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Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Parashat Ekev, Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25

We are a stiffnecked people.

What do politics and sports have in common? Other than both being currently in season, with
the Olympics about to end and the US Democratic convention about to begin, politicians and
athletes tend to invoke God quite frequently. Each assumes God is on their side, whatever the
political party, whatever the sport. This phenomenon is especially evident when it comes to
victory celebrations. In any given sports season, one would think that God visits more locker
rooms than Elijah visits homes on Pesach. God is the supreme political booster and the
ultimate sports fan. Of course, God is rooting for my team.

Well, Ekev comes along this week to toss some Gatorade on this perception. Not surprisingly,
it appears that God makes demands of us: And if you do obey these rules and observe them
carefully, the Lord your God will maintain faithfully for you the covenant that He made on
oath with your fathers. (Deuteronomy 7:12). What doesn't quite come across in this translation
of the first verse in the portion is the actual first word, ekev. The gist of the word is that
something will occur as a consequence of something else. Literally, ekev is from the same root
as the word akev, meaning heel. As is explained in the JPS Commentary (p. 88), ekev means
"on the heels of."

Needless to say, this word has drawn the attention of numerous commentators. Starting with
the traditional favorite, Rashi provides a visual interpretation: If you will pay attention to the
commandments that a person "treads on with the heel" (meaning the mitzvot that are treated
lightly) then God will fulfill God's promise. Rabbinic literature interprets akev to mean at the
end, that is in the World-to-Come. Perhaps this led the founder of Hassidism, the Baal Shem
Tov to understand the similarity between ekev and akev as symbolizing the last step you take
in life. He takes the verse to mean that you should treat every mitzvah as if it were the last one
you have an opportunity to fulfill.

Sforno takes a somewhat different approach but also echoes the rabbinic interpretation. He
says that the mitzvot are to be kept out of love and not because of some immediate reward.
The rewards received in this world are transitory. Hence, listen up athletes! The Gold Medal,
World Series ring, and Stanley Cup are transitory rewards. The reward for following God's
commandments comes later, much later, and is an everlasting reward. Only those who are

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worthy receive an eternal reward.

Before you pat yourself on the back for being among those chosen for eternal reward,
remember the words of those two most excellent sages Wayne and Garth: We are not worthy.

Read on a bit in parashat Ekev and you will find that:

It is not because of your virtues and your rectitude that you will be able to possess their
country; but it is because of their wickedness that the Lord your God is dispossessing those
nations before you, and in order to fulfill the oath that the Lord made to your fathers,
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Know, then, that it is not for any virtue of yours that the Lord
your God is giving you this good land to possess; for you are a stiffnecked people.
Deuteronomy9:5-6

It bears repeating: We are not worthy, we are a stiffnecked people. God is keeping a promise
made to our ancestors. The message of Ekev is not one of pride but of humility. From Shabbat
Nahamu, the Shabbat of Consolation that took place last week, until Rosh Hashanah, we enter
a seven week period during which we read a series of haftarot (prophetic selections) bringing
us Isaiah's poetic words of consolation. It is a time when we slowly begin heshbon ha-nefesh,
the self-reflection that will culminate with our actions on Yom Kippur.

How do we make ourselves worthy? The solution for our stiffnecked behaviour requires more
than a visit to the massage therapist. We must each examine our behaviour and be open to
change. This is a most humbling experience.

Unfortunately for us, humility sounds so much like humiliation that it's easy to get a very
wrong impression of this soul-trait. In the traditional Jewish understanding, humility has
nothing to do with being the lowest, most debased, shrinking creature on earth. Rav Abraham
Isaac Kook, who was the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, says it well: "Humility is
associated with spiritual perfection. When humility effects depression it is defective; when it is
genuine it inspires joy, courage and inner dignity. (Abraham Isaac Kook, The Moral
Principles, p. 176)
Alan Morinis, Everyday Holiness, p. 46

Add to this the fact that true humility provides an opening for a genuine relationship with
others, one that is neither passive nor overbearing. Humility permits us not only to see our own
worth but the genuine value of others, human and Divine. No wonder Proverbs (22:4) teaches
that The effect (ekev) of humility is reverence for Adonai.

Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Michal Shekel

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