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Shabbat Ekev: Deuteronomy
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32

August 2 • 2007

n this week's Torah portion, there your God ... and you say in your heart:
`My own power and the strength of my
are a few verses that the rabbis
hand made for me these riches!"
of the Talmud use as sources for
We are told by the Torah that recit-
the system of blessings we Jews recite
ing these blessings to recognize our
before and after we eat.
Deuteronomy 10:12 states: "And now, dependence upon God's beneficence
can help us avoid our arrogance. By
Israel, what does the Lord, your God,
ask of you? But only to be in awe of the acknowledging and being grateful to
God, we can develop reverence, awe
Lord, your God, to go in all His ways,
and to love Him and to serve the Lord, and love of God.
In our Torah portion, we are further
your God, with your whole heart and
told (Deuteronomy 8:3): "And He made
with your whole being."
you suffer and starved you
The Talmud (Megillah 25A
and fed you the manna ... in
and Brochos 34A), referring
order to cause you to know
to this verse, asks: "Is awe
that it is not by bread alone
of God such a small (easy)
that a person lives — that
matter?" and answers, "Yes,
it is by all that comes from
for Moses, our teacher, it is a
the mouth of the Lord that
small matter."
a person lives!'
The Talmud tells us that
God has created us with
for Moses to have this rev-
Rabbi Eliezer
physical needs and depen-
erence for God is a simple
Co hen
dencies that He, Himself,
matter. For the most humble
Specia I to the
provides for. This same
Moses, one who "knew"
Jewis h News
motif is enunciated in the
God more intimately than
blessing of Boray Nfoshos
any other human being,
that we say after eating: "Blessing God
having this awe of God was but the
... who creates numerous living things
result of his own character and of his
with their deficiencies (needs), for all
knowledge of and special relationship
that He created to maintain life for all
with the Creator. But for the rest of us,
such an attitude and relationship is no for all living things..."
The rabbis formulated the system of
simple matter.
blessings as an aid to help us become
We are vain and arrogant; we are
sensitive to God in our lives, to keep us
ungrateful and we lack knowledge of
from taking what we have for granted
and intimacy with God. For us, this
awe and reverence for God, as required and to bring us to have the knowledge
and closeness to God that will help
by the verse, is certainly not simple.
develop in us the love and reverence of
It is quite instructive, therefore,
God decreed by the Torah. I
when the exact same verse is used
elsewhere in the Talmud (Menachos
Eliezer Cohen is rabbi of Congregation Or
43A): "Rabbi Meir says: "A person is
Chadash in Oak Park.
required to recite one hundred bless-
ings every day ..!"
But what the Talmud is saying,
Conversations
in my opinion, is that the reverence
How does saying a blessing
required by the verse can be engen-
before
and after eating help us
dered by one's acknowledgment and
avoid
arrogance?
How can say-
gratitude to God for His love and
ing
these
blessings
improve our
sustenance, as demonstrated by our
character
and
relationships
with
recitation of the blessings.
other
people?
How
can
saying
Previously in our Torah por-
these blessings and especially
tion (Deuteronomy 8:10-14), we are
the one after using the bathroom
warned: "Eat and be full and bless
(Asher Yotzar) teach us not to
the Lord your God ... Take care lest
take
things for granted? Can
you forget the Lord your God ... lest
simply
reciting these blessings
you eat and are satisfied ... and silver
truly
make
us better people and
and gold increase to you ... and you
enhance
our
lives?
become arrogant and forget the Lord