The parshah almost appears to be a repetition of parshat Bechukotai, if you follow G-d’s commandments, you will be rewarded, and if you don’t follow G-d’s commandments, then you will be punished. A recurring theme in any religion. Let’s review some interesting points up close.
For forty years, the Jews were in the desert and did not have to lift a finger to get water, food and meat. They never outgrew their clothes.
Now, the Jews are on the cusp of entering G-d’s holy land, and they will have to start working the land for it to produce. When we put in our own efforts, we think, hmmm, we plant the seeds, we water them, they will grow, we will eat. We take nature for granted. The parshah starts off by letting us know that when our fields produce, the first of the produce must be brought to the priest, it belongs to G-d. When the food is brought to the temple, the person has to recount how our forefathers were slaves in Egypt, and that we cried out to G-d, and G-d saved us with His mighty arm and with miracles, and brought us to this land of abundance. Hakarat Hatov/Gratitude.
It is human nature to think I sowed the field, I planted, I watered and harvested, it is because of my effort that produce came forth from the land. But we were slaves in Egypt, and we thought that Pharoah was omnipotent, that he provided for us. Until, G-d decided to take us out of Egypt, and the Egyptians were smitten with plagues, and with miracles G-d reduced the Egyptians to nothing, so that we could escape. We are His children, He is our father and ultimate King. There could be no dominating human king unless G-d wills it so. Recognize that all is from G-d, slavery and food.
The next paragraph discusses another due to G-d, tithing. The tithe goes to different people who need help among the Jews, the Levite, the convert, the orphan and the widow. The person who brings the tithe states that he followed the commandments with regard to the tithing, everything that G-d commanded him to do. It ends with “[G-d] gaze down from Your holy abode, from the heavens, and bless Your people Israel, and the ground that You gave us, as You swore to our forfathers, a Land flowing with milk and honey.”
We understand that when we follow G-d’s commandments, G-d will bestow goodness on us. What is interesting is in Deuteronomy 28:47 “…because you did not serve G-d amid gladness and goodness of heart, when everything was abundant.” Here is a commandment to serve G-d with gladness/happiness. When we have it good, when our material needs are met, do we forget that G-d’s hand is behind it, do we take credit for it ourselves, do we then stray off the path, thinking it will always remain good and abundant? We so often overlook the goodness in our lives. Our homes, our children, our yeshivas, shules, restaurants, abundance in our markets. We allow the material world to drag us down, the satan and yetzer harah removing us from being thankful and grateful for all that we have in our lives.
The parshah continues, 29:3, “But G-d did not give you a heart to know, or eyes to see, or ears to hear until this day.” I understand eyes to see and ears to hear, but I thought that to know something is in your head, and the verse states that we didn’t have a heart to know, why heart and not head. I believe the answer is that the head is rational, it only believes what it sees in concrete terms. The heart is in charge of emotion and sixth sense, it can perceive what the rationale cannot. I believe that G-d is addressing the difficulty with those who cannot see G-d with their eyes and who may then say, if I cant see Him, then He is not there. No, one has to perceive through all the senses including the sixth sense in the heart to know that G-d is present and to therefore follow his commandments.
Finally, the parshah ends with “You shall observe the words of this covenant and you shall perform them, so that you will succeed in all that you do.” The word for succeed used is “Taskilu”. You have to use your sechel/intellect to succeed. Once your heart perceives G-d’s presence, once it understands looking at history that when the Jews followed commandments, they received abundance, and when they sinned, they were flung into abjectivity and poverty and driven from the land. The eyes may not see G-d, but the heart and intellect to see His presence in the world.
A very complex parshah. A very humbling parshah. We think we are in control of our destiny, we think that human kings have power, yet it is all by the will of G-d, who we have to serve in happiness and gladness in true knowledge that we are in His hands and everything He does for us is for the best, and is good. Our belief and faith is a shining star that leads us in the darkness of the material world.
Be glad, G-d is guiding us.
Shabbat shalom.
-Suri