of yours in this, no uprightness of your heart, and do not think that you are succeeding because you are such a righteous man through and through.

Often, observing something in life, in our own life, in our own reality, we too may think that it happens because we are so righteous. But it happens so because the LORD stands up for us, loves us, protects us. And perhaps not at all thanks to our righteousness and purity of heart, but in spite of our impurity.

Here such a biblical word as stiff-necked is used, a word which arose and took hold, probably, together with the early Russian translations of the Bible, because the word vyya (neck) left the Russian language long ago. The phrase am-keshe-óref means a people with a hard, heavy nape, with a stiff neck. On the one hand, one can understand that this is a people for whom it is hard to turn its head back, hard to repent, hard to reconsider its deeds, hard to change its life. On the other hand, this is a people that has a hard time accepting the harness, a hard time accepting the yoke, that constantly throws the yoke of the Divine commandments, the yoke of the service of God off its neck – a stiff-necked, hard-necked people.

 Further on Moshe recalls a brief history of the not very good relationship of the people with the Most High.

What place is being talked about? This place is called Ba'al-Pe'or, a place that is not talked about, that very place where the Israelites sinned with the Moabite women, where Pinchas zealously stood up for his people, and all this time, from the moment of your going out of the land of Egypt, you were rebelling all the time, rising up against the LORD.

You also angered God at Chorev (Sinai), on the most solemn day, on a day that could have become the most solemn day in history. How did it happen?

The tablets of the covenant are such plaques (luchót) on which the text of the covenant is written, the text of the agreement between the Most High and the people of Israel. They are also a testimony to the existence of the covenant itself between God and Israel. The day when Moshe comes down with the tablets of the covenant could have been the most solemn day, as we have already said, the Day of the covenant, the Day of the wedding of the Most High and the people of Israel.

There is a well-known proverb: “In Rome, behave like a Roman.” When the angels were on earth as guests of our Forefather Avraham, they ate and drank like people on earth. When Moshe goes up the mountain and stays forty days with the Most High, he as it were reveals the angelic nature in himself: for forty days he does not eat and does not drink, like the angels who dwell in the place of the angels.

A very interesting image, that the LORD writes with a finger. Why with a finger exactly? Why such an image? Naturally, God has no finger with which the LORD could write. But the instrument with which people used to write on parchment was called tziporén (fingernail). If one writes with a fingernail, then one can picture an ancient pen – a kalám (kálamus), a reed stem with a slanted, sharpened end, like a finger; this is the image being talked about. The LORD Himself wrote this inscription on the tablets.

Again there are different understandings of the expression kechol-haddevarím. Some say: it means exactly the same as those words. And others say: it means like those words, that is, similar to those words. And therefore there is a difference between the text of the Decalogue in the book of Shemot and in the book of Devarim.

The word massechá can also be understood as a covering, a veil, as something that hides from reality, that darkens the light, that distorts the perception of reality.

Why does the Most High say here, and Moshe emphasizes this in his retelling: “Go, go down, for your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, has become depraved”? Many commentators note that these were, in fact, not Jews by origin; it was that crowd from various nations that went out together with them, whom Moshe also brought out. One can understand this differently too, such an understanding also exists. When a father and a mother, as happens, quarrel over the children, one of them says: “And this child, he takes after you completely, these are your habits, this is your genetics.” Moshe is trying to get some thought across to the people of Israel and says: “Here is your righteousness, here is what the Most High says about you: your people, whom you brought out, they, they have become depraved. That is, at some point the Most High did not call them His people.

The expression héref mimménni can be understood as loosen your holding of Me. That is how a person sometimes says: “Let me go, I’m going to do something to him right now,” in reality calling for someone to restrain him, to hold him back. Of course, Moshe is a man, he does not have the power to influence the Most High in any way. The Most High is the absolute Ruler. Who would say to Him: “Stop!”, who will stop His hand?

Let us note that here Moshe does not yet say what he answered the Most High then.

One can only imagine this whole terrible picture: Moshe is coming down from the mountain, and the mountain is burning with fire, the miracle is still going on, the mountain is still burning. And precisely during this miracle, when the mountain nearby is still burning, precisely at this moment the people of Israel sink to such a level of unbelief that they make the golden calf. Maybe this would still be understandable if all the signs of God’s presence had already been hidden. But the mountain is still burning, the miracle is still going on, and Moshe is walking with the tablets, with the testimony of the LORD’s readiness to make a covenant.

Note that in verse 12 the Most High said to Moshe: “Go down, because your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, has become corrupt and has quickly turned away from those commandments that you taught them.” But here, when Moshe retells it, he says: “You turned away from the LORD, your God, turned away from the commandments that He commanded you.” By this Moshe says: “After all, you are His people, and the commandments are His commandments.” That is, it is not terrible that you grieved me, spoiled your relationship with me. No, since you are His people, then you have broken His commandments and grieved Him.

What does the breaking of the tablets mean? There are midrashim that say that the letters flew off the tablets and that the tablets themselves tried to fly out of Moshe’s hands and return somewhere to the heavenly world, therefore Moshe caught them, seized them (va'etpós). But one can also understand this differently. The tablets of the covenant (luchót haberít) are the text of an agreement between the people of Israel and the Most High, the text of the covenant that the LORD made with the people of Israel. And Moshe destroys the document, destroys the text, tears up the agreement, in order to bring the people out from under the curse, from under the punishment. The agreement is torn up, and that means there is no curse over Israel connected with the breaking of the agreement. This was often done in those times, and for those times this was a completely understandable action.

I repeat, this could have been a very solemn moment, if Moshe had after all brought out to the people the tablets on which the commandments of God are inscribed, inscribed by the finger of God. But this moment became tragic. Tragic, because Moshe understands everything, and Moshe is horrified.

Let us pause here and, for clarity, read verse 30 of chapter 32 of the book of Shemot: “And it was on the next day, Moshe said to the people: ‘You have committed a great sin, and now I will go up to the LORD, perhaps I will atone for your sin,’” that is, literally on the next day after Moshe came down from the mountain. In the tradition there are dates for each of these events. I deliberately do not touch on them, because we are reading the simple meaning of the text.

So, on the next day after Moshe came down from the mountain, he again goes up the mountain to the Most High. And we read about this from verse 18.

Moshe stayed in the camp only one day (as we know from the book of Shemot), and he hardly had a chance to have supper or to refresh himself. A second time Moshe goes up the mountain to the Most High and again fasts for forty days, does not eat and does not drink. Out of love for Israel, in fasting and prayer, Moshe implores the Most High to have mercy on the people.

The word yagórti means the highest degree of fear, that is, I was terrified. It seems this is the very first story that Moshe tells here. Why then does he say: “The LORD listened to me this time too?” Because the people standing before Moshe know many stories when the LORD answered Moshe’s requests for mercy and had mercy on the people at Moshe’s request.

What else did Moshe do? Here one must understand that the account does not go in chronological order. Of course, the destruction of the calf, which will be spoken of further on, happened before Moshe went up the mountain for the atonement of the people’s sin.

At the place which, according to most opinions, is identified as Mount Sinai, there really is a spring nearby that comes down from the mountain. Why does Moshe say that he threw the dust of the calf, of the sin of the people of Israel, into the water? We read that later King Yoshiyahu did exactly the same (2 Melachim 12:12): “And the altars that were on the roof of the upper room of Achaz, which the kings of Judea had made, and the altars which Menashe had made in both courts of the house of the LORD, the king tore down and cast down from there, and threw their dust into the brook Kidron.” That is, sin can somehow be corrected if you throw it into water. This is said more clearly in the book of the prophet Micha (7:19): “He will again have mercy on us, He will hide our iniquities. And You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.”

Sins, as it turns out, can be drowned. And Moshe also drowned the sin of the golden calf. True, if we read what is written in the book of Shemot (32:20), Moshe also gave the people of Israel water with the dust of the calf to drink: “And he took the calf which they had made, and burned it in fire, and ground it to dust, scattered it on the water and gave it to the sons of Israel to drink.” There are different opinions about why Moshe did this.

The sages of the Talmud say that this is the same way of testing a person by which a woman suspected of adultery was tested. She too was given water with dust to drink, and if she really was sinful, sinful in adultery, her belly swelled and she had many other troubles as well (Bemidbar 5:17–22). And one can say that Moshe gave the water to the sons of Israel in order to test them, in order to find out who had bowed down and who had not. Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman (Ramban) says that this is, in addition, also a humiliation. Imagine what everything eaten turns into and what comes out of a person, and this very thing is what their God will become. Well, of course, one can make the reservation that gold is not digested, but the image is clear.

Ibn Ezra, also one of the well-known classical commentators on the Torah, says that this water they drank changed people’s faces, so that the Levites, who went through and killed all who had sinned, could recognize who had sinned. It was precisely in those who had sinned that the water changed the face, produced a certain facial expression by which they could be recognized. But in our chapter 9 Moshe does not tell that he also made the people drink this water.

Further on Moshe lists other places too in which the people of Israel angered the Most High.

First of all Moshe names a place that is called Tav'era, which is spoken of at the beginning of chapter 11 of the book of Bemidbar. There it is not told what exactly the people grumbled about; there it is said that the people began to grumble evil in the ears of the Most High, and He became angry, and the fire of the LORD came down (blazed up) upon them, and devoured the edges of the camp of Israel. The word blazed up in Hebrew is tiv'ar, and therefore the place too came to be called Tav'era.

The second place that Moshe names in verse 22 is Massa. This is told about in chapter 17 of the book of Shemot. It is the story of how the people grumbled, and asked for water, and tested God, asking whether God was among them at all, whether God was in their midst at all, whether God really cared for them. This place was called the place of the testing of the Most High, the place where the people angered the Most High.

And the third place that Moshe names here is Kivrot-hatta'ava. This is also a place from chapter 11 of the book of Bemidbar. This is the incident when the people asked for meat and the Most High sent the people quail.

Moshe lists for Israel the cases when the people of Israel rose up, rebelled against the Most High, to show that it is not in the least righteous, this people.

This is the incident with the scouts. When Yehoshua and Kalev said that it was a wonderful land and that one must go and conquer it, the people did not listen to them, although here Moshe points out that, after all, it was the Most High himself who spoke through them.

A rather strange verse, and many understand that the words from the very day that I have known you are a kind of exaggeration, a rhetorical image. Others say (we see this in other texts, say, in the Samaritan Torah or in the Septuagint) that this text reads as: “You have rebelled against God from the very moment that He has known you.” If we read the prophets, there it is written that the LORD says: “I knew you in the scorched wilderness.” From the moment the LORD took the people of Israel, led it and brought it into the wilderness, from that very moment the people rebelled against Moshe. But this, as I have already said, is not the Masoretic text, these are variants of understanding from the Septuagint and from the text of the Samaritan Torah. How, then, are we to understand what is said here? Perhaps this is an exaggeration that Moshe uses: “For as long as I have known you, for that long you have been rebelling against the Most High.” This is not a legally constructed phrase, this is a feeling that Moshe has, that has taken shape in him.

I think that a good lesson for us here may be this. A person suddenly begins to feel that something is happening to him and connects it with his righteousness, that is, he attributes some successes to his righteousness. Or else, on the contrary, a person is confused and indignant that he is so righteous, and yet the enemies do not fly off from him, the obstacles do not remove themselves. Then one needs to sit down and, without relying on anyone’s testimony, draw up for oneself a list of situations in which one rebelled against the Most High, and see whether one does not end up with the same kind of list as the people of Israel. And then one can look more attentively: am I really righteous? Look, search for one’s righteousness inside oneself, in one’s heart, and not in the events that happen around.

And further on Moshe returns to his story, which he began in verses 18–20, and says:

Do not stop considering this people Your people and Your allotment, for the sake of your servants to whom You swore – Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. Look at its Fathers, look at its spiritual genes, and do not look at its present-day stubbornness, its stiff-neckedness, at its wickedness and at its sin. Such a bold conversation of Moshe with the Most High. Let us recall and read what exactly Moshe said to the Most High (Shemot 32:32), as it is written: “And now, will You not forgive their sin? But if not, then blot me out too, from Your book which You have written!” That is the level of self-sacrifice Moshe reached. Here he does not tell the people about this, but we know that it happened.

The Egyptians will say: “You see, this God is not so strong after all. He turned out to be unable to bring them into the land which He promised them. And therefore He came to hate them and killed them in the wilderness.” That is the kind of testimony there will be, these are Moshe’s words.

Moshe represents the whole people and intercedes for the whole people: “We are Your people, Your allotment, correct us, but do not destroy us.”

With this Moshe ends that part of the speech which concerns the righteousness of Israel. Can one think that everything that happens, happens by the merit of the people’s righteousness, or should one not think so? And further on the Torah will now speak of the Most High’s mercy toward the people of Israel.

With God’s help, you and I continue studying the weekly portion Ekev, and we will read chapter 10 of the book of Devarim.

Let us recall that Moshe’s speech has already been heard, in which he warned the people of Israel and said: “When you see your successes, your victories, do not attribute this to your righteousness. Do not think that everything that happens to you happens thanks to your righteousness. Not because of your righteousness and not because of the uprightness of your heart does the LORD bring you into this land, but in order to fulfill the promise, in order to fulfill the oath that was sworn to your Fathers, to Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov.” And in order to demonstrate to the people of Israel that there is no righteousness to speak of at all, Moshe lists all the stories in which the people of Israel rebelled before the Most High.

We stopped at Moshe’s account of how he implored the Most High to forgive the people of Israel after the sin with the golden calf. And chapter 10 begins, in fact, with the account of the forgiveness.

When the Most High commands that new tablets be made, it becomes clear that He intends to make a covenant with the people of Israel again and to confirm the covenant with the people of Israel. And this is a sign of forgiveness. Since we are already talking about the tablets, a few words need to be said that will probably be interesting.

 There are many disputes surrounding the tablets. What shape were they? What size were they? What material were they made of? And how were the Ten Commandments (sayings) arranged on them?

Regarding the shape, some say (as, for example, the book of the Zohar) that the tablets were rounded at the top. This is the shape that we are used to seeing and indeed do see almost everywhere. They came down from above like a drop of divine dew; this dew turned into stone. And the second tablets were made by Moshe out of sapphire; the Most High opened up a sapphire mine to Moshe. Moshe took from there a rectangular slab of sapphire, hewed it, rounded it at the top, and on these very leftovers of sapphire he grew rich. In short, there is such an opinion, that originally the tablets were rounded at the top. All the more so since the Talmud also says (and this is confirmed by human experience) that at the creation of the world the Most High made nothing square; in nature there are no straight lines. And since (according to tradition) the stones for the first tablets were created in the days of the creation of the world, they cannot be square. There is such an opinion.

Other sages say that the tablets were in fact square, and they give the dimensions: six by six handbreadths. The tablets were square, and on top, above them, there were a kind of crowns, and therefore it seemed that they were rounded at the top, and in this way their depiction changed. And yet other supporters of square tablets say that the rounded depiction was borrowed from the Christians, who in their churches depicted the tablets rounded at the top, because that seemed more beautiful to them. The most widespread version regarding the size is 64 centimeters by 64 centimeters by 32 centimeters.

If you calculate how much such a tablet of granite would weigh, it turns out that, with a density of granite of 2700 kilograms per cubic meter, such tablets would weigh three hundred fifty-one kilograms each. And this is a question for physicists: how to make tablets of stone so that, on the one hand, they are of sufficient size and what is written on them can be seen from afar, and on the other hand, they have to be light enough that Moshe, a man of advanced age, could carry them. That is, if one does not rely on a miracle. But if one relies on a miracle, then there is a tradition, as in the case of the ark, so also in the case of the tablets, that the tablets were as if inflated by the Holy Spirit, filled with the Spirit of the Most High (like helium); they float above the ground and carry the one who carries them. Therefore Moshe, inspired by the tablets, could come down on them from the mountain as on an air cushion; the tablets carried him, and not he the tablets. Again, that is if one relies on a miracle. As we understand, it is precisely from this that the disputed question arises of what material the tablets were made of. Some say of granite, others – of a precious stone, of sapphire.

There is also a dispute regarding how the commandments were distributed on the tablets. Everyone knows the opinion, a very beautiful midrash, a very beautiful interpretation, which says that on the first tablet there were the first five commandments – between man and the Most High. On the second tablet there were the second five commandments – between man and his neighbor. This is indeed a very beautiful midrash; very many deep interpretations can be drawn from it. The problem is that the first five commandments are much longer than the second five commandments, and therefore it is hard to imagine how they were arranged on the tablets.

There is yet another problem. Usually covenants, treaties, the texts of treaties were made in two copies. Therefore there is a probability (and there is such an interpretation, a well-known interpretation) that on each of the two tablets ten commandments were written, twice ten commandments. Why? When a treaty is concluded, each of the parties keeps its own copy. The Most High must have a tablet of the covenant, and the people of Israel too must have its own tablet of the covenant. Where is the treasury of the Most High, where is the place in which the Most High can keep His commandments? Since the law concerns the actions of people on earth, the representation of the Most High on earth, His embassy on earth, was in the Ark. And the people of Israel meets with the Most High at the Ark, therefore both copies had to be kept in the Ark.

These are the remarks that can be made regarding the tablets. Let me remind you that the Most High tells Moshe to make two tablets of stone, like the first ones, although the first ones were made by the Most High Himself. Here Moshe himself must already take part. And when Moshe hews the tablets, he must also make a wooden ark (arón etz). The word arón can be understood as case, cabinet, casket or little chest, to put it in simple terms. In those times of which we are speaking, in the times of the giving of the Torah, it was indeed customary among all the surrounding peoples to put important tablets, important documents, treaties into special caskets and to keep them there; this is a tribute of respect to the text, to the document itself.

Some commentators say that altogether Israel had two arks. And one of them was purely wooden, the one that Moshe made and with which the people of Israel went out to war: since it was not overlaid with gold, it was more mobile, it was easier to carry. According to this opinion, the people of Israel was punished because during the war with the Philistines (1 Book of Shmuel 4:4) they carried out of Shilo the Ark overlaid with gold, which Betzalel made. There is also another opinion: it was precisely this ark, which Moshe made, that Betzalel later overlaid with gold, and altogether there is one single ark. That is how it always is: when there is a riddle in the text, when there is no clear explanation, different versions, different theories appear. And in our portion we will come across this again.

So, the Most High told Moshe to hew new tablets of stone and to make a casket (ark) for them. The Most High continues the instruction to Moshe; Moshe quotes it:

Moshe tells that the LORD wrote on the new tablets what had been written on the first tablets, the very same sayings. Or He wrote something similar to what had been written on the first tablets. We say that there are two different understandings on this matter. And the Most High gave these tablets to Moshe. Does this not mean forgiveness?

Moshe uses the very same phrase, va'éfen va'eréd min-hahár, which he used the last time (Shemot 31:15). This time everything happened the way it was supposed to happen, and the tablets did not have to be broken. This is yet another testimony that everything has changed, the people is forgiven and the tablets have been received.

With verse 6 a digression begins that causes difficulty for most interpreters.

These are the questions that arise: in the book of Bemidbar (33:31) we read that the sons of Israel set out from Moserot toward Bene-Ya'akan. Here we read that, the other way around, from Be'erot-Bene-Ya'akan – to Mosera. In the same place (33:38) we read that Aharon died on Mount Hor (his grave is there to this day), but here we read, or, in any case, it can be understood this way, that Aharon died in Mosera. And, naturally, these questions arose among the commentators, and it was very difficult to give an interpretation of this.

The sages say the following: over all the forty years of the wandering of the people of Israel through the wilderness, many different events took place and, of course, far from all of them went into the book of Bemidbar, but Moshe was a witness to all these events. Therefore here Moshe tells, reminds the people of Israel of what the people of Israel remembers and Moshe remembers. But we, since we did not read about all the events, we do not know about these events, did not read about them and all the more so do not remember them. And here is which events are meant, in the opinion of the sages.

When Aharon died on Mount Hor, the clouds of glory disappeared. We read (Bemidbar 21:1) that the king of Arad heard that Aharon had died, and precisely then attacked Israel. This war was rather victorious for him; he destroyed many, took many captive. And Moshe tells a story that we do not know about. In those times the people of Israel set some people at its head and decided after all to go back with them to Egypt, and they went back eight stations, that is, from Mount Hor to Mosera. And the sons of the tribe of Levi decided: “How much longer can this be endured!” And again they stood up for the plan of God, fought with representatives of other tribes, with all the supporters of returning to Egypt, and defeated them, thereby once again confirming their status, that they are the tribe that remains with the Most High. Such a version of events exists. And according to this version of events, if one accepts this interpretation, it turns out that even in the fortieth year of the wanderings, after the death of Aharon, already the new generation, born in the wilderness, still had not lost the intention of returning to Egypt. There is such a complicated interpretation. I will repeat again: although we did not read about this in the book of Bemidbar, it is quite possible that such an event did take place, and here Moshe simply reminds of it.

There is also another view. Commentators (for example, Ibn Ezra) say that the name Mosera is the geographical name of an area, and Be'erot-Bene-Ya'akan is not the same as Bene-Ya'akan. And this too may be so. We encounter different topographical names literally in neighboring verses of the Torah; that happens.

And as for the phrase sham met aharón (there Aharon died), the word sham (there) in other places of the Torah is interpreted as az (then, in those times, it was then that this happened). That is, then Aharon died, then he was buried.

Why does the Torah tell us this? In general, why this whole story? To confirm that not only did the people of Israel receive the tablets and is forgiven, but Aharon too is forgiven. He died, but he was not punished by being deprived of the priesthood; Aharon himself passed the priesthood on as an inheritance to his son. Such can be the interpretation of this verse. Again, this is an answer to the question of why the Torah tells us about this here and why this, at first glance, contradicts what the Torah says in other places. Hence this difficulty and hence the complicated commentaries, whose authors try to understand what is being spoken about here.

At that same time the choosing of the Levites also took place. Why is it necessary to tell here that the Most High made a necessary correction in the structure, in the ordering of the people? Because this making of corrections shows that the Most High forgave the people of Israel. And if we nevertheless accept the first version of the account, that after the death of Aharon the Israelites tried to return to Egypt and the Levites stopped them, then this will recall the story of how the Levites acted during the sin with the golden calf. That is, the Levites confirmed that they had been faithful and devoted to the Most High all the time. And again the Most High pointed to their faithfulness, and right then the confirmation of the choosing of the Levites took place. This, I repeat, is if we consider the first version of understanding verse 6.

Here Moshe says that the Most High forgave the people of Israel for all its sins.

From verse 12 on Moshe speaks about something else: what then does the LORD require of Israel? After Moshe has told about the long history of rebellions and about how often the Most High was angry with Israel, a person may fall into an extreme and think: “How demanding this God is, how much He needs, how much He wants from us! There are, after all, gods who settle for much less!” And Moshe, understanding that such a thought may arise in a person, speaks about this:

And this is what Moshe calls “next to nothing”? This may seem strange; this is indeed a serious question, and it requires an explanation. The commentators say: “For Moshe, on his level, this was ‘next to nothing,’ an easy request: it is really next to nothing that the LORD requires of me.” Suppose someone says to me: “Alex, we do not want much from you, you will just come and play for us on the piano one of the twelve Transcendental Études of Franz Liszt, and that is enough, and we need nothing more.” For a person like me, who does not even know whether a piano has keys or buttons, it is simply impossible to play such a complicated piece of music. But for a musician, for a person who is seriously engaged in music, this can mean “that is all they asked.”

For Moshe this request of the Most High is simple. And therefore (so says the commentator) Moshe says: “Next to nothing, all that God asks of you is that you love Him with all your heart, with all your soul, serve Him and keep all His laws and all His commandments.”

Other commentators note that the most important thing here is contained at the end of verse 13, when Moshe says: “…so that it may be for your good.” What the Most High asks of you is needed for your own good; that is exactly why it is “next to nothing.” He Himself needs nothing at all; He is Good as it is. To the LORD, our God, belong countless riches. In essence, no one has anything; only God has, Who possesses everything.

Moshe says: “Not because of your righteousness, not because of any merits of yours, not because of your great numbers, not because of the uprightness of your heart, not because of any qualities of yours did God choose you. Not in order to get something from you did God choose you. But the LORD loved your Fathers and their seed, and therefore today you are loved by God and chosen by God to this present day.”

The word orlát (foreskin) is often translated as uncircumcision. After all, circumcision opens something; uncircumcision is hiddenness, being closed off by skin, by a peel, by a shell, by a crust. Here it is the closedness of your heart: take it off, clean your heart of its peel.

Other peoples have gods such that, if something is wrong, you can go up to them, bring them a bribe, cover them with gold, do something else of the kind for them. And these gods get rich; the pagan gods strive for enrichment. The God of Israel, the King of kings, the God of gods, the LORD of lords, to Whom belongs everything that exists at all, cannot possibly be enriched; He does not take bribes.

If you want to make something a criterion of truth, if you want someone's seal to stand on your words, on your deals, on your contracts, on your testimony, then let it be the seal of the name of the Most High, of God, who does not take bribes, who shows no partiality.

That He chose you, and what He does in your life – this is what you are glorified by: if you are glorious in anything at all, then only in what God has given you.

Look how much the LORD has done for you. Not for the sake of your righteousness and not because He needs something from you. He wants nothing from you except that you serve Him with all your heart, with all your soul, which will be good for you yourself. How one must value this chosenness, this covenant, this relationship with God! Even though we rebel against Him and He is angry with us, He did not destroy the people; He preserved and multiplied the people.

With God's help, you and I continue the study of the weekly portion Ekev and will read from verse 1 of chapter 11 of the book of Devarim. Even though a new chapter has begun, we continue reading that part of Moshe's speech which began in verse 12 of the previous chapter, chapter 10, when Moshe said: “And now, Israel, see what the LORD asks of you.” That is, the beginning of a new chapter does not always mean the beginning of a new topic. So, from verse 1 of chapter 11:

That is, if the LORD cares for widows, for orphans, then you too care for widows and orphans. Care for everything the LORD cares for, keep what is of the LORD, keep the world of the LORD as well.

We have already said that the word chukkím means the laws of the relations between man and God; the word mishpatím – the laws of the relations between man and his neighbor. The concept mitzvót (commandments) applies to all the areas under discussion, including the relations of a person with himself.

Love the LORD God all your days, keep what He keeps all your days, observe His laws, statutes and commandments all your days.

To this day you have not seen the Egyptians any more; Egypt has not risen up against you any more.

This is the story with the sons of Korach; here Moshe recalls what happened during Korach's rebellion.

So, it was not your sons who saw everything that is listed here: not your sons saw the signs that the LORD did in Egypt, not your sons saw everything that happened in the wilderness, not your sons saw the destruction of Pharaoh, not your sons saw what happened to Datan and Aviram.

One could have spoken to the people like this: “You will follow God, you will serve the Most High, and someday, in the distant future, He will repay, but not you – to your sons He will give some recompense, give some reward. Everything awaits you, but in the future. We will build communism, all these sacrifices have not been made in vain.”

But here Moshe says: “Not your sons – you saw this.” On the one hand, this is a testimony to you that God is already acting, that God does not work only on prepayment, that God acts here and now. On the other hand, the fact that it was you who saw this, and not your sons, says that it is precisely you who must keep this testimony and pass it on to your sons. And so you will remember that God acts. He does not ask you to work so as to settle up with you later, someday, at the end of times. He acts for you here and now; remember this.

It is important to pay attention to the fact that here Moshe says: “The LORD swore to give to them, to the Forefathers and to the seed after them.” Not only the seed, not only the heirs receive the land, but also the Forefathers themselves, so Moshe says here. And the sages see in this a hint of the resurrection of the dead, when Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov will receive this allotment in the land, when they rise from the dead.

And again Moshe says that this is a land flowing with milk and honey. What does this expression mean? Some say that it denotes an uncultivated land, a land in which there is no agriculture. In the book of the prophet Yeshayahu (7:21–22) we read: “And it will be on that day: a man will raise one heifer and two sheep. And it will be, because of the abundance of milk he will make butter and will eat it; for butter and honey everyone will eat who is left in this land.” That is, agriculture will be destroyed, everything will be overgrown with flowering greenery, so that there will be plenty for the bees, and for the cattle that can be grazed on this greenery there will be plenty. Therefore a person will have butter and honey: butter – from the cattle, and honey, which the bees will gather from this flowering greenery. And there is such an understanding, it is cited by Re'uveni, one of the classical commentators, that this is about the land just waiting to be cultivated. But this is convenient for a cattle breeder and not very convenient for someone who is engaged in another kind of agriculture.

In the Talmud there is a dispute between Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Eliezer says: “Milk is the milk of fruits, honey is the honey of dates.” Indeed, the fig, some fruits have such a milky juice that comes out of them, and date honey (molasses or silan) is a very well-known product today, and indeed, in antiquity it was the chief and main sweetener. Rabbi Eliezer says: “Both the one and the other are from fruits.” Rabbi Akiva disputes with him and says: “Milk is milk in the literal sense, that is, milk from animals. And honey is bee honey, also from living creatures.” One says: “Both the one and the other are from plants,” the other says: “Both the one and the other are from animals.” There is also this reading: milk means white wine, and honey means red wine. This reading also has its grounds.

There is an amazing story in the Talmud about a man whose name was Rami bar Yechezkel. He was walking to Bnei Brak and saw goats eating figs. The udders of these young goats were dripping with milk, and the juice of the figs (the fig fruit) was running down them. And he saw how a trickle of fig honey and a trickle of milk flowed together, and he said: “Now at last I understand what a land flowing with milk and honey means.”

Most commentators nevertheless agree in the understanding that both the milk and the honey are connected with fruits, also because when the scouts came, they said: “Here is a land flowing with milk and honey, and here are its fruits,” and showed fruits as confirmation that this is a land flowing with milk and honey.

But again I will say, as usually happens when something is unclear and there are many different opinions: it is not so easy to understand what a land flowing with milk and honey means. And, of course, one must remember that there was no beekeeping in the land of Israel at that time, therefore one could speak only about wild honey, if one means bee honey. And fruit honey too has long and firmly been called by the word dvásh (honey) in all Semitic languages. These words – a land flowing with milk and honey (éretz zavát chaláv udvásh) – occur in the Tanach twenty-one times in all, and twenty times with regard to the land of Israel. And these words became a popular hymn in praise of the land of Israel. And further on Moshe speaks about the particular features of this land.

When Lot looks at the region of the Jordan (Bereshit 13:10), he says: “It is like the land of Egypt, like the garden of the LORD.” In the land of Egypt the flooding of the Nile took place; the Nile always overflowed. And there were such channels, irrigation ditches with sluice gates, which could simply be pushed aside with a foot; you did not even need to bend down to water this greenery. The sluice gate was pushed aside with the foot, and water flowed into a small irrigation channel. When enough water had flowed in, in exactly the same way this sluice gate could be closed with the foot. By its nature the land of Egypt is so arranged that nature itself cyclically produces the flooding of the Nile and the watering of the gardens.

The land of Israel, it is completely different.

If the flooding of the Nile is a natural process, then rain is sent by the Most High. The land of Israel is under the constant watch of the Most High; it is constantly under the action of the providence of the Most High.

In most countries of the world natural phenomena are well-tuned processes that already work; these are natural processes of nature, they run, to put it in simple words, automatically. But the land of Israel does not switch to automatic mode. It is all the time (again, to put it in simple words) under the manual control of the Most High. This concerns not only the land of Israel; in many ways it also concerns the life of a believer.

Also here we see a hint that the year has a beginning and an end. And many understand from this that at the beginning of every year the Most High holds an inspection, an audit of what is happening on the earth with all the inhabitants of the earth, and predetermines what will be with this land. But one can also understand it differently: all year round, three hundred sixty-five days a year, seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day, the eyes of the Most High are on this land. And every time it is tested; the Most High constantly governs this land. And what happens on this land depends on what its inhabitants do. And what follows from this?

The first rain must not be too strong, so as not to crush the crops, so as not to beat down what has been sown. Every rain in every period must have its own definite strength, and the Most High looks after, watches over his land. And whether the people of Israel obey or do not obey His commandments, this determines the climate in the Holy Land. So, if you obey, then all the rains will come in due time.

If you keep the commandments, then in the land of Israel there will be a climate suitable for agriculture. And everything will work out for you: you will gather the harvest in time, and the grain, and the grapes, and the olives. And in animal husbandry everything will be good: there will be enough grass for your cattle to eat.

Matár is rain which implies all kinds of rain. In Hebrew there are many different words to denote rain. As we said in verse 14, there is yoré – the first rain, there is malkósh – the last rain, there is géshem. In general, there are many different words. Here it says: “The LORD will not give any rain.”

Here is what one can pay attention to. If one lives in disobedience to the Most High, then the Most High will close the heaven, and the land will not give a yield, and you will perish from the good land. The good land did not become bad because you behaved badly on it. But precisely as a good land, it will not give a yield to you who are bad; it does not tolerate the bad, and therefore you will quickly perish from it. If something happens in the Holy Land, then do not blame the land; it is not the land that is to blame for this.

Both the hand and the eyes must act in a way that has become automatic; they must act by themselves in the light of these words, of these commandments.

Both at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day a person reminds himself of these commandments. His hands and his eyes are moved by these commandments. Going out of the house, whatever purpose you go out with, whatever thought you go out with, you also take these words along. You go out of your personal space into the common space – remember these words; that is why they are written on the doorpost of your house. If you go out of your city and head for another city, then on the gates of your city there are also these words. With these words and only with these words can you go out of the city. These words also became part of the prayer “Shma, Yisrael,” with which Jews pray four times a day, every day.

Remember that the Most High acts in your life immediately. You saw all this; it was not your children who saw this. And therefore, on the one hand, teach the children, and on the other hand, know that the actions of the Most High – they are here and now.

If you keep these commandments and guard them, then you will live long in this country about which the LORD swore to your fathers; you will live as long as the heavens and the earth exist.

And no one, no one will make war with you. When some empire exists, of course, there are always those who want to fight with it and win from it, grab a little piece of land from it. But this will not happen in your case.

Thus ends the instruction that Moshe gives to the people of Israel about how to wage war with those who are stronger than you. Should one rely on one's own righteousness and say: “I am already righteous, and I do not need to correct anything, because the LORD brought me here”?

One must also remember that the LORD has already acted in our life, and we fulfill His commandments not so that “later, someday,” He does not say to us: “Do – and later, maybe, someday, somehow you will see.” We have already seen, and we can tell our sons what we saw with our own eyes. And they will later tell what they saw with their own eyes.

And Moshe also says that the LORD is bringing us into a special country. A country on which He constantly looks, a country which He constantly watches over in a special way. And the climate in this country depends on our behavior. The climate around us depends on our behavior – this is what Moshe teaches here.

Every time, with a new yearly cycle of studying the Torah, some new facets open up to us. Therefore I would like to say a few more words about the portion Ekev, about a few verses from chapter 8 of our book Devarim.

I will begin with verse 3: “And He (the Most High) humbled you, and tormented (vayar'ivécha) you with hunger, and fed you with man, which you did not know and your Fathers did not know, to make you understand that not by bread alone does man live, but by everything that comes out of the mouth of the LORD does man live.” An amazing verse, giving much food for thought. And I would like to dwell on the word yar'ív, as it says here: the Most High tormented you with hunger. In the original there is no word tormented, but simply made you hungry or kept you hungry, forced you to go hungry. Why was hunger needed in the wilderness? What kind of hunger was it? And did our Fathers really go hungry in the wilderness? After all, further on it says: and He fed you with man. Every morning, as we know, one had to go out and gather the man. It could not be kept in the refrigerator, in the cellar, canned, pickled, dried. Every morning it had to be gathered. Imagine that in your everyday life you are forced every morning to find your food anew. There are no refrigerators, no warehouses of any kind, no cupboards of any kind, no credit card, no debit card – none of this exists. Every morning you find at your house a box of groceries for today, and every evening, when you go to bed, you know that this box will, let us say, simply disappear, evaporate in the night, and you will have no other food. That is, there will be no food if the man does not fall again or if you do not gather again. And this sense of existing on such a peculiar card system (only without cards) gives rise to a certain uncertainty about tomorrow, an indefiniteness. In many of our life circumstances we do not know how this or that situation will end, how this or that problem of ours will be resolved. Of course, our Fathers who were in the wilderness were in this same position too. And there is such an understanding that the hunger spoken of here is precisely this sense of indefiniteness, of uncertainty about being fed tomorrow. Yes, of course, the Most High speaks – and the man falls. Well, but what if tomorrow this box is not found, what if this box does not turn up? And the Most High, as it were, teaches us to believe: “Everything is under control, little brother, only not under your control, and get used to it. The world has a Manager, and it is not you. And your life, and every little detail of your life, Someone also manages, and it is not you.” This very hunger, the sense that you do not control your life, your budget, your menu for tomorrow – this is what the Most High, according to this understanding of the verse, was teaching the people of Israel in the wilderness. So that a person would understand that he lives not by bread, not by some savings, not by granaries, not by barns and not by storehouses, but by the Word that constantly comes out of the mouth of the Most High, in fact by that very Speech by which the Most High constantly governs the world. And part of this governing is the feeding of man. When this understanding becomes a habit, when it becomes a person's nature, then the man too becomes ordinary food, the hunger disappears. This is one of the approaches.

Another approach says that man is a special bread, it is the bread that came down from heaven. If some other product – sausage, cheese, the same bread – has some limited properties, then the man possesses infinite depth. And, like the Word of God, it can be studied endlessly, endlessly, as a person does who really lives by the study of some science, even a secular one. A mathematician is not the person who knows mathematics; it is the person who studies mathematics. A physicist is not the person who knows physics, but the person who studies physics. A person who knows mathematics can be a mathematics teacher at school, and the same with physics. But a person who studies, studies it constantly, he lives by it. And when a person understands that behind this food stands the Word of God, he also understands that one cannot be satiated with the Word of God. It is a constant joining to this Word, and it is a food from which one cannot tear oneself away. A person who has tasted this food (if he has grasped the inner meaning) will never again want any other food, but will also never be satiated, because one wants to know this Word more, and more, and more. Which of us can say: “I already know the Word of God, somehow I am no longer drawn to it, I have already understood everything about it, I no longer want to study it”? No, precisely the more you come to know it, the more you want to immerse yourself in it and see more depth, and the more you understand how much the Most High governs the world, how much His Word penetrates every little detail of our life. And then, naturally, hunger is born: you want to know about this more and more, to eat of this Word more and more.

These are two completely different approaches to understanding hunger. And what is this needed for, both in the first and in the second approach? What was it needed for, that a person would experience hunger and understand his dependence on the Word? Further on, our chapter 8 speaks about how abundance will come, and you will come into your land, and you will build up cities, and you will have a flourishing state, and a social society, and there will be no poor, and there will be only the rich, and everything will flourish: both the economy, and agriculture, and you will have military might, and there will be valor, and you will have everything. And when this abundance comes, you may say: “I myself did this!” No, everything is as before: the very same card system, the very same system of receiving the man every day, only it is, perhaps, more hidden from our eyes. It has given way to our daily work, to our daily effort, in which the Most High blesses the work of our hands. And what feeds us is His blessing of the work of our hands, that is, it was not my hand that made this.

This is what we must learn. On the one hand, everything really is under control – not under my control, but under Control (and maybe it is even better that it is not under my control). And also: this will never end: perfection, abundance, His blessing will never end. And just as we will never be satiated with the Word, we will never stop doing our work of perfecting this world, of perfecting ourselves. As long as we are alive, this labor continues. In this is our hunger, that hunger which we must constantly feel.

Such are the thoughts on our weekly portion. Briefly, but it was important for me to share this.

In our weekly portion Ekev (10:1–2) we read this account of Moshe: “At that time the LORD said to me: Hew for yourself two tablets of stone, like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain, and make for yourself an ark of wood. And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke; and you shall put them in the ark (arón).”

The Old Church Slavonic word ark has probably remained only in the Bible. Into modern Russian the word arón can be translated as box, or cupboard, or casket, that is, some place where the tablets can be kept. The Most High commands Moshe to make the tablets and the ark, but in verse 3 we read: “And I made an ark of shittim wood (acacia), and hewed two tablets of stone like the first, and I went up the mountain, and these two tablets in my hand,” that is, Moshe does it in reverse order: first the ark, and then the tablets. In this change of order there is an important instruction for us. In order to learn Torah oneself, in order to teach a person Torah, preliminary preparation is needed, that is, a casket, a vessel. In order for us to be able to study Torah, we must have within us a vessel for the words of Torah. Such a vessel can be our desire to learn Torah, our desire to change, to become better, our desire to know the will of God. Without this we will not be able to receive the words of the Most High.

So it happens in the material world as well. Let us recall the story of the widow and the prophet Elisha from the second book of Melachim and the words that he said to her in verse 3: “Go and ask for vessels for yourself outside; empty vessels, (gather) not a few, from all your neighbors.” Thus the abundance of oil with which the widow was blessed depended on those vessels which she was able to collect. On the one hand, the blessing was miraculous; on the other hand, the blessing was limited by the vessels for the oil, about which we read there as well, in verse 6: “And it was, when the vessels were filled, she said to her son: Bring me another vessel. But he said to her: There are no more vessels. And the oil stopped (flowing).” The infinite Torah, which can be studied infinitely, its wisdom of infinite depth is received by us (and by those with whom we interact, whom we want to teach Torah) according to the vessels that we have.

We know that it is said: “He who has ears, let him hear.” Each of us can look in the mirror and see that, it would seem, everyone has ears. Have we seen many people without ears? But here, of course, it is not physical, not material ears that are being spoken of. What is meant is the readiness to listen, that very vessel which is ready to receive the words of Torah. How do we use our ears? Can we really hear the words of Torah? We can receive some useful scientific or general educational information, or listen to something entertaining, something completely useless for us, some kind of white noise in the spiritual world, which distracts us from receiving the true words of Torah. And therefore one must constantly ask oneself the question: how many ears do I have specifically for studying Torah, for delving into Torah? Do we have such ears that are clean of all noises, of all interference, and that are dedicated only to listening to the Word of God? To what extent are our ears kept clean? After all, only with such ears can one truly hear Torah. Much is said about purity of sight, about how one should not look at certain things from which it will later be hard to cleanse the eyes and the brain. But the ears, too, need to be washed; one needs to keep the ears clean, ready to receive Torah. And this is an important question that each person can ask himself: do I have clean, free ears, a vessel for receiving Torah?

Read also the portion Vaetchanan, the talk on the covenants, the book of commentaries on Devarim and the weekly Torah portions.