Eikev

Eikev - Claire Mandel

Claire Mandel is a solicitor at Kennedys and has been an involved Limmudnik in various guises for nearly 10 years.

Eikev is one of those sedra titles that provides us with a motif for the entire sedra. The word eikev is most simply translated as 'if'. 'And if you do obey these rules and observe them carefully, the Lord your God will maintain faithfully for you the covenant that He made as an oath with your fathers'. (Deuteronomy 7:12) Other ways of translating eikev are literally 'on the heels of' or 'as a consequence of'.

A major theme running through this sedra is one of consequences – the consequence of reward for obedience, and of punishment for disobedience. Many of the verses follow a pattern of Moses advising the Children of Israel that if they observe certain of God's laws, then they will be rewarded. And conversely, that if they sin in a particular way, then they will be destined to punishment. Rewards mentioned include prolific procreation of humankind and of livestock, fertile land bringing plentiful crops, and overall prosperity. Punishment is reflected in the absence of all of these things, and in some instances, is as severe as death. The most oft repeated sin seems to be that of being seduced towards, and worshipping, other gods.

Possibly the best known illustration of the 'reward and punishment' thread within our sedra is contained within verses 13:11-21, being the text we now know as the 2nd paragraph of the Shema. 'If you obey the commandments ... I will grant the rain for your land in season ... I will also provide the grass in the fields for your cattle ... Take care not to be lured away to serve other gods ... For the Lord's anger will flare up against you, and He will shut up the skies so that there will be no rain ... and you will soon perish from the good land...'

Given the world in which we now live, I find the concept of reward and punishment somewhat more difficult to accept than it perhaps was for our ancestors in the desert to digest. Whilst I can see the very clear and logical order such a paradigm offers, I struggle with the child-like dynamic this often portrays for me. If I behave nicely, my parents will let me have some more chocolate, but if I'm naughty, I'll have to go bed early...

Rather, I prefer to take the reward and punishment concept to another level. Instead of thinking in terms of specific action leading to specific reward, I think in terms of effort and satisfaction. The more I put into something the more I get out of it. And equally, I know that when I apply little or no effort, I get very little, if any satisfaction in return.

This effort-satisfaction equation applies to almost every aspect of life – to tasks or relationships, be they individual or collective endeavours, and whether they involve forces that are internal or external to us. Ultimately, each of us is responsible for all of our actions. The consequences of our actions and the extent to which we, and others, benefit from all that we do is undoubtedly determined by the extent to which we engage on every level.