CHOCHMAS NASHIM: EIKEV:
OLYMPIAN HOPES AND DREAMS
By: Suri Davis
In 2012, my husband and I were guests of NBC for the summer Olympics in London. First class airline seats, first class airport lounge with massage and kosher meals waiting for us. Our luggage was whisked to the Savoy, and our taxi used the dedicated athlete lanes to get where we were going quickly. We watched the best of the best athletes compete live. It was surreal, truly.
Never in our imaginations, did we think that absent a world war, the Olympics would be delayed, and that a pandemic would prevent family and spectators from watching the grandiose event with outsized athletes.
“Organisers of the 1916 games in Berlin eventually had to accept the war would not be ‘over by Christmas’ before cancelling. The next time Berlin had a chance to host, 20 years later in 1936 under the looming presence of Adolf Hitler, would be the last for a while. During the Second World War, the Olympics in 1940 and 1944 were shelved…(historyextra.com)”
Think of sports reporting as the game is going on, versus half time reports and post-game analysis. As the game is played, action keeps commentary short and in spurts, we’re watching the game unfold, we don’t want to think deeply about the game until the game is over. When the game is complete, we want to see and hear what we missed. We want to analyze what really happened and how our team could have played better and what they can do to improve in the future.
So too, in the Book of Devarim, which is a recap of prior events. Moshe is doing a post-game analysis of Egpyt, redemption, the places we visited in the desert, and our failures/sins. I am deeply moved by Moshe’s emotions as indicated, among other things, in his use of duplicate verbs, which show Moshe’s passion, compassion and distress, e.g.,
Deuteronomy 6:18 Zachor Tizkor/you should surely remember what G-d did to Pharaoh in Egypt,
7:26: Shaketz Tishaktzenu vTaev Titaavenu/you shall surely loathe and abominate it (idol worship),
8:19:shachoah tishcach/If you forget your G-d, then Avod Tovedun/you will perish,
11:13 Im Shamoa Tishmiu/If you hearken to my commandments,
11:22 Shamor Tishmirun/if you listen to the Torah
Look where the emphasis is. Can you feel Moshe’s passion? He is begging his people whom he led out of Egypt and for whom he implored G-d: Remember G-d’s miracles in Egypt, reject idol worship, listen to G-d’s commandments, keep the Torah laws. Moshe went up to Mount Sinai twice and refrained from eating and drinking for forty days and nights, and he knew most assuredly that they would continue to sin, that they would lose the land. Feel the pain of a parent who cant stop his/her child from his idol addiction, his sexual addiction, who can see the end of his child’s actions, and is at a loss as to how to stop the trajectory.
This is the Book of Bridges. When G-d stopped creation, in our Friday night kiddush we state that G-d created and continues to create. He continues to create with each child that is born. The parents provide the DNA, HKBH provides the soul. The Book of Deuteronomy is the parenting guide. G-d gives us a recap of how He parented us, how we rebelled against Him and how He continues to forgive us. It is narrated by Moshe at G-d’s behest to remind us that while we were in Egypt, it appeared that G-d was not with us, He hid, He reappeared with miracles, and sustained us as His children in the desert, food, clothing, shelter.
We read this Book between Tisha B’av and Simchat Torah to remind us that G-d will forgive and rebuild. That on Rosh Hashanah we re-establish G-d as our king, on Yom Kippur G-d mercifully forgives us, and the holiday of joy Sukkoth which represents G-d’s parenting us in the desert.
We might trounce G-d’s commandments with our heals/Eikev, but G-d is our Father forever. Hope transformation. The whole year, we are in play, this time of year, we look back at our game, to analyze what we did right, where we can improve.
Shabbat shalom.
-Suri