What happened to us when we became lords of the Land?
The Ekev Torah reading is a sharp and touching personal monologue by Moses. The flow of its first-person speech expresses his deepest, heartfelt, concerns and fears regarding the future of the people of Israel.
Moses conceptualizes and shares an important teaching, apparently because he himself grew up in the shadow of the unbelievable power of the imperial court of Pharoah, corrupting power: that absolute sovereignty and powerful governmental control can corrupt the soul. When a people acquire power, although they had been an enslaved people that had directly experienced the suffering of slavery, in particular the brutalization and social exclusion it entails, there is a very strong possibility that they will in turn exploit that power in bad ways when they have the chance.
Firstly, Moses describes an idyllic scene pf the people's arrival in the Land and their establishing themselves there:
"For your God יהוה is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams and springs and fountains issuing from plain and hill;
a land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs, and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey;
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.
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;
who led you through the great and terrible wilderness with its seraph serpents and scorpions, a parched land with no water in it, who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock;
who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your ancestors had never known, in order to test you by hardships only to benefit you in the end—
and you say to yourselves, 'My own power and the might of my own hand have won this wealth for me'." (Deuteronomy, 8:7-17)
The dynamic is clear -- you will come into the Land. You will make a great effort, will labour, will conquer the Land with force or you will purchase land, and you will build homes. At first you will remember your story, the miracles you experienced on the way. Will be humbled as would be expected and you will be grateful and thank God for the good the Divine brought you. But generations will be pass by – and then what will happen? You will forget. You will forget you were slaves. You will forget that you worked hard and bitterly to acquire all that you had. You will begin to think that all this wealth was yours by right and not from Divine grace. And finally - you will think that all this was yours deservedly because of the force you displayed.
This reading during weeks in which violence, aggression and the language of conquest have increased in the speech of Israeli Judaism is unbelievable. Moses who prophesized what would happen to the children of Israel with their arrival at the promised land seems to have foreseen what would happen during the seventy-six years of the State of Israel. From a young country, struggling with its identity and existence that is grateful for what there is, which functions with humility when faced with reality, it has turned into a state in which there are too many who think the application of force alone was what brought us to where we are now.
Moses warns us about exactly this situation. And here we find ourselves in a similar state. Too many groups in Israeli society see in force the only solution and the elected leadership does nothing to stop them.
If we were only to enumerate the events of the past few weeks we would see the overall picture that has developed – the riots opposite the Sadeh Teman army base protesting the appropriate application of a legal investigation, attempts by Jews to break into Gaza while endangering the security forces there, the attack against the daughters of an Israeli family from Rahat in Havat Ronen and the violent riots in the village of Jit. All of this is backed by ministers in the government of Israel at the worst or is responded to with weak and worthless condemnation at the best.
According to Moses all that is happening is the disaster that he warned against just before the people entered the Land. So how then is it nevertheless possible to change the situation and paint a better picture? Should we struggle with force against these phenomena? Moses suggests an alternative course of action.
Only a return to good, positive values and characteristics will save us from ourselves. We should not respond to violence and bullying with violence. Yes, we should defend ourselves from obvious and immediate danger (and no doubt that that the situation in our country is one in which there are too many cases of obvious and immediate threats), but nevertheless never should we let go of our values and positive standards that have been commanded us by God:
"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,
keeping יהוה’s commandments and laws, which I enjoin upon you today, for your good…
For your God יהוה is God supreme and Lord supreme, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who shows no favor and takes no bribe,
but upholds the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and befriends the stranger, providing food and clothing.—
You too must befriend the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
You must revere יהוה: only your God shall you worship, to [God] shall you hold fast, and by God’s name shall you swear.
[ יהוה ] is your glory and your God, who wrought for you those marvelous, awesome deeds that you saw with your own eyes."
(Deuteronomy, 10:12-13, 17-21)
We must do all we can to strengthen these positive qualities and to return to the true Torah – the Torah of Hesed (loving-kindness), Justice, of caring and concern for all the residents of this land. This is what our God requires of us, and this is what we must strive for and demand of each other.
Shabbat Shalom.
Translation: Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann
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Rabbi Leora Ezrachi Vered is originally from Jerusalem and was ordained by HUC, the rabbinical college of the Reform movement in Israel. She leads Kehilat Niggun Halev in the Jezreel valley and the interfaith leadership training initiative "Ruach Glilit" (Spirit of the Galilee). She is also a member of the executive of Tag Meir and serves on the audit committee of Rabbis for Human Rights. She believes in the power of dialogue, song and communal study for Tikkun Olam. She lives with her family in Ramat Yishai in the Jezreel valley
The Ekev Torah reading is a sharp and touching personal monologue by Moses. The flow of its first-person speech expresses his deepest, heartfelt, concerns and fears regarding the future of the people of Israel.
Moses conceptualizes and shares an important teaching, apparently because he himself grew up in the shadow of the unbelievable power of the imperial court of Pharoah, corrupting power: that absolute sovereignty and powerful governmental control can corrupt the soul. When a people acquire power, although they had been an enslaved people that had directly experienced the suffering of slavery, in particular the brutalization and social exclusion it entails, there is a very strong possibility that they will in turn exploit that power in bad ways when they have the chance.
Firstly, Moses describes an idyllic scene pf the people's arrival in the Land and their establishing themselves there:
"For your God יהוה is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams and springs and fountains issuing from plain and hill;
a land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs, and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey;
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.
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;
who led you through the great and terrible wilderness with its seraph serpents and scorpions, a parched land with no water in it, who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock;
who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your ancestors had never known, in order to test you by hardships only to benefit you in the end—
and you say to yourselves, 'My own power and the might of my own hand have won this wealth for me'." (Deuteronomy, 8:7-17)
The dynamic is clear -- you will come into the Land. You will make a great effort, will labour, will conquer the Land with force or you will purchase land, and you will build homes. At first you will remember your story, the miracles you experienced on the way. Will be humbled as would be expected and you will be grateful and thank God for the good the Divine brought you. But generations will be pass by – and then what will happen? You will forget. You will forget you were slaves. You will forget that you worked hard and bitterly to acquire all that you had. You will begin to think that all this wealth was yours by right and not from Divine grace. And finally - you will think that all this was yours deservedly because of the force you displayed.
This reading during weeks in which violence, aggression and the language of conquest have increased in the speech of Israeli Judaism is unbelievable. Moses who prophesized what would happen to the children of Israel with their arrival at the promised land seems to have foreseen what would happen during the seventy-six years of the State of Israel. From a young country, struggling with its identity and existence that is grateful for what there is, which functions with humility when faced with reality, it has turned into a state in which there are too many who think the application of force alone was what brought us to where we are now.
Moses warns us about exactly this situation. And here we find ourselves in a similar state. Too many groups in Israeli society see in force the only solution and the elected leadership does nothing to stop them.
If we were only to enumerate the events of the past few weeks we would see the overall picture that has developed – the riots opposite the Sadeh Teman army base protesting the appropriate application of a legal investigation, attempts by Jews to break into Gaza while endangering the security forces there, the attack against the daughters of an Israeli family from Rahat in Havat Ronen and the violent riots in the village of Jit. All of this is backed by ministers in the government of Israel at the worst or is responded to with weak and worthless condemnation at the best.
According to Moses all that is happening is the disaster that he warned against just before the people entered the Land. So how then is it nevertheless possible to change the situation and paint a better picture? Should we struggle with force against these phenomena? Moses suggests an alternative course of action.
Only a return to good, positive values and characteristics will save us from ourselves. We should not respond to violence and bullying with violence. Yes, we should defend ourselves from obvious and immediate danger (and no doubt that that the situation in our country is one in which there are too many cases of obvious and immediate threats), but nevertheless never should we let go of our values and positive standards that have been commanded us by God:
"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,
keeping יהוה’s commandments and laws, which I enjoin upon you today, for your good…
For your God יהוה is God supreme and Lord supreme, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who shows no favor and takes no bribe,
but upholds the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and befriends the stranger, providing food and clothing.—
You too must befriend the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
You must revere יהוה: only your God shall you worship, to [God] shall you hold fast, and by God’s name shall you swear.
[ יהוה ] is your glory and your God, who wrought for you those marvelous, awesome deeds that you saw with your own eyes."
(Deuteronomy, 10:12-13, 17-21)
We must do all we can to strengthen these positive qualities and to return to the true Torah – the Torah of Hesed (loving-kindness), Justice, of caring and concern for all the residents of this land. This is what our God requires of us, and this is what we must strive for and demand of each other.
Shabbat Shalom.
Translation: Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rabbi Leora Ezrachi Vered is originally from Jerusalem and was ordained by HUC, the rabbinical college of the Reform movement in Israel. She leads Kehilat Niggun Halev in the Jezreel valley and the interfaith leadership training initiative "Ruach Glilit" (Spirit of the Galilee). She is also a member of the executive of Tag Meir and serves on the audit committee of Rabbis for Human Rights. She believes in the power of dialogue, song and communal study for Tikkun Olam. She lives with her family in Ramat Yishai in the Jezreel valley