Daphne Lazar Price focuses on the opening promise: “And when you listen to these laws, God will keep the Covenant with you.” The cause and effect of the verse seems straightforward, except for the “eikev” – heel, the lowest and most overlooked part of the body. She references Rashi who compares it to mitzvot that people “tread underfoot.” Yet in God’s eyes, even small, seemingly trivial commandments matter just as much.
Benjamin Mann writes about Deuteronomy 8:10, which is incorporated into the birkat Hamazon: When you have eaten your fill, give thanks to the ETERNAL your God for the good land given to you. He references his students, who question the need for reciting the Birkat Amazon. The answer is in 8:12-14, wherein Moses cautions the people to beware of becoming haughty and forgetting God.
Rabbi Sacks writes about the juxtaposition of 2 verses; one about God’s supremacy, and the other about God’s care for the low and lonely. This juxtaposition is incorporated into the concluding service for Shabbat, reminding us that as we return to our weekday concerns, we should not be so caught up in our own interests that we forget others less favorably situated.