[Index of all Weekly Divrei Torah pages]
After Tisha b’Av, we entered a period called the “seven weeks of comfort.” They lead ultimately to Rosh Hashana – the beginning of the new year. They are called by this name because every week during this period we read a haftorah (section of the prophets) that is concerned with comforting the Jewish people over the loss of the Temple and the subsequent exile that we have lived in every since. Last Shabbat (Ve’etchanan), we read a section from Isaiah (40:1), in which G-d instructs the prophets to comfort the Jews, “Comfort, comfort my peopleŔ and this Shabbat (Eikev) we’ll read another section from Isaiah (49:14) that answers, “Zion says, G-d has forsaken me and the Lord forgotten me.” The content of the haftorah always closely mirrors that of the Torah section itself, so it’s worthwhile to compare the two Torah portions (Ve’etchanan and Eikev) to see how they differ and how they coincide.
Upon examination, there is little that the two sedras seem to have in common, except that each contains a paragraph from the vital prayer, the “Shema.” In Ve’etchanan, we find the first paragraph of the Shema, beginning with “You shall love the Lord your G-d with all your heart, all your soul, and all your might.” And in parshat Eikev, we find the second paragraph, beginning with “And if you listen to My mitzvoth that I have commanded youŔ However, it turns out that these two paragraphs are sufficient; by comparing them, we can understand difference between the two Torah portions (Ve’etchanan and Eikev), as well as between their respective haftorah’s.
Here are three discrepancies between the first and second paragraphs;
1) The first paragraph states, “You shall love the Lord your G-d with all your heart, soul, and might.” But the second paragraph mentions only, “with all your heart and all your soul,” without mentioning “might.” (Additionally, the first paragraph is couched in the singular, while the second in the plural).
2) The first says, “And you shall teach [words of Torah] to your sons [students] and speak of themŔ followed by, “You shall tie them on your handŔ Thus it puts Torah learning before performance of the commandments. The second paragraph reverses the order; first, “And if you listen to the commandmentsŔ followed (several verses later) by, “And you shall teach the [Torah] to your sonsŔ putting performance of the mitzvoth before teaching and learning Torah.
3) The first paragraph contains only commands, but the second includes promises, rewards and punishments for those who do or fail to do the mitzvoth.
All becomes elucidated when we compare the dynamics that operate in the two Torah portions. Ve’etchanan comes to us as a narrative from Moshe Rabeinu. He prayed to G-d for a free gift from Above – to allow him to lead the Jews into the land of Israel. If G-d would have granted his wish, the entry to Israel have been a miraculous event. No war would have been necessary at all, because the Canaanites who lived in Israel at the time would have run away without a fight. Aware of the awesome power of the servant of G-d (Moshe), they would have realized there was no point in resisting. Thus, parshat Ve’etchanan comes to us from Above to below, like a gift.
In parshat Eikev, though, we find the Jews on a lower level, like an eikev (heel) which lacks sensitivity. Eikev refers to those who are weak in self motivation, and tempted by physical attractions, who generally need reminders and admonishments in order to stay on the path of Torah and mitzvoth. Without a system of rewards and punishments, such Jews are is apt to go off the path. Therefore, the dynamic of parshat Eikev is from below to Above, since it give the Jews a lot of instruction and ethical teaching about how to conduct their own lives (rather than be led in every detail by a leader of the stature of Moshe Rabeinu) in the land of Israel.
Corresponding to the dynamics (Above to below, or the opposite) of the parshas is another interesting element. Parshat Ve’etchanan is associated with seeing, while parshat Eikev is associated with hearing. In Ve’etchanan, Moshe Rabeinu beseeches G-d, “Let me pass by now and seeŔ (the land of Israel). Seeing is part of the dynamic from Above to below – a vision or sighting comes to us, rather than originating from us. Sight originates from the object and impinges upon our senses. It can be a very powerful and immediate experience, but it’s more about the object, which may remain far away, than about the person who sees.
Eikev, on the other hand, is about hearing. The parsha begins, “And what will happen as a result of your listening to these lawsŔ Hearing, unlike seeing, is about the person. It penetrates to the heart of the listener, and has the power to transform him. Although hearing also originates from an object that emits a noise, nevertheless it has a power to permeate the person and change him that we don’t find by seeing. While seeing may transfix the person at the time that he sees something, he later returns to being his normal self. However, hearing enters the person in such a way that he can interpret and think about and even interact with what he hears. Therefore, hearing is much more open to individual interpretation than is seeing. One person, hearing something will interpret it one way, while another will hear it completely differently. That is why a witness must see something rather than hear it. Seeing is about the object, and is therefore relatively objective, while hearing is about the hearer (subjective).
Taken together, these differences between the parshas (whether the dynamic is from Above to below, or the opposite, or about seeing as opposed to hearing) account for the discrepancies that we saw above.
1) When we are impressed by a revelation or experience from Above us, it has the ability to completely involve us, overwhelming all of our faculties; whether intellectual, emotional or instinctual. We get involved with our entire beings and with all of our power. Thus, the first paragraph of the Shema, found in Ve’etchanan, includes the phrase, “You should love the lord your G-d with all your heart, soul and might,” mentioning ‘might’ as the very essence of the person who has been swept up in a powerful experience that he has seen with his own eyes or experienced first-hand. However, the person who has only “heard,” because his own calculations lead him to conclusions and to his own interpretations of events, doesn’t get so deeply involved. He may be committed to his own direction and to his own conclusions, but he doesn’t get involved with all his “might.” Therefore, the second paragraph, coming from parshat “Eikev,” which corresponds to hearing, omits “might.” It directs us to love G-d with all our soul and our heart, but not might, because while we understand and grasp why we should love G-d, we haven’t “seen” him, and therefore we are not involved with all of our might.
2) The Torah came down to us from Above to below. It wasn’t invented by man, nor can man totally grasp it, since it’s given as a gift from G-d. Therefore, the first paragraph, from parshat Ve’etchanan which emphasizes sight and vision, puts Torah before mention of performance of mitzvoth. However, in the second paragraph, coming from Eikev, the emphasis is upon man and his initiative. When we fulfill physical mitzvoth of our own volition, from below to Above, the emphasis is upon the physical world in which we live and conduct our lives. That is where our initiative takes place. Therefore, the second paragraph places performance of mitzvoth before learning and teaching Torah.
3) One who perceives G-dliness, from Above to below, doesn’t need to be motivated. He understands automatically what he must do. Since G-d exists and reveals Himself to him, it follows without second thought that he must follow G-d’s instructions and not deviate in any detail whatsoever. It is natural for the man of revelation to follow G-d’s directives without explanation, since he is powerfully and directly aware of G-d’s presence. Therefore, the first paragraph, from Ve’etchanan, mentions only G-d’s commands without adding any motivational advice. However, the second paragraph, from Eikev, mentions much reward and punishment. That is because the person who, lacking G-dly revelation and experience (like most of us), only manages to reason out and deduce the existence of G-d in the world (hearing), needs support and encouragement. In order to continuously perform the mitzvoth, he needs a system of reward and punishment. And so the Jews, once having entered the land of Israel, needed to know that there are rewards for doing the mitzvoth, and punishment for failing to do them. Thus, the second paragraph mentions much reward and punishment, unlike the first.
Now that we understand the basis for the differences between the two Torah portions, we can also understand the haftorot (which are always similar to their corresponding Torah portions). The haftorah of Ve’etchanan, indeed represents a perspective from Above to below, since we see that it begins with an instruction from G-d to the prophets (through Isaiah) to comfort the Jews. However, in this week’s (Eikev) haftorah the answer comes from later in Isaiah, wherein the Jews reject the comfort offered by the prophets. They say, “G-d has forsaken us and the Lord has forgotten us.” Meaning that they prefer to receive comfort directly from G-d Himself, and not only from His prophets. This is an example of man’s striving from below to reach G-d. He is not satisfied with any intermediate level; he demands a direct connection with the One above. Thus, the two haftorah’s correspond to their respective parshas – an experience of seeing from Above to below in parshat Ve’etchanan, followed by an experience similar to hearing (below to Above) in parshat Eikev.
We hope that soon the third Temple will be built and we can “see” as we are supposed to, able to perceive G-dliness in the physical world around us.
From Likutei Sichot of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, ztz’l, vol 9, pp79 -85 Rabbi David Sterne, Jerusalem Connection in the old city of Jerusalem