We are told this week that we cannot live by bread alone (8:3). This is, perhaps, the most famous line in the portion and sparks a long discussion on the need for the spiritual aspects of life. Indeed, as we age, many of us find a time that we come to see that the material needs to give way to the spiritual. It may be the transfer from the “what” of life to the more serious “why”?
Ekev continues the recitation of the Wilderness wanderings as Moses reflects on, and sometimes revises, previous history. There are on-going moral and ethical issues that have to do with issues related to suffering and warfare and the father figure of God who promises to destroy all those who may stand in the way of the conquest of the Promised Land. We are even reminded of a line from the birkat ha-mazon which appears in 8:10.
An image, however, caught my attention this week. In 7:16-21 we read another of the sections of God promising to destroy or consume the enemies of Israel. A puzzle for Torah study this week can be verse 16 which has the Hebrew word v’al’chatah. The root of the word means “to eat”, “consume” and in some translation is rendered destroy. The section goes on to remind the people of God’s power that the people witnessed, the “mighty hand and the outstretched arm” (7:19). What an interesting image, that strong hand and that arm that reaches out. An interesting juxtaposition!
Think about that image for a moment as it may relate to our world. How can one confront life’s challenges? Play with that text and consider two choices, might and force, that closed fist: or that outstretched arm, with the open fist. Could we interpret this image as choices we have in life, to meet the challenges of life with anger and might, or to meet those challenges with kindness. The closed fist or the open fist. Now I know that we are tampering with the literal context of the text. But we often allow the text to “speak” to us and let me suggest that this image may “speak” to what we may need to consider in the world in which we live. Our society of divided, polarized and filled with suspicion and fears, often, of “the other”. Perhaps the Torah may be trying to tell us that kindness, a sense of chesed, can be equally as powerful as force. Certainly, we live in a world that needs to be reminded that kindness and civility can be of great value and can help break down barriers between people. We again revert to the power and importance of relationships, for it is hard to hate when we are in relationship. As we get older, many of us come to realize that to relate to others in kindness and respect, even when we may disagree on issues, is empowering and in keeping with the highest of Jewish values. No, it is not always easy, but then, as many have said, doing something worthwhile is often never easy.
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Richard F Address
Rabbi Richard F. Address, D.Min, is the Founder and Director of www.jewishsacredaging.com. Rabbi Address served for over three decades on staff of the Union for Reform Judaism; first as a Regional Director and then, beginning in 1997, as Founder and Director of the URJ’s Department of Jewish Family Concerns and served as a specialist and consultant for the North American Reform Movement in the areas of family related programming. Rabbi Address was ordained from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1972 and began his rabbinic career in Los Angeles congregations. He also served as a part time rabbi for Beth Hillel in Carmel, NJ while regional director and, after his URJ tenure, served as senior rabbi of Congregation M’kor Shalom in Cherry Hill, NJ from 2011-2014.
It is curious that the Torah (7:16) uses the phrase ואלכת את כל העמים for Moses relaying Gd’s command to obliterate all the peoples that stand in their way, and to show them no mercy. ואכלת (ve’achalta) literally means “eat” in the imperative or command tense. Presuming that this is not a call for cannibalism, “devour” is probably a better translation, loyal to the context.