O Israel, what does HaShem, your G-d, ask of you?"

 O Israel, what does HaShem, your G-d, ask of you?"

(Deuteronomy 10:12)

Av 19, 5784/August 23, 2024

For anyone who claims that the Jews are a religion and not a nation, I have but one suggestion: Read this week's Torah parashah, Ekev. Moshe, who, if nothing else, was a straight talker, addresses his people, not as a gathering of individuals, nor even as an amalgamation of tribes or clans, but as a single, solitary nation, a nation poised on claiming its inheritance in the land G-d has promised her, entering into history and taking hold of the reins of her own destiny. Israel is a people who, as Moshe reiterates time and time again all throughout Ekev, if she stays true to G-d's word, holds fast to His Torah, and keeps His command, will be blessed with peace and prosperity, health and happiness and enjoy all the goodness that life has to offer.

"For HaShem your G-d is bringing you to a good land, a land with brooks of water, fountains and depths, that emerge in valleys and mountains, a land of wheat and barley, vines and figs and pomegranates, a land of oil producing olives and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, you will lack nothing in it, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose mountains you will hew copper. And you will eat and be sated, and you shall bless HaShem, your G-d, for the good land He has given you." (Deuteronomy 8:7-10)

It hardly gets clearer than that. Stick with HaShem, your G-d, Creator of the world and Redeemer from Egypt, and you will find yourselves in a place no less blessed and no less magical than Eden. Stay true to your G-d and this is what awaits you.

But, Moshe continues, should you stray from HaShem, your G-d, should you be seduced by the false gods of your neighbors, or should you simply "say to yourself, 'My strength and the might of my hand that has accumulated this wealth for me,'" (ibid 8:17) your stay in this earthly paradise will be short lived, indeed. Moshe drives this message home, again and again, in no uncertain terms. Yet, as clear as this message is, and as easy, it would seem, to hear Moshe'swarnings and to be one with HaShem and hold tight to His Torah, Moshe knows that Israel will stumble and fail, time and time again. And so it has been, all throughout Israel's long history. Israel has fallen prey, time after time, to the worldly seductions of the nations, to their gods and to their creeds, and mostly to the universal humanity wide delusion of believing that "I did this, I am in charge, me, myself and no other." It is this hubris which we have inherited from Adam, who, despite being fashioned by G-d's own hand and inspired with the breath of life from G-d's own breath, thought he could do it his way, defy G-d and hide from G-d, and somehow manage in the world alone.

Be righteous, Moshe implores us, but don't think that your righteousness is the reason that "HaShem has brought me to possess this land." (ibid 9:4) Be righteous, but don't be deluded by your own righteousness. "Not because of your righteousness or because of the honesty of your heart, do you come to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations, HaShem your G-d drives them out from before you, and in order to establish the matter that HaShem swore to your forefathers, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov."(ibid 9:4)

It turns out that it's not so simple to constantly merit, day after day, the great privilege of being an independent people, a prosperous nation at peace, living in the land that G-d has blessed us with, "a land HaShem, your G-d, looks after; the eyes of HaShem your G-d are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year."(ibid 11:12) On the one hand we have been handed all the necessary tools to make our own way in the world as a nation, but on the other hand we must never stray from G-d, our shepherd, nor from the covenant He bequeathed us with at Sinai. On the one hand it is by the sweat of our own brow that will we will prosper in the land, but on the other hand, all our efforts are for naught, without G-d. G-d sees it all. There is no hiding from "HaShem G-d in the midst of the trees of the garden." (Genesis 3:8)

There is not much wiggle room and this begs the question which Moshe, himself, anticipated and posed: "And now, O Israel, what does HaShem, your G-d, ask of you? Only to fear HaShem, your G-d, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, and to worship HaShem, your G-d, with all your heart and with all your soul, to keep the commandments of HaShem and His statutes, which I command you this day, for your good. Behold, to HaShem, your G-d, belong the heavens and the heavens of the heavens, the earth, and all that is on it. Only your forefathers HaShem desired to love them, and He chose their seed after them you, out of all peoples, as it is this day."(Deuteronomy 10:12-15)

Definitely a challenge, but definitely doable. Be a good person, be humble and care for those less fortunate than you. Love the stranger and never forget your own origins. Walk in the way of Torah, for "its ways are ways of pleasantness, and all its paths are peace." (Proverbs 3:17)

Not merely as individuals, but as a nation, united and under "the eyes of HaShem your G-d" must Israel strive always to walk in HaShem's ways, today more so than ever. Only thusly can Israel guarantee her future and bring blessing into the world.