(יב) וְהָיָ֣ה ׀ עֵ֣קֶב תִּשְׁמְע֗וּן אֵ֤ת הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים֙ הָאֵ֔לֶּה וּשְׁמַרְתֶּ֥ם וַעֲשִׂיתֶ֖ם אֹתָ֑ם וְשָׁמַר֩ יְהֹוָ֨ה אֱלֹהֶ֜יךָ לְךָ֗ אֶֽת־הַבְּרִית֙ וְאֶת־הַחֶ֔סֶד אֲשֶׁ֥ר נִשְׁבַּ֖ע לַאֲבֹתֶֽיךָ׃ (יג) וַאֲהֵ֣בְךָ֔ וּבֵרַכְךָ֖ וְהִרְבֶּ֑ךָ וּבֵרַ֣ךְ פְּרִֽי־בִטְנְךָ֣ וּפְרִֽי־אַ֠דְמָתֶ֠ךָ דְּגָ֨נְךָ֜ וְתִירֹֽשְׁךָ֣ וְיִצְהָרֶ֗ךָ שְׁגַר־אֲלָפֶ֙יךָ֙ וְעַשְׁתְּרֹ֣ת צֹאנֶ֔ךָ עַ֚ל הָֽאֲדָמָ֔ה אֲשֶׁר־נִשְׁבַּ֥ע לַאֲבֹתֶ֖יךָ לָ֥תֶת לָֽךְ׃ (יד) בָּר֥וּךְ תִּֽהְיֶ֖ה מִכׇּל־הָעַמִּ֑ים לֹא־יִהְיֶ֥ה בְךָ֛ עָקָ֥ר וַֽעֲקָרָ֖ה וּבִבְהֶמְתֶּֽךָ׃ (טו) וְהֵסִ֧יר יְהֹוָ֛ה מִמְּךָ֖ כׇּל־חֹ֑לִי וְכׇל־מַדְוֵי֩ מִצְרַ֨יִם הָרָעִ֜ים אֲשֶׁ֣ר יָדַ֗עְתָּ לֹ֤א יְשִׂימָם֙ בָּ֔ךְ וּנְתָנָ֖ם בְּכׇל־שֹׂנְאֶֽיךָ׃
(12) And if you do obey these rules and observe them carefully, your God יהוה will maintain faithfully for you the covenant made on oath with your fathers: (13) [God] will favor you and bless you and multiply you—blessing your issue from the womb and your produce from the soil, your new grain and wine and oil, the calving of your herd and the lambing of your flock, in the land sworn to your fathers to be assigned to you. (14) You shall be blessed above all other peoples: there shall be no sterile male or female among you or among your livestock. (15) יהוה will ward off from you all sickness; [God] will not bring upon you any of the dreadful diseases of Egypt, about which you know, but will inflict them upon all your enemies.
RA & USCJ, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, p. 1037
12. if Hebrew: eikev; literally, 'on the heels of,' i.e. 'as a consequence of.'...
14. blessed above all other peoples The Hebrew can be read as 'blessed by all other peoples.'
Rambam on Deuteronomy 7:13
(1) VA’AHEIVCHA’ (AND HE WILL LOVE THEE). The meaning thereof is that when you will observe the ordinances [i.e., the judgments] out of a love for G-d, He will love you as well.
RA & USCJ, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, p. 1038
22. wild beasts There were too few Israelites to fill the entire land. If all the Canaanites were dislodged at once, some of the land would remain unoccupied and be run over by wild animals. Therefore, God will give the Israelites only as much territory as they can occupy and...will give them the rest when there are enough of them to fill the entire land.
(ב) וְזָכַרְתָּ֣ אֶת־כׇּל־הַדֶּ֗רֶךְ אֲשֶׁ֨ר הוֹלִֽיכְךָ֜ יְהֹוָ֧ה אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָ זֶ֛ה אַרְבָּעִ֥ים שָׁנָ֖ה בַּמִּדְבָּ֑ר לְמַ֨עַן עַנֹּֽתְךָ֜ לְנַסֹּֽתְךָ֗ לָדַ֜עַת אֶת־אֲשֶׁ֧ר בִּֽלְבָבְךָ֛ הֲתִשְׁמֹ֥ר מִצְוֺתָ֖ו אִם־לֹֽא׃ (ג) וַֽיְעַנְּךָ֮ וַיַּרְעִבֶ֒ךָ֒ וַיַּאֲכִֽלְךָ֤ אֶת־הַמָּן֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר לֹא־יָדַ֔עְתָּ וְלֹ֥א יָדְע֖וּן אֲבֹתֶ֑יךָ לְמַ֣עַן הוֹדִֽיעֲךָ֗ כִּ֠י לֹ֣א עַל־הַלֶּ֤חֶם לְבַדּוֹ֙ יִחְיֶ֣ה הָֽאָדָ֔ם כִּ֛י עַל־כׇּל־מוֹצָ֥א פִֽי־יְהֹוָ֖ה יִחְיֶ֥ה הָאָדָֽם׃ (ד) שִׂמְלָ֨תְךָ֜ לֹ֤א בָֽלְתָה֙ מֵֽעָלֶ֔יךָ וְרַגְלְךָ֖ לֹ֣א בָצֵ֑קָה זֶ֖ה אַרְבָּעִ֥ים שָׁנָֽה׃
(2) Remember the long way that your God יהוה has made you travel in the wilderness these past forty years, in order to test you by hardships to learn what was in your hearts: whether you would keep the divine commandments or not. (3) [God] subjected you to the hardship of hunger and then gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your ancestors had ever known, in order to teach you that a human being does not live on bread alone, but that one may live on anything that יהוה decrees. (4) The clothes upon you did not wear out, nor did your feet swell these forty years.
Don Isaac Abarbanel, cited in Nehama Leibowitz, Studies in Devarim, p. 86
What test was implied in the provision of their deaily break in the form of manna, with a double portion on the Sabbath eve. Surely this was a great kindness, rather than a test?
Nehama Leibowitz, Studies in Devarim, p. 86
We may detect, however, in the wording of the text, that the trial had nothing to do with the instructions governing the manna but with the actual enjoyment of the Heavenly food. The life of luxury and ease they would enjoy in virtue of the manna would constitute the greatest trial of all: 'That he might put thee to the test' - if you will do His will, when He grants you sustenance, without suffering. (Sforno). In other words, would the Israelites continue to fear God and keep His commandments in times of prosperity?
Rashi on Deuteronomy 8:4
(1) שמלתך לא בלתה THY RAIMENT DID NOT WEAR OUT — the clouds of Divine Glory used to rub the dirt off their clothes and bleach them so that they looked like new white articles, and also, their children, as they grew, their clothes grew with them, just like the clothes (shell) of a snail which grows with it (cf. Shir HaShirim Rabbah 4:11; Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 850).
Ibn Ezra on Deuteronomy 8:4
(1) THY RAIMENT. Some say via a miracle. Others say that the Israelites brought out many garments from Egypt.13The meaning of our clause is that they always had garments to wear. However, it is most likely the nature of manna not to produce sweat.
(ז) כִּ֚י יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ מְבִֽיאֲךָ֖ אֶל־אֶ֣רֶץ טוֹבָ֑ה אֶ֚רֶץ נַ֣חֲלֵי מָ֔יִם עֲיָנֹת֙ וּתְהֹמֹ֔ת יֹצְאִ֥ים בַּבִּקְעָ֖ה וּבָהָֽר׃ (ח) אֶ֤רֶץ חִטָּה֙ וּשְׂעֹרָ֔ה וְגֶ֥פֶן וּתְאֵנָ֖ה וְרִמּ֑וֹן אֶֽרֶץ־זֵ֥ית שֶׁ֖מֶן וּדְבָֽשׁ׃ (ט) אֶ֗רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֨ר לֹ֤א בְמִסְכֵּנֻת֙ תֹּֽאכַל־בָּ֣הּ לֶ֔חֶם לֹֽא־תֶחְסַ֥ר כֹּ֖ל בָּ֑הּ אֶ֚רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֲבָנֶ֣יהָ בַרְזֶ֔ל וּמֵהֲרָרֶ֖יהָ תַּחְצֹ֥ב נְחֹֽשֶׁת׃ (י) וְאָכַלְתָּ֖ וְשָׂבָ֑עְתָּ וּבֵֽרַכְתָּ֙ אֶת־יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ עַל־הָאָ֥רֶץ הַטֹּבָ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר נָֽתַן־לָֽךְ׃
(7) For your God יהוה is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams and springs and fountains issuing from plain and hill; (8) a land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs, and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey; (9) a land where you may eat food without stint, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and from whose hills you can mine copper. (10) When you have eaten your fill, give thanks to your God יהוה for the good land given to you.
RA & USCJ, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, p. 1040
7. good land The phrase 'a good land' occurs no fewer than 10 times in the book [of Deuteronomy].
R' Samson Raphael Hirsch, The Hirsch Chumash: Devarim, p. 170
Nahaley: large or small watercourse flowing from a natural source - springs that together form a stream, or streams that together form a river. Ayanot: are the 'eyes' of the earth, through which the inner contents of the earth come to light: wellsprings. Utiomot: denotes the billowing of the waves of the sea - are great masses of water that form lakes in the midst of the land.
Nehama Leibowitz, Studies in Devarim, p. 88
We are accustomed to regarding this passage as the classic description of the fertility and other wonderful qualities of the holy land. But we must not ignore its other implication. The Torah sings the praises of the land to emphasize too the moral dangers and pitfalls that such gifts might bring with them.
Ramban on Deuteronomy 8:7
(1) A LAND OF BROOKS OF WATER. The meaning thereof is that it is like a watered garden,77Isaiah 58:11. and it is not necessary to irrigate it by foot as the land of Egypt, as it will yet be stated,78Further, 11:10. for it drinketh water as the rain of heaven cometh down.79Ibid., Verse 11. Now he explained [here] that fountains and depths, come out in deep valleys and mountains,80Verse 7 before us. and from there the brooks flow in the Land, the purport of the verse being “fountains and the fountains of the depths, ” like: when the ‘fountains of the deep’ showed their might;81Proverbs 8:28. the fountains of the great deep.82Genesis 7:11. The reason [for referring to both sources: fountains, and fountains of the deep] is that there are some fountains that flow from the very moisture of the mountains which has been absorbed by them from the rains, or from the clouds that ascend upon them, these being called “fountains” [or “springs”] as it is said, unto all the springs of water,83I Kings 18:5. the flint [He turned] into a fountain of waters.84Psalms 114:8. There are other kinds of fountains which come forth from the interior of the depth, these being called “deep waters” that is to say, the fountains of the depths. The verse is thus stating that both [kinds of fountains] come out in deep valleys and mountains.
R' Samson Raphael Hirsch, The Hirsch Chumash: Devarim, p. 176
[The mitzvah of the blessings] in the Torah, has become the model and the prototype of the great institution of brachot which the Sages, seeking to mold the spirit of the Jewish people, have woven into the whole fabric of our lives.
R' Lord Jonathan Sacks, Covenant and Conversation: Devarim, p. 88, 89, 91
The real challenge is not poverty but affluence, not slavery but freedom, not homelessness, but home...The real test of a nation is not if it can survive a crisis but if it can survive the lack of a crisis...The guardian of conscience is memory.
Rabbi Shai Held, The Heart of Torah, v. 2., location 4425
In many ways conditions in the land will be the very opposite of conditions in the wilderness: Where before the people faced the peril of having too little, now they will face the challenge of having too much.
RA & USCJ, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, p. 1042
6. for you are a stiffnecked people Most commentators see this as a negative trait...A few see this characteristic as positive: The stubbornness of Jews in the face of persecution has enabled us to remain Jewish through the centuries.
(ו) עֲשָׂרָה דְבָרִים נִבְרְאוּ בְּעֶרֶב שַׁבָּת בֵּין הַשְּׁמָשׁוֹת, וְאֵלּוּ הֵן...וְהַלּוּחוֹת.
(6) Ten things were created on the eve of the Sabbath at twilight, and these are they... [10] and the tablets.
Ramban on Deuteronomy 10:1
(1) AT THAT TIME THE ETERNAL SAID UNTO ME: ‘HEW THEE TWO TABLETS OF STONE.’ After I cast myself down in prayer before G-d for forty days and forty nights, He was reconciled with me that He would write the second Tablets. However, the first ones were the work of G-d, and the writing was the writing of G-d,164Exodus 32:16. whereas these [second Tablets] He commanded me that they be hewn by my hands and the writing will be like the writing on the first ones, by the finger of G-d.165Ibid., 31:18.
Don Isaac Abarbanel, cited in Carasik, The Commentators' Torah: Deuteronomy, p. 69
You broke the first ones - you can carve these yourself.
Bekhor Shor, cited in Carasik, The Commentators' Torah: Deuteronomy, p. 69
2. You shall deposit them in the ark. I do not want you holding them in your hands; you will just break them again.
Howard Schwartz, Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism, p. 266, from multiple sources
Had the first tablets survived, every sorry and calamity would have disappeared from the earth, and the world would have experienced freedom from the Angel of Death...it is said that if the first tablets had not been broken Jews would never have forgotten any Torah they had learned. Some say that all the commandments of the first set were positive, while more than half of those on the second set are negative.
Louis Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, p. 618
It is another of the attributes of the Tablets, that although they are fashioned out of hardest stone, they can still be rolled up like a scroll.
Dr. Avivah Zornberg, The Hidden Order of Intimacy, p, 36
What is shattered with the [first] Tablets? Fetishizing memory, extreme awareness that allows nothing to slip. So, God assents to Moses' instinct to break the Tablets - to make space for the human modality of absence, loss, fragmentation, error.
Mishnah Menachot 99b
This is derived from a verse, as it is written: “And the Lord said to Moses: Hew for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write upon the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which [asher] you broke” (Exodus 34:1). The word “asher” is an allusion to the fact that that the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Moses: Your strength is true [yishar koḥakha] in that you broke the tablets, as the breaking of the first tablets led to the foundation of the Torah through the giving of the second tablets.
Dr. Avivah Zornberg, The Hidden Order of Intimacy, p. 119
He smashes the Tablets, the mystical wholeness of the stone inscribed with the finger of God. A terrible taboo: what could have inspired him to such an act? In a powerful talmudic midrash, God assures him: Yishar kochacha she-shibarta! - "More power to you that you smashed them!" The violent moment of disruption, of radical disorder, should signify the death of the entire project of Exodus. But, as the. midrash declares, "sometimes the Torah is confirmed by its undoing."
Bava Batra 14b
The broken pieces of the first tablets were placed together with the new ones in the Ark.
Rabbi Deborah Newbrun
The broken pieces of the first Tablets were mostly likely wrapped individually so that they didn't cut into the whole Tablets. Metaphorically, we all have broken Tablets: broken pieces of ourselves we carry forward. We have to figure out how to wrap them, so they don't cut into us, so that we can live full lives. From time to time, the cloth comes loose, and once again the shards can potentially harm us, so we rewrap them, with care, and with love, for we are carrying parts of ourselves, once hurting all the time, now mostly healed.
Rashi on Deuteronomy 9:20
(3) .(אחרי מות AND I PRAYED FOR AARON ALSO, and my prayer availed to atone half, so that only two of his sons died, and two remained alive.
(יב) וְעַתָּה֙ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל מָ֚ה יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ שֹׁאֵ֖ל מֵעִמָּ֑ךְ כִּ֣י אִם־לְ֠יִרְאָ֠ה אֶת־יְהֹוָ֨ה אֱלֹהֶ֜יךָ לָלֶ֤כֶת בְּכׇל־דְּרָכָיו֙ וּלְאַהֲבָ֣ה אֹת֔וֹ וְלַֽעֲבֹד֙ אֶת־יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ בְּכׇל־לְבָבְךָ֖ וּבְכׇל־נַפְשֶֽׁךָ׃ (יג) לִשְׁמֹ֞ר אֶת־מִצְוֺ֤ת יְהֹוָה֙ וְאֶת־חֻקֹּתָ֔יו אֲשֶׁ֛ר אָנֹכִ֥י מְצַוְּךָ֖ הַיּ֑וֹם לְט֖וֹב לָֽךְ׃ (יד) הֵ֚ן לַיהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וּשְׁמֵ֣י הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם הָאָ֖רֶץ וְכׇל־אֲשֶׁר־בָּֽהּ׃ (טו) רַ֧ק בַּאֲבֹתֶ֛יךָ חָשַׁ֥ק יְהֹוָ֖ה לְאַהֲבָ֣ה אוֹתָ֑ם וַיִּבְחַ֞ר בְּזַרְעָ֣ם אַחֲרֵיהֶ֗ם בָּכֶ֛ם מִכׇּל־הָעַמִּ֖ים כַּיּ֥וֹם הַזֶּֽה׃ (טז) וּמַלְתֶּ֕ם אֵ֖ת עׇרְלַ֣ת לְבַבְכֶ֑ם וְעׇ֨רְפְּכֶ֔ם לֹ֥א תַקְשׁ֖וּ עֽוֹד׃
(12) And now, O Israel, what does your God יהוה demand of you? Only this: to revere your God יהוה, to walk only in divine paths, to love and to serve your God יהוה with all your heart and soul, (13) keeping יהוה’s commandments and laws, which I enjoin upon you today, for your good. (14) Mark, the heavens to their uttermost reaches*to their uttermost reaches Lit. “and the heaven of heavens.” belong to your God יהוה, the earth and all that is on it! (15) Yet it was to your ancestors that יהוה was drawn out of love for them, so that you, their lineal descendants, were chosen from among all peoples—as is now the case. (16) Cut away, therefore, the thickening about your hearts and stiffen your necks no more.
Richard Elliott Friedman, Commentary on the Torah, p. 2648
10:14. the skies of the skies. Meaning, presumably, that if one were in the sky and looked up, one would see a farther portion of the sky. So the phrase means the farthest reaches of the sky.
(8) “You have been told, O mortal, what is good,
And what GOD requires of you:
Only to do justice
And to love goodness,
And to walk modestly with your God;cto walk modestly with your God Or “it is prudent to serve your God.”
(ג) וְהָאִ֥ישׁ מֹשֶׁ֖ה עָנָ֣ו מְאֹ֑ד מִכֹּל֙ הָֽאָדָ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֖ר עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הָאֲדָמָֽה׃ {ס}
R' Samson Raphael Hirsch, The Hirsch Chumash: Devarim, p. 208
Oppose the intractibility and insubordination of your. heart; gain. mastery over your heart, over its thoughts and desires; make sure your heart will be obedient to you.
Rabbi Mark Borowitz, Finding Recovery and Yourself in Torah, p. 315
What does “the foreskin of our hearts” mean? It is the thin membrane that many of us have separating our hearts from clear connection with others and with God. Like a cataract obscures our physical sight, this membrane clouds our spiritual, emotional, and intellectual vision. It enables us to be self-absorbed without noticing it. Torah is telling us that we have this tendency to protect our hearts, and we need to be proactive in removing it from our being... It means to surrender to God’s will and God’s teachings rather than just follow our own ways and means.
Rabbi Shai Held, The Heart of Torah, v. 2., location 4269
To circumcise the heart, then, is to open it, and thereby to become genuinely receptive to God and God’s command.
Rabbi Shai Held, The Heart of Torah, v. 2, location 4307
A tension between the two verses still remains: Who will circumcise Israel’s hearts, God or the people themselves? Note that Deuteronomy 30 implies very clearly that Israel will be able to fully live up to the mandate of the shema—“to love God with the whole of your hearts and your being” (Deut. 6:5 and 30:6)—only when God will intervene to make it possible. What is at stake here is critical. Modern Jewish thinkers often write as if human beings have the capacity for limitless self-transformation... But Deuteronomy is skeptical. It teaches something quite subtle and nuanced: It takes both strenuous human effort and profound divine blessing to transform the human heart. Try as we might, we are not our own redeemers—and certainly not in any ultimate way. In order for the human heart to open and soften, both will and grace are necessary.
Rabbi Shefa Gold, Torah Journeys, p. 182, 183
The Torah portion Ekev gives us meaning to the difficulties of our journey. we are afflicted and tested so that God will know what is in our heart, which means that we will come to know the depths of our own hearts and there find the gift of being human. Our hearts hold the key to making all of our life into a blessing. The Blessing of Ekev can be found in its words that say 'You shall eat and you shall bless, and you shall be satisfied.' From this text we derive the mitzvah of Birkat Hamazon, the blessing after the Meal...It is possible to eat everything in sight and to say 100 blessings a day in perfect Hebrew, and yet remain unsatisfied...How do I discern between self-destructive greed and a true, healthy appetite for pleasure that allows the blessing of satisfaction to manifest?
Gersonides, cited in Carasik, The Commentators' Torah: Deuteronomy, p. 75
11:1 always. We learn that the Torah is eternal.
RA & USCJ, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, p. 1050
"Petuchowski said that a Jew reads the Torah not as one reads a novel or a newspaper but as one reads a love letter, eager to extract every bit of meaning from it
Love is mentioned in Exodus twice, in Numbers never, in Leviticus twice, and in Deuteronomy twenty-three times. Justice is mentioned in Exodus four times, in Numbers never, once in Leviticus, and in Deuteronomy eighteen times.
RA & USCJ, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, p. 1052
This [second] passage is phrased in the plural, unlike the first passage (Deut. 6:5-9) [recited after Sh'ma Yisrael in services of prayer], which is phrased in the singular. Righteous individuals may not always prosper, and wicked individuals may not always suffer the consequences of their wickedness...Righteous communities, however, will tend the thrive and bestow blessings on all their members, the good and the less good alike. And wicked communities will bring misfortune on all their inhabitants.
Berakhot 40a, 1
Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: One is prohibited from eating before feeding his animals, as it is stated: “And I will give grass in your fields for your animals” first and only then: “And you shall eat and be satisfied” (Deuteronomy 11:15). In the verse, preparation of food for one’s cattle precedes preparation of his own food. Consequently, it is considered part of the preparation for one’s own meal.