spirituality » to rah por tion

The Land Of
Milk & Honey

Parshat Ekev: Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25;
Isaiah 49:14 -51:3.

O

ur portion of Ekev devotes
the land of the pharaohs the most com-
much praise to the glories
manding power of the ancient world.
of the Land of Israel — its
Because the fertility of Egyptian land
majestic topography, its luscious pro-
and the cultivation of its crops do not
duce, and its freely flowing milk and
depend on rainfall but are effectively
honey. In this commentary — heavily
irrigated by the Nile’s natural overflow,
inspired by Rav Elchanan Samet’s Studies Egyptians did not need to turn to
of the Weekly Portions — I shall attempt
the heavens for rain. However, while
to understand what it is that makes the
Egyptian land may be easily cultivated,
Land of Israel so special.
it remains a dry, desert valley,
The Israelites are hardly
unlike Israel, a land flowing
enamored with the manna they
with milk and honey: milk
receive in the desert. Again and
derived from livestock grazing
again, they complain about the
on fields of natural growing
lack of meat and fish, about the
grass and honey from bees
scarcity of water and fruits.
that thrive in areas blessed by a
In Ekev, God describes the
natural abundance of flora.
desert years as years of “hard-
It may be difficult to live only
Rabbi Shlomo on milk and honey — but it is
ships to test you,” of “chastise-
Riskin
ment and training.” The moral
possible. And more important-
message of the inexhaustible
ly: “The land you are crossing to
manna was merely to teach the
occupy is a land of mountains
people that the ultimate source of food is and valleys, which can be irrigated only
God, “so that you may observe His com- by rain. It is therefore a land constantly
mandments and fear Him.”
under the Lord your God’s scrutiny; the
Indeed, the desert’s difficulties are
eyes of the Lord your God are on it at all
contrasted with future life in the Land of times, from the beginning of the year to
Israel, the Torah narrative praising the
the end of the year.” (Deuteronomy 11:11,
Promised Land’s blessings.
12).
The wondrous descriptions depict a
Ancient Egypt had very little to offer
wide range of foods and natural resourc- in the God-human partnership. The rich,
es produced by the Earth — from bread
fertile soil of the “gift of the Nile” makes
and olive oil to copper mines — all of
the agricultural process a relatively sim-
which require human ingenuity, input
ple one, its dependency on rain removed.
and energy to create a partnership with
Israel, abundant in its natural supply
God to properly develop the gifts inher-
of resources, nevertheless, must rely
ent in the land.
heavily both on plentiful rainfall as well
After all, to properly irrigate the fields, as human input for a successful agricul-
rainwater must be collected and gathered tural crop. And because Israel must rely
through the underground springs; the
on God — the obvious source for rain
making of bread requires 11 agricultural — the Israelites must be worthy of God’s
steps; oil must be carefully extracted
grace by dint of their ethical and moral
from the olive trees by means of olive
conduct, their fealty to God’s laws.
presses; and the copper must be pains-
Ekev concludes with a call to sensitive
takingly quarried from the depths of the
fulfillment of God’s laws as the key to
mountains.
our successful harvesting of the land’s
It is precisely this partnership between produce. Perhaps this is really why Israel
God and humanity that is critically
is called the land “flowing with milk and
necessary to develop — and ultimately
honey”— only milk and honey can be
perfect — the world which we have been garnered without destroying any form
given.
of life whatsoever — human, animal or
It shouldn’t surprise us that lush Egypt, plant.
representing the antithesis of the desert,
Shlomo Riskin is chancellor of Ohr Torah Stone
is where agriculture had initially devel-
and chief rabbi of Efrat, Israel.
oped — a development which made

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August 25 • 2016

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