Parashat Eikev

Torah Portions

In Eikev (“As a Result”), Moses recounts events that happened in the desert, including the manna, the golden calf, and Aaron's death. Moses describes the blessings God will bestow upon the Israelites if they follow God’s law and the punishments they will encounter if they disobey.

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and inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates—

Deuteronomy 11:20

Therefore impress these My words upon your very heart: bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead,

Deuteronomy 11:18

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: [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. You shall be blessed above all other peoples: there shall be no sterile male or female among you or among your livestock…

Deuteronomy 7:12-8:1

When you have eaten your fill, give thanks to your God יהוה for the good land given to you. Take care lest you forget your God יהוה and fail to keep the divine commandments, rules, and laws which I enjoin upon you today. When you have eaten your fill, and have built fine houses to live in, and your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold have increased, and everything you own has prospered, beware lest your heart grow haughty and you forget your God יהוה —who freed you from the land of Egypt, the house of bondage;…

Deuteronomy 8:10-18

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. [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. The clothes upon you did not wear out, nor did your feet swell these forty years…

Deuteronomy 8:2-9

Know then this day that none other than your God יהוה is crossing at your head, a devouring fire; it is [God] who will wipe them out—subduing them before you, that you may quickly dispossess and destroy them, as יהוה promised you. And when your God יהוה has thrust them from your path, say not to yourselves, “יהוה has enabled us to possess this land because of our virtues”; it is rather because of the wickedness of those nations that יהוה is dispossessing them before you. It is not because of your virtues and your rectitude that you will be able to possess their country…

Deuteronomy 9:3-10:11

והיה עקב תשמעון AND THE CONSEQUENCE WILL BE, IF YE HEARKEN (The Hebrew text may be taken to signify if you will hear the heel, עקב) — If, even the lighter commands which a person usually treads on with his heels (i.e. which a person is inclined to treat lightly), ye will hearken to, ושמר ה׳ וגו׳ THEN THE LORD [THY GOD] WILL KEEP FOR THEE His promise (Midrash Tanchuma, Eikev 1).

Rashi on Deuteronomy 7:12:1-2

וברכת את ה' אלוקיך, the reason why the Lord blesses you in such a fashion is so that you will remember that only from Him could you have been given a land with such an abundance of advantages.

Sforno on Deuteronomy 8:10:1

It is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Meir would say: A person is obligated to recite one hundred blessings every day, as it is stated in the verse: “And now, Israel, what [ma] does the Lord your God require of you” (Deuteronomy 10:12). Rabbi Meir interprets the verse as though it said one hundred [me’a], rather than ma.

Menachot 43b:15

ערלת לבבכם [YE SHALL CIRCUMCISE] THE FORESKIN OF YOUR HEART — This means: ye shall remove the closure and cover that is on your hearts, [which prevent My words gaining entrance to them] (cf. Rashi on Exodus 6:12 and Leviticus 19:23).

Rashi on Deuteronomy 10:16:1

את המשפטים, for the earth’s continued existence is linked to performance of justice by its inhabitants. (Proverbs 29,4)

Sforno on Deuteronomy 7:12:2

כי הארץ אשר אתה בא שמה לרשתה לא כארץ מצרים היא, This is part of the structure of these portions of the Torah, i.e. you need to observe the commandments of the Lord your G’d for the land of Israel cannot be compared to the land of Egypt, being superior in quality to the land of Egypt for the people who observe G’d’s laws. At the same time, it will prove inferior to the land of Egypt for people who do not observe G’d’s laws. Proof of this can be seen already in the fact that the land of Egypt enjoys constant irrigation from the river Nile, does not need rain…

Rashbam on Deuteronomy 11:10:1

AND THOU SHALT EAT AND BE SATISFIED, AND BLESS THE ETERNAL THY G-D FOR THE GOOD LAND. He is stating that when you remember the bondage in Egypt and the affliction in the wilderness, and you will eat and be satisfied in the good Land, you will bless G-d for it. And our Rabbis have received by tradition that this is a positive commandment, its meaning thus being, “and you shall bless the Eternal your G-d.” Similarly, then thou shalt make a parapet for thy roof; and thou shalt keep the Passover…

Ramban on Deuteronomy 8:10:1-9:4:1

THY RAIMENT WAXED NOT OLD UPON THEE. “The clouds of [Divine] Glory brushed their garments and pressed them so that they looked like freshly ironed articles; and so it was with their children, as they grew their garments grew with them.” This is Rashi’s language and also are the words of Agadah. But Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra wrote: “Other scholars say that they took many garments out [of Egypt]. And it is possible that it was not in the nature of the manna to produce perspiration [thus enabling their garments to last so long]…

Ramban on Deuteronomy 8:4:1

THY RAIMENT. Some say via a miracle. Others say that the Israelites brought out many garments from Egypt. However, it is most likely the nature of manna not to produce sweat.

Ibn Ezra on Deuteronomy 8:4:1

ALL THE COMMANDMENT. This means, if you want to keep the commandments so that you may live then remember all the way (v. 2).

Ibn Ezra on Deuteronomy 8:1:1

ומלתם את ערלת לבבכם, therefore, it is appropriate that you remove the “foreskin,” prejudices with which your intelligence is afflicted, so that you will realise the errors you have made in your world outlook based on false premises.

Sforno on Deuteronomy 10:16:1

Rav Yehuda said: From where is the mitzva by Torah law to recite Grace after Meals, derived? As it is stated: “And you shall eat and be satisfied and bless the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 8:10).

Berakhot 21a:3

AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS ‘EIKEV’ YE HEARKEN. Eikev means “because.” So also, ‘eikev’ (because) that Abraham hearkened to My voice. And Rashi wrote: “If you will hearken even to the lighter commandments which a person usually treads upon with his ‘heels’ [i.e., those commandments which a person is inclined to treat lightly] then G-d will keep His promise to you.” Now Scripture mentions the ordinances [And it shall come to pass ‘eikev’ ye hearken to these ‘ordinances’] perhaps because he admonishes them not to be disdainful of the lightly-esteemed…

Ramban on Deuteronomy 7:12:1

ולא יקח שֹחד NOR WILL HE TAKE A BRIBE, that one should appease Him by money.

Rashi on Deuteronomy 10:17:3

..and inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.. Mezuzah in Case, 19th century, Gift of the Danzig Jewish Community, The Jewish Museum N.Y.