Our Parsha of Eikev this Shabbos starts by Moshe telling us of the 'Eikev,' - the 'Reward' that we will get if we listen to HaShem's Ordinances and Laws.
The Rewards are mentioned here but ,the word 'Eikev' also means 'Heel' and this hints at the fact that these rewards are only the 'Heel,' the very basic of the rewards that come from listening to HaShem.The true rewards are so much greater.So great spiritually that our own human minds cannot even contemplate these rewards.HaShem gives us Torah Laws for our sake.These Torah Laws help us.They are the very path to HaShem.
If we take the Hebrew word 'Eikev,' and calculate its Gematrical value it comes to 70+100+2=172 and breaking this further down,we get 1+7+2=10,the Number of the Ten Commandments which HaShem gave us on Mount Sinai,the number of pronouncements HaShem Made, to Create the World,the number of generations between Adam to Noach and Noach to Avraham.The reward for keeping HaShem's Commandments is thus the Creation of The World in the way HaShem wants it to be that will give the most spiritual blessings.
Keeping HaShem's Commandments is the Reward itself,for it brings us closer to HaShem with every action of obedience to G-D that we make and there can be no greater Reward than being in HaShem's Holy Presence for that is the Highest of all.The very fact that the word 'Eikev' - 'Reward' comes to 10 ,shows that keeping HaShem's Commandments will bring the reward of the very completion of Creation itself,as 10 is the number of completion.
We cannot even contemplate the true height of this Reward right now.Yet HaShem still wants to reward us with it.All HaShem asks us to do,is to follow His Commandments and fear Him and love Him and serve Him with all our heart and all our soul,which is also written in this Parsha in Devarim 10:12.
What does it mean to fear HaShem?On its first level according to Chinuch,we should keep in mind the punishment that will come , should we not obey Chas Ve Shalom,but the highest form of fearing HaShem,is to keep the Awe of HaShem before us at all times as Moshe did , for Awe of HaShem and His Will will cause us to fear sinning as Mesillas Yesharim,Charaidim says.We are in HaShem's Presence all the time ,surrounded by His Holiness and we need to realize this and keep ourselves Holy for at all times we are in the Presence of The Holy One Blessed Be He HaKadosh Baruch Hu .
In the words of this verse where it talks of this fearing of HaShem in Devarim 10:12,according to the Ba'al Haturim this verse contains 99 letters and if we spell the word 'Sha'al' (which means 'Ask') in this verse with a 'Vav,' it comes to a hundred letters in the verse and also according to the Ba'al Haturim,the word 'Mah' ,which is near the beginning of the verse ('Mah' in Hebrew means 'What'), can also be written as 'Meah' which means one hundred and this ,according to Midrash is the Rabbinical reason of action of our Rabbis to need to recite 100 Blessings every day.This was enacted by King David when he searched for the reason of the punishment that HaShem had sent to the people in his day,when a plague took the lives of 100 Jews every day and HaShem let him know by Ruach Hakodesh that the Jews had not properly Blessed and Praised HaShem enough and acknowledged HaShem's daily kindness.So King David decreed that every Jew is to say 100 Blessings every day. This caused the plague to stop.
After King David,this tradition was ignored until the time of the Men of the Great Assembly who permanently brought it back.So today a Jew is to say 100 Blessings every day.
The very Holiness of keeping the Torah is beyond our human comprehension.Only HaShem Truly Knows the heights to which it takes us.G-D asks us to please follow Him with all our heart and all our soul,not just to receive a reward,but for the very reason of coming close to Him.
In this concept , is possibly one of the reasons of Creation and that is , that Creation itself can come close to G-D by its own actions of choice,reaching heights un-imaginable , if it chooses to follow G-D .
HaShem gives us so much and we give Him so little.Even what we give HaShem is for our benefit.
To follow HaShem the way He Asks us to follow Him is the greatest 'Eikev' - 'Reward' of all.It all starts with a solid foundation,a solid 'Eikev' - 'Heel' on which to stand on and that is to keep what we are told to keep and the reward of that will be to reach up to Heaven.
With love to HaShem,I wish HaShem with the most deepest love,a beautiful and Holy Shabbos Kodesh with deepest love and to all, a beautiful Shabbos Kodesh with love.
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