When I review the parsha with my children, they are always excited at the heart-stopping stories of our patriarchs and matriarchs in Bereshis (Genesis). During the first half of Sefer Shmos (Exodus), we review the birth of our nation and its slavery and emancipation, and receipt of its calling as God’s Chosen Nation. The second half of Sefer Shmos, pertains to the details of the Mishkan and the garb of the Kohanim. There are wonderful books and institutes that help offer visuals to these objects which, in the absence of a Bais Hamikdash (Holy Temple), become very abstract. While the Torah taught in Vayikra (Leviticus) is critically important, I’ll admit that the arrival of Purim and Pesach during these parshiyos, often overshadow the lack of stories in these parshiyos. Greater creativity needed to impart these portions to youngsters. There are enough stories in Bamidbar (Numbers) to keep the kids’ attention. While Devarim (Deuteronomy) also contains exciting stories, they are almost all “re-runs.” My daughter recently asked me, “Abba, is Moshe’s speech over yet? He really talked for a long time.”

 Of course, when I refer to the ebb and flow of interest and attention spans of children, I also mean adults. Children are often less sophisticated, less knowledgeable, less strong, less cynical and more pure mini versions of us, often better versions.

I happen to love history, with its cyclical nature, that strikes again like the returning vector of a pendulum. Very little is new; most events have previously been experienced in some form. It is this aspect of Sefer Devarim that I enjoy. When I was in Graduate School for International Relations in Washington, D.C., one of my professors told us that when studying the history of government and politics, there are two ways to obtain information. The first is the default method, reading newspapers, periodicals, articles, and scouring the scholarly literature written well after the fact, benefiting from the gift of hindsight. If we want to know what happened when the U.S. Constitution was being written and established, there is no dearth of information we can obtain. But we must also seek out the diaries, autobiographies and the memoir literature. In order to really understand the drafting and campaign to ratify the U.S. Constitution (after the failed Articles of Confederation), scholars must also study the Federalist Papers, which were an explanation of why the writing took place in a certain way. When trying to understand the era of a certain president, it behooves the scholar to also read the president’s autobiography or diary. While clearly the protagonist’s opinions are subjective and self-serving, this literature is also critically important. When studying the period of King David in Tanach (Scriptures), the astute student must also analyze and learn the Psalms, which were King David’s diary and memoir.

The same is true with the Book of Devarim. The repetition is not mere reiteration. We have to absorb every difference, every change, every new angle. The two texts of the Aseres Hadibros (the Decalogue or erroneously called the Ten Commandments), have major differences which are noted by all Biblical commentators. Multiple accounts to an event is not unique to the Aseres HaDibros. In the book of Devarim, actually, nuanced change and alternate accounts is more the rule than the exception.

In addition, Parshas Eikev, specifically, seamlessly weaves back and forth between the spiritual and the material. In this week’s parsha, and Re’eh, that of next week, we find the Torah narrating a story about physical and transcendent reward and punishment. The Torah, while serving as the world’s greatest volume on Godliness and spirituality, focuses more than one would think on the material and the here and now. Torah’s basic message is that the physical is a mere coating and shell for the Divine spirit inside every one of us. Torah life does not eschew the physical, because the armor for the Eternal is significant and critical too. Any currency corporal man obtains that is divorced from the Divine eternal soul within, is fleeting, temporal and lacks the depth and meaning of the pursuits of our Godly souls.

The connection between the physical and Infinite is also underscored in the area of mankind’s accomplishments, which are implicitly understood as due to God, not our own hands.

"השמר לך פן תשכח את ה' אלקיך לבלתי שמר מצותיו וחקתיו אשר אנכי מצווך היום. פן תאכל ושבעת ובתים טובים תבנה וישבת. ובקרך וצאנך ירביון וכסף וזהב ירבה לך וכל אשר לך ירבה. ורם לבבך ושכחת את ה' אלקיך המוציאך מארץ מצרים מבית עבדים. המוליכך במדבר הגדל והנורא נחש שרף ועקרב וצמאון אשר אין מים, המוציא לך מים מצור החלמיש. המאכילךמן במדבר אשר לא ידעון אבתיך למען ענתך ולמען נסתך להטיבך באחריתך. ואמרת בלבבך כחי ועצם ידי עשו לי את החיל הזה. וזכרת את ה' אלקיך כי הוא הנתן לך כח לעשות חיל, למען הקים את בריתו אשר נשבע לאבתך כיום הזה" (דברים ח:י"א-י"ח)

“Beware that you do not forget the Lord, your God by not keeping His commandments, His ordinances, and His statutes, which I command you this day lest you eat and be satisfied, and build good houses and dwell therein, and your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold increase, and all that you have increases, and your heart grows haughty, and you forget the Lord, your God, Who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, Who led you through that great and awesome desert [in which were] snakes, vipers, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought water for you out of solid rock, Who fed you with manna in the desert, which your forefathers did not know, in order to afflict you and in order to test you, to benefit you in your end, and you will say to yourself, ‘My strength and the might of my hand has accumulated this wealth for me.’ But you must remember the Lord your God, for it is He that gives you strength to make wealth, in order to establish His covenant which He swore to your forefathers, as it is this day” (Devarim 8:11-18).

But as Rabbi Soloveitchik points out (Days of Deliverance, p. 124, as recorded in Chumash Mesoras Harav, Devarim pp. 77), the relationship between the human being and God is meant to be a two-way street.

In Judaism, any political achievement, any military victory, must not be attributed to flesh and blood; it must be attributed to God. No matter how much the human being accomplishes as far as political and material achievements are concerned, he cannot attribute them to himself. He must not claim credit. Spiritual achievements are attributed to man; military achievements are attributed to God.

In the God-human relationship, nothing is one way. In another context, Rav Soloveitchik taught that prayer is the medium man uses to converse with God, while Torah represents the venue through which the Divine communicates with mankind. We confess our sins and ask for forgiveness. God provides atonement for our sins, an action only God can execute. Even when it comes to success in life we must attribute it all to the Almighty. But if I improve my davening, my interpersonal compassion, or piety, even the tiniest amount, I deserve the kudos. The accomplishment is genuinely mine! God gave us free will. As such, when we improve, it was our effort.

Eikev revisits the giving of the tablets, their shattering by Moshe, and Moshe’s carving out a new set. The tablets were meant to be the betrothal ring, the covenantal symbol between the Almighty and the nation of Israel. According to our tradition, one of the justifications for Moshe’s smashing the tablets was to prevent the betrothal to take place; the Children of Israel just committed an act of infidelity by worshipping the Golden Calf. Ridding the world of the betrothal ring transformed the malevolent act from one of marital infidelity, where God could not forgive, to one of poor judgment and a relapse into idolatry. Eventually, on Yom Kippur, the second set of tablets was delivered, joining the nation of Israel and Hakadosh Baruch Hu, in a binding covenant forever. Each partner must give to the other. The goal of Moshe’s soliloquy  (yes, my dear daughter, he’s still talking!), is to make sure that the relationship between God – whom Moshe had seen “Face to Face” – and the Children of Israel – whom Moshe has nurtured and led through the wilderness for two generations – was to reinforce their mutual bond so after his death, the covenant could endure. When the Jew realizes that everything comes from God, the Jew will then strengthen his/her commitment to Avinu Shebashamayim (Father in Heaven). That’s what Hashem asks from us, puny mortal man.

"ועתה ישראל מה' אלקיך שאל מעמך, כי אם ליראה את ה' אלקיך ללכת בכל דרכיו ולאהבה אתו ולעבד את ה' אלקיך בכל לבבךובכל נפשך" (דברים י:י"ב)

“And now, O Israel, what does the Lord, your God, demand of you? Only to rever the Lord, your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, and to worship the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul” (Devarim 10:12).

That’s all the Almighty wants from us? That it?

Let’s spend the entirety of our lives trying to achieve “it,” while recognizing everything else is a gift from God.