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Home -> 5773 -> Eikev

ועתה ישראל מה ד' אלקיך שואל מעמך כי אם ליראה את ד' אלקיך ללכת בכל דרכיו ולאהבה אותו ולעבוד את ד' אלקיך בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Eikev, 5773

Now, O’ Yisrael, what does Hashem, your G-d, ask of you? Only to fear Hashem, your G-d, to go in all His ways and to love Him, and to serve Hashem, your G-d, with all your heart and all your soul. (10:12)

In the Talmud Menachos 43b, Chazal derive from this pasuk that a Jew is obligated to recite one hundred brachos, blessings, daily. This is derived from the word, Mah, before the words, Hashem Elokecha sh’oel meimach, “What – does Hashem, your G-d, ask of you?” The “mah” is interpreted to mean meah, which means one hundred. Midrash Tanchuma, Korach 12, adds that David Hamelech initiated the decree to recite one hundred blessings daily as a merit to save the nation from continuing to lose one hundred men each day. Apparently, as explained by the Tur Orach Chaim 46, one hundred…

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Home -> 5773 -> Eikev

ואתפוש בשני הלוחות מעל שתי ידי ואשברם לעיניכם

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Eikev, 5773

I took hold of both of the Tablets, and I cast them from my hands, and I broke them before your eyes. (9:17)

A powerful lesson can be derived from this pasuk, which describes Moshe Rabbeinu’s act of shattering of the Luchos not simply as a negative act or an act of weakness, but rather, as a forceful, compelling, even positive act. Horav Yaakov Kamenetzky, zl, comments that, were it not for the Torah’s unembellished description, one might harbor the thought that Moshe was so overcome with shock in seeing the Golden Calf that he dropped the Luchos. Perhaps another scenario would be that they were too heavy. Moshe’s strength came from the People. Their merit infused him. Once they fell off their…

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Home -> 5773 -> Eikev

וזכרת את ד' אלקיך כי הוא הנותן לך כח לעשות חיל

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Eikev, 5773

Then you shall remember Hashem, your G-d: that it was He who gave you strength the make wealth. (8:18)

How easy it is to believe in ourselves – to think that our power is the result of our own strength; our battle skills, the result of our being formidable warriors. Hashem wants us to dispel this notion, by remembering that whatever success we enjoy is only because He gives us the means. In his Ben Ish Chai, Horav Yosef Chaim, zl, m’Bagdad, observes that whenever it is demanded of a person to remember, it is because it is concerning a subject that he is prone to forget. Indeed, there are six places in which the Torah enjoins us to…

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Home -> 5773 -> Eikev

ואכלת ושבעת וברכת את ד' אלקיך על הארץ הטובה אשר נתן לך

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Eikev, 5773

You will eat and you will be satisfied, and bless Hashem, your G-d, for the good Land that He gave you. (8:10)

This is the commandment that enjoins us to recite Bircas Hamazon, Grace after meals, Bentch.  Moshe Rabbeinu initiated the blessing of Hazan es hakol kulo b’tuvo, “Who nourishes the entire world, in His goodness,” following the descent of the manna to sustain the nation. Horav Moshe Tzvi Nariyah, zl, observes that in no other instance does a person become so absorbed with his ani, himself, with his existence and personal pleasure, as when he is engaged in eating. Food/eating can have a compelling and almost vulgar effect on a person, often catalyzing his base instincts. Therefore, claims Rav Nariyah, the…

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