Weekly Parsha

Refuah Sheimah: Erick (Ezra) ben Hanna Miriam, Yehuda Baruch ben Sarah, Stephen Waczkiewicz (Shimon ben Sarah), Yossefa (Josie) "bat Sharon", Rafael ben Gladis e Esther Bracha "bat Sarah".

Continue praying for: Teddy Welz, Miriam (Mariana) "bat Zulay", Adina (Heidi) "bat Sarah" e Yosefa (Josie) "bat Sharon".

Ekev

Deuteronomy 7:12 -11:25

Moshe continues his discourse guaranteeing the Jewish people prosperity and good health if they follow the mitzvot, the commandments. He reminds us to look at our history and to know that we can and should trust in G-d. However, we should be careful so that we are not distracted by our material success, lest we forget and ignore G-d.

This week's portion dispels a common misconception. People think that "Man does not live by bread alone" means that a person needs additional foods beyond bread to survive. The quotation in its entirety is, "Man does not live by bread alone ... but by all that comes out of G-d's mouth" (Deut. 8:3).

The Torah then answers a question which every human being has asked of himself: What does G-d want of you? "Only that you remain in awe of G-d your Lord, so that you will follow all His paths and love Him, serving G-d your Lord with all your heart and with all your soul. You must keep G-d's commandments and decrees ... so that all good will be yours" (Deut. 10:12).

"For if you shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you to do them, to love the Lord, your G-d, to walk in all His ways and to cleave to Him..." (Deuteronomy 11:22).

How does one "cleave to the Almighty?"

The Torah tells us that even someone who observes all of the commandments and has attained the attribute of loving G-d, must emulate G-d ("to walk in all His ways") in order to cleave to Him. Emulating G-d means being compassionate and bestowing kindness on others. ("He is merciful so we should be merciful, He bestows kindness, so we should bestow kindness." -- Rashi)

One might think that a person who loves G-d need only devote himself to prayer and Torah study and by this means he will cleave to G-d. We see from this verse, however, that an essential ingredient in cleaving to G-d is caring about our fellow human being. And if we care about our fellow human being, we wouldn't gratuitously speak negatively about him, would we?

People won't care what you say unless they know that you care.

Don't tell G-d how big your problems are -- tell your problems how big G-d is.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Ovadiah Tank

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Rabbi Tank is a professor at the American Jewish College, where he teaches classes on Talmud, Jewish History, and Contemporary Jewish Law. Rabbi Tank is dedicated to finding modern utility and meaning in ancient wisdom texts and is pleased to provide spiritual, cultural, social and educational programming to communities around the world. 

Rabbi Tank was educated at Yeshivas in New York and Miami. He studied Biblical Archeology at Bar Ilan University and Jewish Studies at Harvard University. Rabbi Tank has a Bachelor degree in Business Administration and he is also graduated in International Economic Development from the University of Oxford. 

Rabbi Tank Tank is a Jewish Chaplain actively involved in peace negotiations and relief operations. Rabbi Tank is the director of international affairs at the World Jewish Confederation headquarters in New York and He is member of the White House National Religious Leaders , an Executive Office of the President of the United States in Washington, D.C.

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