Parshas Eikev 5759 Don't Tread On Me
              By Rabbi Joshua (constructively known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

   This week's parsha begins with a description of the rewards that God will bestow upon the Jewish people if they keep the mitzvos. Many Torah commentators and writers of Jewish philosophy have noted that experience seems to belie the words of the Torah, for it is very common to find observant people who do not enjoy the blessings described in these verses. We have dealt with this problem on a previous occasion in regard to a different section of the Torah, and will not here embark on a lengthy discussion of the various opinions. Suffice it to say that one of the more popular solutions to the problem is that the Torah here is speaking of the national prosperity of the Jewish people, not the individual prosperity of each individual in the nation. On a collective level, writes the Rashba (Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderes), the fortune of the Jews has always depended upon the level of the nation's adherence to Jewish law.   

  Torah commentators, going back to the rabbis in the midrash, have also been intrigued by the peculiar use of the word 'eikev'-literally heel- in the first verse of the parsha. The Torah says, "And it shall be because you will hearken to these ordinances and keep them and do them, and the Lord your God will keep for you the covenant and the kindness which he swore to your forefathers" (Devorim, 7,12). Instead of the usual word for because-ya'an- the Torah employs the word 'eikev,' which, literally, means heel but is used here in the sense of 'on the heels of,' or 'at the end.' The Midrash Rabbah asks, in connection with this word, whether it is permissible to construct a menorah on Shabbos by connecting various different pieces together. After concluding that it is forbidden, the midrash asks, when will a person receive his reward for the mitzvos he has done over the 
course of his lifetime? 'Eikev,' answers the midrash-at the end, after his life is over.  The message of this midrash and its connection to the verse it cites is not clear,at first glance. Rabbi Moshe Sofer of Pressburg, know as the Chasam Sofer, offers a very beautiful explanation, as we will discuss shortly. Perhaps the best known comment on the use of the word 'eikev,' however, is that of Rashi, who, based on a midrash, says that it refers to the kind of mtzvos that people consider relatively unimportant, which they trample upon with their heels. The Torah is saying, according to this explanation, that great divine reward is preserved for hearkening to those mitzvos which people generally treat in a dismissive manner. I believe that these two midrashic approaches complement each other, and, taken together with the plain meaning of the passage, as we explained at the outset based on the Rashba, combine to present us with an important message about the nature of the mitzvos in general.

  The mishnah in Avos, 4,2, tells us, "Ben Azzai says, 'Run to perform a light mitzvah and run from sin, for one mitzvah drags another along, and one sin drags another along, because the reward for a mitzvah is a mitzvah, and the reward for a sin is a sin. '" The Maharal of Prague explains the concept of one mitzvah dragging another mitzvah along as being expressive of the idea that all of the mitzvos are interrelated, forming together one great entity. Therefore, if a person performs one mitzvah, he will almost inevitably perform more mitzvos. An awareness of this phenomenon will lead a person to treat all mitzvos seriously, because they are all part of a greater whole. This may be one way of understanding the midrash that we quoted, that speaks of a menorah made of pieces. Just as the construction of a menorah made of pieces requires that each piece be put in its proper place in order for it to function properly, so too must every mitzvah be performed in order for the grand structure of the Torah become manifest in the world. The Sefas Emes explains the midrash to mean that there are traces of holiness scattered throughout the mundane objects of existence, and it is our task to live our lives in such a way that we extract holiness from each situation, so that we construct, in the end, a menorah that will cast light on all of creation. The seemingly unimportant events in life are, in reality, opportunities for mitzvah and holiness, if viewed in the proper way. Nothing we do in life, no situation, is divorced from the purview of the Torah. Everything contributes to the construction of that great menorah. Such an approach to the world will not allow us to treat any mitzvah, or any situation, in a dismissive matter, because they all contribute to a grand design. We can add to the explanation of the Sefas Emes the words of another midrash, that the mitzvos were given only 'letzaref bahen es habriyos', which, as explained by Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin in his work Nefesh HaChaim, means, to combine together the different parts of creation. R. Chaim goes on to offer a highly mystical interpretation of this midrash, but, on a different level, following the Sefas Emes, we can explain it to mean that through the mitzvos, we uncover the holiness inherent throughout creation, and thereby reconstruct a different view of the universe.

   The Chasam Sofer explains the image of the menorah mentioned in the midrash in a way that adds yet another dimension to our discussion. He says that a man's lifetime is similar to a menorah made of pieces. Only at the end of the entire process can we step back and see what it is that has been constructed, and, therefore, only then can full reward be given. Man's life is an ongoing process, and there is never a time when one can say that what he does no longer has significance. Psychologists have noted that there is a tendency among some people to assume, at a certain point in life, that they have grown as much as they can, and from that point on take a more relaxed, perhaps cavalier attitude to life. This approach, following the Chasam Sofer's explanation of the midrash, is incorrect. As long as man is alive, he continues to work on the grand structure that he was placed on this earth to complete, and no period in his life is divorced from this process. I remember Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, then a man in his late seventies, saying that he does not understand the idea of the crisis of old age. As he saw it, old age is a wonderful opportunity for growth, as long as one accepts the fact that he is older and cannot necessarily do everything he could in the past. Many avenues of growth are available no matter what age a person is. In Rabbi Soloveitchik's case, of course, the major avenue was the study and teaching of Torah. Students of his in the last days of his career recall how he maintained his youthful, inquisitive attitude to learning despite his advanced age. He continued to construct his grand menorah, serving as an example to all those who encountered him.

   Based on the explanations of the Sefas Emes and the Chasam Sofer, we can better understand the further statements of Ben Azzai in the mishnah in Avos. We are told in Avos chapter four, mishnah three, " He (Ben Azzai) used to say,'Do not be scornful of any person and do not be disdainful of anything, for you have no person without his hour and no thing without its place.'" In other words, every aspect of the world, every situation we encounter, contains within it an opportunity for growth. In addition, every person has significance, having been placed in the world for the purpose of constructing his personal menorah, and adding his light to the wider collective structure. There is, thus, no place for smallness in Judaism. Nothing that occurs, and no person we encounter, is bereft of significance. The potential for holiness presents itself to us at every corner.

   Returning to the plain meaning of our verse, on a national level, the Jewish people has a mission to demonstrate God's rule over the world and His presence within it. The Torah is thus telling us that to if the nation will fulfill its task by hearkening to all of the mitzvos of the Torah, assigning significance to all of them, and extracting holiness from all situations in life, God will bless their efforts and thereby reinforce their message through His divine blessing, as set forth in the subsequent verses. At the risk of sounding trivial, I would submit that that this approach to our verse should give added significance to the use of the menorah as a national symbol of the Jewish people. We are all involved in a mass construction campaign, symbolized by the menorah, as set forth in the midrash. May our efforts lead to fruition.