Ekev presents us with many issues and a very traditional theology. In keeping with Torah, God is in charge, and everything rests on Israel obeying the Commandments. The portion begins with a direct call, in typical Deuteronomic style, that “if” you obey there will be blessing and “if” you do not, there will be consequences. Indeed, perhaps the most famous line from the portion comes in chapter 8 wherein Moses, recounting the Wilderness, reminds the Israelites that God subjected them to hardships, provided manna to them “to teach you that man does not live on bread alone, but that man may live on anything that God decrees” (8:3)
One may think that the portion focuses totally on the whim of this Torah God to bless us or curse us. After all, we are repeatedly told that everything rests on our following the Commandments. Thus, it IS up to us! It is not some unseen mystical Being that determines our life. Our actions have consequences, and what we do, how we act, what and how we choose to do with our life does determine what and who we are.
Deuteronomy is, as we have discussed, the farewell life review of Moses. He knows he is at the end of his life and leadership. The future has been determined; the mantle of leadership has been passed. One can imagine how Moses, as he looks back, contemplates the choices he made and the implications of those choices. I suggest that the power of the portion rests not in the literal understanding of the text, but in what the text symbolizes.
We are at that stage in life when we often reflect on our own journey. The Wilderness experience is a key metaphor for each of our journeys. We are at a season in the Jewish calendar year that asks us to focus on exactly what Moses does in Deuteronomy: reflect on our own journey. In two weeks, we enter the month of Elul, when tradition asks us to begin the turning of our souls to the High Holidays. Many of our synagogues will develop special Elul programs that support our journey of reflection.
Tradition reminds us that we cannot change what was, what we have chosen. We also cannot control what will be. There is only the now, today, these moments that we have and in that, the hope that the choices that we will make today will bring blessing to us and to those we love. This portion, I think, reminds us that our life really is in our hands. We have been given by our tradition, an ethical and spiritual guide on which to base our life choices; and each choice has consequences.
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.
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