Rabbi Sacks writes that the text in Eikev explicitly refers to God’s love for us: “His covenant of love”, and that He will love you and bless you. The root a-h-v appears 23 times in Deuteronomy, and only 4 times elsewhere in the Torah. He disputes the Christian contrast between Christianity — a religion of love and forgiveness – and with Judaism – a religion of law and retribution.
Rabbi Morgan writes about the message of the Sh’ma – the ultimate emphasis on the Oneness of God. He references Rashi, who separated the passage into 2 parts; that Israel will know God as “our God” and that “the nations will know God”…not that the other nations will become Jews, but that they will acknowledge the One God, and there will be unity among the nations. Yet the widespread Jewish community is not united.
Moshe is speaking primarily to the descendants of the those whom he led out of Egypt; their parents had all lost hope. When Moshe explains that “this is the instruction for you”, he offers them the Sh’ma and V’ahavta. Although he was speaking to those particular individuals, his words speak directly to us, who have inherited our name from Jacob. We are commanded to love: to love mercy, truth, meaning, and hope:
Rabbi Sacks contrasts the verse Deuteronmy 7:7 – “The Lord did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you are the fewest of all peoples” with earlier passages that reference how prolific the Israelite population was in Egypt, and that the descendants of the patriarchs would be like the stars of the heaven, etc. Targum Yonatan and Rashi interpret the phrase in Deuteronomy as one of humility. Why did God choose us then?
Rabbi Roston writes of the need for resiliency in our lives. She observes that one generation of the children of Israel were not ready to achieve their dreams because they lacked resiliency, whereas the next on was ready for battle and the conclusion of the journey.
Rabbi Gottleib writes that on Tisha B’Av, we mourn for catastrophic destruction. Yet traditionally, our communal mourning also includes teshuvah. She states that while we observe the mourning of historic events from 2 millennia ago, as well as more recent ones, we absolutely must consider our own teshuvah for the more contemporary ones as well.
The Talmud implies that the single most important issue at the end of our lives is whether we acted honestly in business, rather than did we study Torah regularly. Rabbi Sacks references Isaiah, who said that Jerusalem’s fate “was sealed not by conventional religious failure but by the failure of people to act honestly.” Please follow the link below to read the full article:
Rabbi Stein writes about the request of the tribes of Reuben and Gad to stay on the east side of the river instead of crossing over into the Land. She observes that the Hebrew word for their cattle is mikneh, whose root means to acquire. In other words, they put a higher value on the well-being of their cattle and wealth than the well-being of their people.
Rabbi Silverstein writes about journeys – physical and spiritual. This parashah names 40 years of journeying by listing 42 different sites, but without much narrative. It is up to the reader to provide the story and the message. For instance, she cites the Kedushat Levi, who wrote that the Israelites stayed longer in some places because it took longer to find the holiness of the site
Rabbi Sacks writes that the prophets were not powerful individuals, they had no authoritative roles, and were deeply unpopular. He further writes that when prophecy is fulfilled then it has failed, since the words of the prophets were to warn the people away from potential danger. If Israel was unfaithful to its covenant then it would fail.