Eikev - 6th Portion

Join me as we learnish for Friday. Paras 11:10, the sixth Torah reading of paras. Yesterday, Moshe tells the Jewish people about the importance of observing the commandments and God's mercy that God has in love for the Jewish people and the reciprocation that we should have the love for God as well. Today this continues as well telling them about the advantages of the land of Israel, the specialty of the land of Israel, the blessing that the land of Israel that God watches it from the beginning of the year to the end of the year and then continues with the love that we have for God with the second portion of the verse 10 because the land that you are coming there to possess it is not like the land of Egypt that you left from there. that you swed your seed and you watered it just like a vegetable garden. Verse 10. It's not like the land of Egypt. It's better than it. This promise, this guarantee was told to the Jewish people when they were leaving Egypt. They were saying, "We don't want to leave Egypt. Maybe we're not going to come to a place that's better." You would think that when the verse is telling us about the praise of the land of Israel, maybe it's referring to the negative parts of it. He tells him it's not like Egypt, but it's worse than Egypt. Therefore, the verse tells us that the was built seven years before meaning one person built all these different lands. His name was he bought he built for his son which was his second son and he built for which was his youngest. The usually it works is first you build the best and then afterwards you get tired to build second best and the leftovers you give to the second child and therefore always the one that you like best is what you give first. So therefore one would what does it tell us that actually was better than was considered one of the best places in the world as it says like the garden of God was the land of when it talks about and so on that was the place where the kings were as it says in Isaiah that in so were the great ministers and was considered the least best part of the land of Israel. That's why that's why they used it for a burial plot became still in all and it was better than seven times better of they learned it a different way after in the in the says does it make sense that a person would build a helm for his younger child and only afterwards for his older child. But it must be that it was built first. It was blessed and it was seven time. However, we know that was seven times better than that means the fruits of of are seven times better than the fruits than that you left there. Even though the ram say go which was considered the best plots in the land of Egypt because put them on it still in all it doesn't match up to the land of Israel you would have to water it the land of Egypt you would have to shap the water from the Nile River meaning with your feet and walk it up to wherever you wanted to plant give it You had to take off from your sleep and walk and travel and shle because the river would only give the bottom ones and not the ones on top. And you would have to slop the water from below to above. But the land of Israel, it gets the water from the rain. You can go to sleep and God makes a rain and waters everything for you. He rewaters everything. The top, the bottom, whatever you see, whatever you don't see, God takes care of everything for you when it is in the land of Israel. Like a garden, like a garden that it's not enough that with the rain that comes and therefore you have to go and water your plants yourself by the water on your shoulder. Verse 11. And the land that you're coming across there to conquer it. It's a land of mountains of and valleys. It is watered by the rain of the sky. The mountains are better than even the valleys because the mountains have plenty of place where you can plant. Mish the valley. You can only put an area of a core which is about 30 you can plant of but in the mountain base. You can do if you can put in a valley in a plane you can only put one core on the mountain you can even do five times the amount because as we know that the the way you are able to evaluate this of course not every mountain and plane is equally but generally you're able to get more on the mountain because of its uh the way it's shaped and so on [snorts] and the valleys mish those are the plains which is also very good that their land is very uh the soil is very good for planting things and so on. Verse 12 and it is a land that God watches over it constantly. God's eyes are upon it from the beginning of the year until the end of the year. Isn't it all lands God is watching over it? Even places where people don't live, it rains. It says that it rains on places where no man lives. But as if to say really, God only wants to water the land of Israel. And because it's raining, so therefore it also rains in other places. But what's the primary reason and objective is the land of Israel? God's eyes are always upon it to see what's needed and to decide what should be decrees upon it for good sometimes for the good and sometimes for the bad like it says in Russia be at the end of the year and God is watching over it as the Reb always mentioned this verse how God is watching over the land of Israel how Israel is the safest place in the world because God is constantly and uses the terminology ology tid means constant. That God has his constant watch over the land of Israel looking to see and to make sure that it's safe and secure. And so may it be verse 13. Now we come to the second Torah reading of the Shama [snorts] over here. Moshe is telling the Jewish people that while God's commandments are for the individual but also as a community when we have to follow the commandments together then we know we can get God's blessings together as well. And it would would be and if you study my commandments continuously and you listen to what I say to my commandments today to love God your God to love and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. Rashi This is going back to what he said before. The very fact that you're going to get rain that's going to fall from heaven is only dependent on if you're going to follow and review what I spoke about in the past. You'll also see and understand new things that you're going to come means from the past. You will come to understand new things as well. So too, you have any time. It says lest you forget what you forgot. If you start forgetting some parts, you're going to end up forgetting all of it. We find in the it says he's talking about the if you let go of God one day, then it'll be two days. That means the more a person distance himself from Torah. Today we say ah it's only for an hour tomorrow it's two hours the next day as this becomes a gradual regression from what a person is doing. I command you today. The way a person keeps his enthusiasm and excitement in what he's doing is that he looks at it. You should see and love it as if it's brand new. You were just given it today like you heard it today. To love God learning. So I should become a wealthy person. Somebody should call me a scholar. I want to become this great scholar that everybody should know about. Because I want to be able to get brownie points in the world to come. When you serve God, when you're working God, do it because you love God. And then everything else, the all the other stuff is going to come eventually. Serve God with all your heart. What's the service of the heart? That is prayer. Prayer is called a service of the heart. as it says Daniel says the god that I serve constantly it's talking about the prayer that he prays constantly so he asks is there a services or sacrifices in Babylonia the very fact that he would pray that we have in mind he would intend to ser pray eastmal prepare my service says the incense that I bring before you didn't already say in the first hour reading of Shama with all your heart and soul the one that he said before was for the individual this one is telling us about the community telling us as a communal whole verse 14 and I will reward you by giving your rain for your land in its proper time both the early rain and the late rain. Therefore, you'll be able to collect and gather your grain and your wine and your oil. You did what you need to do. If you do what you got to do, I'll do what I have to do and which is give you rain your time. What is that time? At night while you're sleeping, everything will be watered. will not bother you or disturb your schedule. Another explanation what it means in its time on Friday nights when everybody's home having their wonderful Shabas meal. They're not going anywhere. They're not working in the field. They're not traveling. That's a perfect time for rain. That's the rain that comes down that after a person swed. That's the first uh rain that comes down. And the reason why it's called Marva because it it satiates it gives the the parched land. It gives it was thirsty so to speak and it it satiates and it gives it what it needs and its seeds. What is Malesh? That's the later rain. So you have the rain in its early rain and then you have the later rain. This is the later range when it comes to the harvest time to give the um and to complete the grain of the wheat. Something that comes late like the translates the ones that were wrapped meaning the the sheep that were born later those belong to it also uses the terminology. Therefore, it's called malash. It's like made up of two words. Malash the word malash which means that it falls on the malace which is on the stalks and also on the wheat and the kernels that are inside the stalks meaning it's a later rain because there's already stalks already something coming out of the ground. And you will then collect your grain. You'll be the one to collect it into your own not your enemies. It says if you're going to give your grain, who are you going to give it to? Somebody else. You'll be planting and somebody else will enjoy it. The ones that collect it will be able to enjoy it. In the book of Judges, it talks about the Jewish people are planting and then the Midionites and the come and destroy it. Verse 15 will give grass to your livestock for your animals. of your animals. You will eat and you'll be satiated. You're not going to have to take your animals out into the desert to find food. Another explanation is you're going to be cutting your food your wheat all winter and you're going to be giving it to your animals and you're not going to eat from it until 30 days before harvest. It's not going to diminish from what you need to have. Meaning that your your your um your field is going to give so much that you're going to have grass and you're going to be able to give from them and you're going to be able to eat from it and everything as well. This is a separate blessing. A person can eat and eat and eat and still not be satiated. Here he says you're going to eat this and this will be a blessing within your stomachs. You'll have a a meal which will be satiated even by not eating that much. Verse 16. But be aware lest your heart be misled and you will turn away and will serve other gods and you will bow down to them being that you're going to be eating and satiated. Therefore, you need an extra you need to be careful because of this you should not kick away and push away because usually people do not rebel against God only when they're satiated. Meaning we find that we said before in chapter 8 in the previous chapters that you may eat and then become plenty of flock and then afterwards you're going to becoming autistic because of it. Meaning that what causes at times a person to leave or to think that he is independent and he doesn't need God forbid God in his life is when a person is satiated. When a person feels that he needs something then he prays to God. But when he has everything, God forbid, when he has everything, then God forbid, he can think that he doesn't need God forbid in his life. What happens then? He can go away from the study of Torah. Because of that, he'll start serving other gods. When a person's not studying Torah because everything is working out for him, he doesn't study Torah. And then he goes and causes idolatry. Therefore, David says about the people of who were chasing his life because they were chasing me and therefore they did not allow me to serve God and they forced me to be amongst the nations of the world and serve idolatry. Who told him to go serve idolatry? Nobody told David that he should serve idolatry because I was chased out of my place and I was not able to study Torah. It's going to cause me to then serve idolatry. What does it mean? Other gods. They're others to those that serve them. Meaning there's something different and weird and strange from those that serve them. Why? They have yell out to them. The people that serve them cry out to them. But they don't answer. It becomes like a stranger. Like them and their God have no relationship one another because he doesn't answer them. Verse 17, then God's wrath will be kindled against you. Hold back the heavens. There will not be rain on the ground will not give back its produce will perish quickly from among on the ground from the among from the ground from the land the good land that God has given to you meaning the produce even that what you bring to it will not be able to grow you'll pl you'll sew a lot but it'll bring nothing you'll be perish quickly I'll call because of all the other suffering think and I would also exile you from this good land from the land that caused you to sin. This is a parable. This is similar to what the king who sent a son to a party. And he was there before he left. He told him certain commandments. He told him certain rules. Do not eat more than you need. when you come home, you come home clean. He come don't come in any problems. But the son did not listen to any of the rules that his father said. He ate he drank more than needed and he vomited and he made everything dirty all the people that were around the party. So the people by the party took him by his hands by his feet. They picked him up and they threw him out behind the palace. Basically, he didn't follow the rules. You got thrown out of the party. So to God tells us, you follow the rules, you'll be able to stay there. You don't follow the rules, you get thrown out quickly. I'm not going to give you a long time until you figure it out. But didn't God give time to the people of the flood that they will live 120 years? The difference is that the people of the flood, who should they learn from? Who were they examples before? important to see that this doesn't work, that they shouldn't behave. However, you have Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, you were told the prophets and leaders, you saw what happened in Egypt. You know what the story is and therefore you will not be given a big chance. Verse 18, and therefore you should make sure to put your must put your mind upon your heart on your soul. should bind them as a sign as upon your arm and should be a reminder between your eyes. even after you're exiled, you're still going to be um you you're going to have identifying signs with mitzvah. when you put onus and you put on so it shouldn't be like new things when you return to the land of Israel make marks do things to remember put signs upon you so you know who you are identifying symbols so you remember that you are the nation of Hashem verse 19 you must teach them to your children and to speak with them When you dwell in your home, when you sit in your home, when you walk on the way, when you lie down, when you wake up to speak to them, what should you speak to them? From here, we learn a very important. From the moment that a son knows from the moment your son knows how to speak, teach him the Torah, the verses of the Torah that we know, the Torah was commanded by Moshe. This you should learn. This should be the speaking that you do with him that you should teach him that how are you going to speak to him? Speak to him with through the words of Torah. From here we learned when a child is able to speak the father should speak to him in the holy tongue and teach him Torah. If he did not teach him as soon as he was able to speak, it's as if he just buried him. It says that you should teach your children and they should speak with it. And what's the next word afterwards? That they should have a long life. If you don't teach them, you are causing them not to have a long life. Verse 19, uh verse 20, you inscribe them this paragraph upon your doorposts of your ho of your house and upon your gates. That's why in the muza we have the two verses of and verse 21 so that you so that you will be able in order that the days and the days of your children to be increased on the land that God swore to your forefathers to give to them for as long as the days of the heaven are above the earth meaning for all time. Rashi verse 21 if you're gonna do what you're told and you follow what what God said then you'll be able to be a long time in life then you'll have plenty of time but if not you don't follow the unfortunately will be the opposite and it will not be long as well because in general when we learn the words of Torah from the negative we learn the positive and from the positive we learn the negative. So if you do follow, you do get it. You don't follow, you don't get it. Islam to give to them. It doesn't say to give to you. Islam to give them. What do we learn from here? That the resurrection of the dead from the Torah. Meaning to them telling us that there's going to be a time that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are going to be resurrected and they will be there to enjoy the land of Israel as well. So from here we see a clearly a stated place to tell us about the concept of the resurrection. The time will come that we'll be reunited with our loved ones from once again. We'll come there and we'll celebrate together in the holy land maybe. This concludes the sixth Torah reading of Harsh Af.