Parashas Eikev

Our Parsha this Shabbos is Parashas Eikev . The Haftorah for this week , the second Shabbos after Tisha B'Av is Yeshayahu Isaiah 49:14 - 51:3 . This is the Second consolation Haftorah after Tisha B'Av , Where HaShem Reassures us How He Will be there for us and How He Will Make Zion into Eden and how we Jews are a light unto the nations .
In this Parsha Moshe continues his discourse to the Children of Israel , and starts in this Parsha by reminding us of the " Eikev " - " Reward " that will come when we listen to HaShem's Ordinances , Observing and Performing them , that HaShem Will Safeguard the Covenant and the Kindness He Made With our Fore-Fathers , To Love us , Bless us and Multiply us , Blessing the Fruit of the Womb and the Fruit of the Land , grain ,wine and oil , the offspring of our cattle , flocks of sheep and goats , on the Land that HaShem Swore To our Fore-Fathers To Give us . HaShem Will Make us the most Blessed of all people , with no infertile male or female among us or our animals , Removing from us every illness and the bad maladies of Egypt known by us , Not Putting them On us , But On our foes . HaShem Will have us overcome others and we must never follow their idols , for doing so would be a snare for us Chas Ve Shalom .
HaShem Reassures us that we must not fear our enemies even if they are more numerous than us , for HaShem Will Do Battle For us . HaShem Here in the Torah through Moshe , Mentions the " Tzir'a ," - " Hornet swarm ." This particular insect , HaShem Used , to assist Yehoshuah Joshua in the conquest of Canaan . This was a special kind of hornet that had such a stinger , that its venom was completely destructive . There were also incidents where this Hornet swarm remained on the Eastern Side of the Jordan and lined up in the air , pointing their stingers toward the inhabitants of Canaan and , With HaShem's Miracles, were able to actually spray their poison in the air , right over and across the Jordan , that completely blinded and incapacitated the Canaanite enemies . So Says HaShem through Moshe that HaShem Will Deliver their kings into our hands and Instructs us to burn in fire their carved deities and idols and even the silver and gold that some of them were made from , we are to destroy , as the very metal itself , having been used for Avodah Zorah Idol Worship , took on negativity that could ensnare . This Commandment Goes for all Time , not to allow , By The Commandment of G-D Himself , any form of idol worship , be it inanimate object or falsely deified concepts , such is not to be in the Holy Land Of HaShem . This Land of Eretz Yisroel is to be kept Pure and Free of any form of idol worship or anything that is not allowed in The Torah Of HaShem . HaShem's Commandments are our Life and The Pathway to True Life and keeping them helps us gain Life . Moshe then reminds us How HaShem Tested us with the Manna , which is also to teach us that we are not to 'Live By Bread Alone , But Rather Everything That Emanates From The Mouth Of G-D , Does Man Live . " Thus ones main focus in life must not be to always chase parnassa ( a livelihood ) but to serve HaShem , in learning , word , obedience to HaShem and deed . Moshe reminds us of the sweetness of the Land To Which HaShem Was Bringing us . A Good Land , with streams of water , springs and underground water , a Land of wheat , barley , grape , fig and pomegranate , a Land of oil-olives and date honey , a Land where we will eat bread without poverty , lacking nothing , a Land rich in minerals .
HaShem Warns us through Moshe that we are to take care not to forget HaShem our G-D , by not following His Commandments , when we eat to satiety ( a time when people tend to forget HaShem , From Where the Goodness Comes ) . HaShem through Moshe Reminds us How He Took us out of Mitzraim egypt , Leading us Safely Through a great Wilderness , where there was a monstrous sized snake and a fiery serpent and scorpion , where HaShem Gave us water from the Well of Miriam . We are reminded to never forget that all our success and everything we have , comes from HaShem , not us .Should we go after the idols of others , we will perish and the Land of Israel will disgorge us . Israel is a Holy Land and Is Created not to tolerate idol worship and disobedience to HaShem .
Moshe reminds us of the battles HaShem Helped us with of Og and Sichon and then reminds us of what we did with the Cheit Ha'Eigel - the golden calf and then Moshe talks of how he had to ascend to gain forgiveness for us and how HaShem Allowed Moshe to carve a second set of Tablets and how Moshe instructed on the making of the Mishkan . Moshe then refers to Aharon's passing . Moshe speaks of the Yam Suf and how HaShem Split the waters for us to walk through on dry land and then what happened to Dathan and Aviram and his company .
Moshe speaks of the beautiful virtues of the Land of Israel , of how the rain that falls there , is directly from Shamaim Heaven , a Land where HaShem's ' Eyes , ' Are Always Upon It . '
Moshe then gives us what became the second verse of our Shema Prayer , talking of the Rewards for following HaShem's Commandments and to be careful not to follow other ways and religions Chas Ve Shalom , and that we are never to follow idols , for if we do Chas Ve Shalom , we will be banished from the Land and HaShem Will Restrain the rain and the ground will not produce . We are reminded to place These Words of HaShem on our heart and soul . The Tefillin are then mentioned and the Law to teach our children wherever we are and how we are to place Mezuzos on our doorposts of our house inside and out . Moshe Tells us to observe the Commandments of HaShem and to love Him and to walk in His Ways and Moshe tells us that no on will be able to stand up to us , if we follow HaShem . This is where the Parsha ends .
So HaShem Is Very Clear To us that if we listen to Him and follow His Commandments , Then He Will Bless us , " Eikev " - with the Beautiful " Reward " mentioned in this Sedra . But if we don't hearken to His Commandments then we will be punished and thrown out of the Land of HaShem's Gift . The word " Eikev ," means " Reward ," and so Will HaShem Reward us for faithfulness in Him and Obedience to His Word and Torah . But the word " Eikev , " also has within it ,the word ' Akeiv , ' - ' heel ,' like Yaakov's name ' that had this root and so was Yaakov called Yaakov for he was born holding on to the 'heel ' of Eisav . But what is a ' heel ? A heel is the foundation of the body on which we stand . So putting it into this context , HaShem Is Telling us that The Torah and HaShem's Laws , are the very foundation of Life upon which we are able to ' Stand , ' for without It , we would ' fall . ' This is what is in the very meaning of many verses in this Parsha , where Moshe reminds us that the Laws of HaShem are to be kept and that they are our very path to life . So HaShem's Commandments are to be kept always , not just for the sake of receiving a " Reward , " but for the very love we are to have for HaShem . The Commandments of HaShem are our path to HaShem . The Commandments are for our benefit . HaShem Is Totally Selfless and Gives us The Commandments for our benefit , so in actual fact , the Commandments themselves are actually the " Eikev , " - The " Reward , " and that is also why they are the ' Akeiv , ' the - ' Foundation and Heel , ' for us to stand up and live , for the Mitzvos Commandments are the very heart of the Reward that brings us to HaShem and all the Spiritual Beauty that awaits.
This can make us ask , why the righteous who keep HaShem's Commandments suffer and the ones who don't , sometimes prosper . One of the answers to this , is in the word " Eikev , " which is Gematrically 70+100+2 = 172 and 1+7+2 = 10 - The Ten Commandments - The basis and foundation of all the Mitzvos . The Number 10 is also the number of Completion , where HaShem Made Ten Pronouncements to Create Creation And thus is the Essence of all , that isn't physically visible or apparent right now . This is the same as the Reward for the righteous , for truly , the rewards in this physical World are not adequate and limited to really reward Torah Mitzva Observance to the Spiritual True Value that a Mitzvah actually Gains . Only Gan Eiden with its Holy Abundance of Real Spiritual Never Ending Value and Beauty is " Eikev , " - Worthy enough a " Reward , " ( where this Physical World cannot possibly be adequate enough a reward to come close to the reward deserved and brought about Spiritually by even keeping just one of HaShem's Commandments , and so , the righteous , are really still to get their due reward in worthy payment from the Heights of Holy Shamaim , where only there , is there adequate Amazing Specialness , worthy to be payment for Obedience to HaShem . The righteous , thus are Rewarded , but in the true proper and worthy " Eikev ," in Shamaim and also the World To Come Olam Habah which will link in time to come to be the same , for only there , can a worthy " Eikev , " - " Reward , " Equal the Keeping of the Mitzvos . This is why , the True " Eikev , " - " Reward , " is actually the Commandments of the Torah that leads to this Holy Specialness .
So now we still have to answer why some of the ones that don't do as they should , why do they still prosper . The answer to this is within the same place . The ones who don't do as HaShem Wants , are just receiving their transitory physical reward , for everyone does do some good . But the True " Eikev , " - " Reward , " that has lasting and real eternal value , they will lose , for they have had their full reward according to the physical that means most to them . It will be as temporary as the valueless choices they have made , in following their own way .
The Creation is too deep for us to fathom . Nothing is as it appears . We are too small and know so little . HaShem Gave us His Laws to Keep , as the True " Eikev , " - " Reward , " To Help us Bring ourselves back to Gan Eiden , from where we left and so , is the only way to return to HaShem's Intended Destination for Creation . The Ten Pronouncements that HaShem Made in Creating Creation which I mentioned above , appears in the Gematriah of the word " Eikev " - " Reward , " Which HaShem Pronounced as Ten Pronouncements in Creating Creation , was HaShem's Gift of Giving us all A Creation and Life . By keeping The Torah in all Its Beauty , HaShem Gave us a Precious Gift " Eikev , " - " Reward , " of Eternal Value that will take us into The Eternal Intended Result that Creation Started out being . That Gift is HaShem's Torah and Its Laws . Creation is built on it's Foundation , the Torah , written 2000 years before Creation took place and so , it is the True " Eikev , " - " Heel or Foundation , " ( and the real Reward ) On Which HaShem's Creation is based . As our Sages say , ' HaShem Looked Into The Torah And Created The World . " Thus The Torah was there before the Physical , and so It Is The True Reward of Creation that Came Afterward , and Its " Eikev ," - " Reward , " rises above the Physical ( that wasn't there yet at the time ) , and so , observance of Torah can truly be paid Spiritually in Shamaim and in the New World of Olam Habah . Just as we don't see the whole picture , so can we not possibly fathom the true Reward coming to the Righteous , all because they chose of their own volition , to step out of themselves and their own wants , and do as HaShem Wants . Thus the righteous help uphold and are the " Eikev , " - " Heel and Foundation " of helping holding up Creation . HaShem Will Surely Bless them With True Value " Eikev , " - " Reward , " for they Keep HaShem's Torah Commandments and so , reflect HaShem 's Light to the World .
So may we all work to join with the righteous and keep HaShem's Torah , doing our utmost to make beloved , every Law HaShem Gives and do our utmost to follow and keep every Law HaShem Rewards us with . Thank You Most Beautiful And Beloved HaShem For Your Precious Gift of Torah . Thank You HaShem For You , Oh Most Sweet And Most Ever Beloved HaShem .
I wish our Beloved HaShem , A Very Sweet And Most Beautiful Shabbos Kodesh With Eternal Love , and to all my fellow Jews and to all of Creation , a Very Sweet and Most Beautiful Shabbos Kodesh with Love .