“וְהָיָה עֵקֶב
תִּשְׁמְעוּן אֵת הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים הָאֵלֶּה .../And it will be,
because you will heed these laws …” (Devarim 7:12) The word, eikev/because appears
awkward. The pasuk could have said
simply, “If you will heed these laws …”
as it says in other places. Rashi[1], addressing this question,
quotes the Midrash Tanchuma[2] that the word eikev/because,
which also means heel, refers to “light” mitzvos that people tread on with
their heel, so to speak. If we keep even
those mitzvos that people tend to neglect, then surely God will keep His
promise to our forefathers.
The Sfas Emes expounds on these “light” mitzvos. Which mitzvos are Chazal referring to? According to the Sfas Emes these mitzvos are
all our daily activities which are not necessarily mitzvos at all until we
realize that we can direct all of our daily activities toward the service of
God thus transforming everything we do into a mitzvah. Chazal call them “light” or easy mitzvos not
because they are easy to do, but rather because it is easy to ignore them as
mitzvos. The Godliness in our daily activities, because they are commonplace,
is hidden.
The Sfas Emes learns this from the first Midrash Tanchuma on
the parsha that Rashi quoted. Relating
to the word eikev/because, at the beginning of the parsha, the Tanchuma
quotes a pasuk in Tehillim (49:6), “... בְּשָמְרָם עֵקֶב רָב/… in keeping them
there is great reward.” Although
literally, eikev in this pasuk means “reward”, the Tanchuma understands
it as an allusion to the light mitzvos.
David HaMelech is telling us that
there is great reward for keeping the light mitzvos. As noted earlier, eikev/because, also
means “heel.” The heel is that part
of the body which is farthest from the head.
It thus is a metaphor for the most mundane activities, those which are
seemingly furthest away from anything to do with holiness. The Tanchuma is teaching us, according to the
Sfas Emes, that all our mundane daily activities have the potential for
holiness. The holiness is hidden,
though, as the Tanchuma continues with another pasuk from Tehillim (31:20),
“מָה רַב־טוּבְךָ אֲשֶׁר־צָפַנְתָּ
.../How abundant is your goodness that you have hidden.” This pasuk refers to all the commonplace activities
we do every day that have latent holiness.
David HaMelech is teaching us that
God wants us to draw out the holiness inherent in our daily activities by
contemplating serving Him before every action we take. In this way, the whole of Creation becomes a
unified tool for revealing God. We
build, so to speak, the Creation into what it is supposed to be. In fact, as the Sfas Emes noted in parshas
Tetzaveh[3] the word mitzvah – מצוה
– has the same root as
the Aramaic word for joining - צִוְתָּא. Our mitzvos cause the entire Creation to be
joined together in a unified whole.
For this reason the first Midrash[4] on the parsha starts with the
prohibition against constructing a candelabrum made from separate parts on
Shabbos. Chazal consider it building,
one of the thirty-nine categories of work that is prohibited on Shabbos. What has this halacha to do with our
parsha?
The Sfas Emes explains that in the context of unifying the disparate
parts of the Creation towards the common goal of serving God the candelabrum is
a metaphor for the Creation. Each
individual component of the candelabrum is meaningless by itself. It is only when they are put together that
they form a tool. Each part of the
candelabrum, when it performs its individual task assures that the candelabrum
as a whole, works. Each part of the
Creation as well has a specific task.
Man has the ability (and the responsibility) to unite the entire world
in the service of God. As we’ve said man
can complete the Creation turning it into a tool for revealing God. The mechanism for doing this is the
performance of the mitzvos. The Torah
stresses the “light” mitzvos (i.e. all our commonplace activities) because they
are easy to overlook.
How does this work?
Every creation and action has a Godly spiritual force in it that gives
it its existence. When we direct our
activities in the service of God we draw out the spiritual light latent in
those actions. This is certainly the
case regarding mitzvos in which the Godly force is more apparent. Obviously, donning tefillin, for example, is
a holy act. The Sfas Emes explains,
though, that this is the case regarding all our mundane activities. When we dedicate our activities to the
service of God we transform them into mitzvos as well. We thus reveal the spiritual light inherent
even in our most banal activities.
A person who realizes that there is a Godly force in
everything he does and that he is able to reveal that force through correct
intentions thereby transforming every action into a mitzvah, is well on his way
towards yiras shamayim/awe of Heaven.
He sees God in everything. In
this week’s parsha we find, “... מָה ה' אֱ-לֹהֶיךָ שֹׁאֵל מֵעִמָּךְ כִּי אִם-לְיִרְאָה אֶת-ה' אֱ-לֹהֶיךָ ... וּלְאַהֲבָה אֹתוֹ .../… What does God
your Lord ask of you if not to fear Him … and to love Him …” (Devarim 10:12) The pasuk makes it sound easy. All we need to do is have fear of
Heaven. Chazal[5] ask the question, “Is fear of
Heaven a small thing?!” Chazal answer
that for Moshe Rabbeinu it was a small thing.
But Moshe Rabbeinu is talking to the nation. According to Chazal, Moshe Rabbeinu is
telling the nation that fear of God is not difficult and presents himself as an
example! What does this mean?
The meaning of this Chazal lies in the reason fear of Heaven
was easy for Moshe Rabbeinu. Chazal
themselves give a clue. Chazal compare
it to asking a person to borrow a big tool.
If the person has the tool he does not consider it big but if he does
not have it he considers it big. The
Sfas Emes explains that Moshe Rabbeinu already had the attribute of fear of
Heaven so for him it was a small thing.
The Sfas Emes relates this to each of us.
Fear of Heaven, the Sfas Emes teaches can be a small thing
for each of us just as it is for Moshe Rabbeinu, if a person desires it. Our desire to fear God brings us to a low
level of awe. Then, step by step we
attain higher and higher levels of awe of God.
Each step in itself is a small thing.
As Chazal said regarding Moshe Rabbeinu, since he already had it, for
him it was a small thing. The exact same
logic applies to each of us.
This concept explains another teaching that Chazal learn from
this pasuk – everything is in the hands of Heaven except for fear of Heaven.[6] Why do Chazal say only fear of Heaven? After all, the pasuk goes on to list other
things that God requests of us as well.
We are required to love Him, to walk in His ways and to serve Him with
all our hearts and souls.
The Sfas Emes explains that certainly fear of Heaven is the
main thing since it is listed first.
However, in terms of service to God, it is listed first, as well,
because it is the basis, the prerequisite, the preparation, for all the other
requirements that follow in the pasuk.
Everything else in the pasuk builds on it. In order to truly love God, we must first
learn to be in awe of Him. By mentioning
only fear of Heaven, Chazal are not excluding the other attributes listed in
the pasuk. They are stressing fear of
Heaven because in the context of our lifelong dedication toward serving God it
is the first level that we must attain.
The word ma/what in this pasuk alludes to awe of God
as well. Chazal[7] learn through a play on the
word ma/what, which is similar to me’ah/one hundred, that we are
required to say one hundred blessings each day.
What compelled Chazal to learn me’ah/one hundred blessings from ma/what of this pasuk specifically? The Sfas
Emes explains that the main aspect of awe of God is understanding that our very
lives are in His hands exactly like an ax in the hand of a woodchopper. Ma/What connotes humility as in Moshe
Rabbeinu’s response to the nation’s complaints, “וְנַחְנוּ מָה כִּי
תַלִּינוּ עָלֵינוּ/what
are we that you complain to us?” (Shmos
16:7) Seeing God’s power behind everything leads us
to bless Him for everything we take from this world. This compelled Chazal to learn the
requirement to say blessings from the word, ma/what, in this pasuk.
We can serve God in everything we do. We merely need to preface all of our
activities with this thought. May we
merit seeing God in everything, attaining awe of Heaven which is the first step
in serving God and revealing the latent holiness in all our actions.
