Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parashat Ekev WHEN YOU HAVE EATEN YOUR FILL, AND HAVE BUILT FINE HOUSES TO LIVE IN… BEWARE LEST YOUR HEART GROW HAUGHTY AND YOU FORGET THE LORD YOUR GOD WHO FREED YOU FROM THE LAND OF EGYPT, THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE… AND YOU SAY TO YOURSELVES, "MY OWN POWER AND THE MIGHT OF MY OWN HAND HAVE WON THIS WEALTH FOR ME." REMEMBER THAT IT IS THE LORD YOUR GOD WHO GIVES YOU THE POWER TO GET WEALTH, IN FULFILLMENT OF THE COVENANT THAT HE MADE ON...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parshat Ekev   “But the land you are crossing into to possess is a land of hills and cleft-valleys; from the rain of the heavens it drinks water; a land of which God makes demands.”                                                                                             (Devarim 11:11-12)   “A land of which God makes demands.”  A land of which demands may be made, e.g., to set aside challah, heave-offerings, and tithes —  or is it possible that such demands be made of other lands as well? We derive from the passage that demands may be made...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat Ekev (link to original page) Parshat Ekev To the Wilderness Parshat Ekev, (perek 8, pasuk 2) establishes the time the children of Israel spent in the wilderness as one of great spiritual significance. We are commanded by Moshe to "Remember the way which God has led us these forty years in the desert". The desert strips away everything inauthentic, tests us so that God–and we ourselves–"can know what is in your hearts." It is no coincidence that the Torah itself was given in the desert, as the Midrash Rabbah tells us....