Ekev
Moses instructs the people to act justly, to love God and to follow God’s commandments, and describes the rewards for doing so. He warns them against forgetting God during times of prosperity. He recounts various elements of their history, including the story of the Golden Calf and the second tablets of stone.
Claire Mandel is Executive Director at New North London Synagogue. She was an involved Limmudnik for several years, and most recently has done Limmud International volunteer training with teams in Colorado and Budapest.
Ekev is one of those sedra titles that provides us with a motif for the entire sedra. The word ekev 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 ekev 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.
Another Voice - EJ Cohen
EJ Cohen is the Director of Education at Finchley Progressive Synagogue, a teacher at Edgware and District Reform Synagogue, the Resource Centre Librarian for the Dept. of Ed. at Leo Baeck College and a freelance American Sign Language Interpreter. She has attended every Limmud Conference since 1998 and currently is the coordinator of the music/entertainment team for Conference 09, and is looking forward to her second Fest.
Birkat HaMazon (grace after meals) is my favorite blessing, as it excites my senses. I learned it 40 years ago (gasp) when I attended Camp Ramah in Palmer, Massachusetts. I'd never heard it before and by the time I left at the end of the summer, I knew it cold, just by immersion; Learning is easier for me with a musical connection. Every time I say/sing it, I'm transported back to the Hadar Ochel (dining room) with its aromas (sometimes even delicious ones!), deafening spirited voices and harmonies and Jewish camaraderie. When I say/sing it with the British melodies, I am immediately in 'Limmudville', either at Conference, or in Limmudniks’ homes for a meal. Musical memories are both sensory and powerful moments
This week's Parashah has parts of the Birkat (Deut.8:10) and parts of Shema (Deut. 11:13-21) in it, a double whammy. One is the basic reminder to be polite, something we all should have learned from our parents: when we ask, say please; when we receive, say thank you. We don’t have to like what we receive. Thank you is just common courtesy. Sometimes, it’s not so easy, especially for children. We’ve all received an unappreciated or duplicate gift. Derech eretz dictates that we say thank you anyway.
The second encourages us to take what we've learned and pass it along to future generations, as parents and/or teachers, so that we remember who we are and from where we came. L’dor vador. Although we say that to mean ‘from generation to generation’, it literally means ‘to generation and generation’. In perpetuity. Teach and learn. Lamed Mem Daled.
In all that we do, like it or not, we are role models. I watched my 3 year old cousin perfectly mimic his mom on a phone, and copy his dad by using the travel DVD player as his computer 'to go to work'. He (most of the time) says 'please' and 'thank you' because his parents do it. These prayers mean that we (children of Israel) say please (give us rain, fertile soil, future generations) to Avinu (our Father) and then we say thank you for what we've received. Being conscious, giving gratitude. Simple.
