Bar’chu
et YHVH ha-m’vorach, Baruch YHVH ha-m’vorach l’O’lam va-ed! Baruch ata YHVH
Eloheinu
melech ha-olam asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim, v’na-tan lanu eht Torah-to.
Baruch
atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”
(Bless YHVH the blessed One; Blessed is YHVH, the
blessed One for all eternity. Blessed are you, YHVH, our Elohim, King of the
Universe, you have selected us from among all the peoples, and have given us
your Torah. Blessed are you, YHVH, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)
This week’s parashah “Ekev”
– begins in last week’s reading – Dev
7:12. We add this reading to our current reading for this week’s parashah.
Aliyah Rishon 7:12-8:11
Deu 7:12 “And it shall be, because(ekev)
you hear these right-rulings, and shall guard and do them, that יהוה
your Elohim shall guard with you the covenant and the kindness which He swore
to your fathers,”
יב וְהָיָה עֵקֶב תִּשְׁמְעוּן, אֵת הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים הָאֵלֶּה, וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם וַעֲשִׂיתֶם, אֹתָם--וְשָׁמַר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לְךָ, אֶת-הַבְּרִית וְאֶת-הַחֶסֶד, אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע, לַאֲבֹתֶיךָ.
Note the future tense of the words “it
shall be,” “you will hear,” ”you will guard,” “you will do,” then YHVH “will
guard” His covenant with you.
‘’Formally it's not quite certain where the
noun עקב ('aqeb)
comes from but some scholars suggest from an unused verb that means to be
protuberant. But the meaning of the noun becomes clear from its applications in
the Bible. It seems that the basic idea of this word is anything last of
lowest. It may denote the hoofs of horses (Genesis 49:17) but also a man's
buttocks (Jeremiah 13:22). It means the rear of a troop (Genesis 49:19) or the
print of one's foot (Psalm 89:51).’’ Abiram publications.
The word “eikev” used here in the text as
“because” is unusual (used about seven times in the Torah). The sages say much
about this unusual use of the conjunction “because” (a conjunction is a word
that joins together words, phrases or sentences)
In the context of this Torah portion
“eikev” which means “heel” is used as the conjunction between our keeping YHVH
Torah and YHVH’s blessing us. “Ekev” or “heel” may be a hint as to our
“Halacha” or our walking in the Torah or not walking in the Torah. In other
word what kind of “footprint” are our lives leaving behind us?
The
first time the word “ekev” is used is in Ber/ Gen 3:15 “And I put enmity
between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed. He shall crush
your head, and you shall crush His heel” (ekev). This is clearly one of the
first prophetic references we have of the coming Messiah in the Torah. It
appears that the kind of “walk” the Messiah would have would crush the head of
the enemy and the enemy would do everything in his power to hinder that walk.
This is true of the followers of Messiah to this day. If we (jointly) walk as
Messiah walked, we will experience the blessing but also the opposition from
the enemy.