Parshas Eikev  5761 Get Real
By Rabbi Joshua (really known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

In memory of the men, women and children who were murdered yesterday in the Yerushalayim terrorist bombing, may their blood be avenged, and in prayer for the full and speedy recovery of those injured.
 
    Parshas Eikev begins with the verse, "And it will be because of your listening to these ordinances, and your observing and performing them, the Lord your God shall safeguard for you the covenant and the kindness that he swore to your forefathers." (Devarim 7 : 12). The Torah then goes on to relate the rewards that will be given the nation as a result of doing what is described in the first verse. Rabbi Shalom Noach Berzovsky, z'l, the late Slonimer Rebbe, in his Nesivos Shalom to parshas Eikev, asks two questions on these verses. First, why is there a double expression here - 'observing and performing' ? What does 'observing' add to 'performing?' Second, why does the Torah, here, mention rewards for following it's precepts? Aren't we taught in Pirkei Avos that one should not perform mitzvos for the purpose of receiving  a reward? 
 
   Rabbi Berzovsky answers that to observe the mitzvos, we must perform them simply because God commanded us to do so, and we want to gratify Him. The word 'observing' is not a separate category, but a description of how we should perform the mitzvos. In this context, the reward we receive is a divine indication that we indeed have been performing the mitzvos in a proper way, and is not the ultimate reward we will receive for our mitzvah performance. This explanation focuses on the word 'observing,' and understands it as modifying the word 'performing. 'There is, however, a somewhat different explanation, in which the word 'performing' is actually redefined through the word 'observing.' This explanation, as we shall see, carries an important message about the nature of Torah learning and observance. 
 
   The Talmud in Sanhedrin 99b cites the verse in parsahs Ki Sovo, "and you shall observe the words of this covenant and perform them, so that you will succeed in all that you do" (Devarim 29 : 8). Here, too, the words 'observe' and perform' would seem to express the same thing .The Talmud explains, however, that the word 'ushmartem' should not be explained as observing, but as being involved in Torah study for its own sake - lishmoh -, and the word. ' va-asisem' should not be interpreted as performing, but as 'making,' or 'creating.' The verse is thus telling us that whoever is involved in Torah study for their own sake, lishmoh, is considered as if he created them. Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Bloch, in an essay included in Shiurei Da'as by his father Rabbi Yosef Leib Bloch, explains that on any given halachic topic, there are arguments on either side, whether to permit or forbid, declare something pure or impure, etc.  The opinions of Beis Shamai and Beis Hillel are both legitimate, but the halacha is decided by the majority. Given that this procedure is followed, it can happen that a question decided in one generation by the majority could have been decided in the opposite way in a later generation had it not come to a vote until then. Still, the halacha remains as it was decided in the earlier generation. The reason for this, Rabbi Bloch explains, is that once the halacha has been established, through studying the Torah in a pure way, reality is shaped by that halachic decision. This, he continues, is the meaning behind the Talmudic statement (Shabbos 10a) that one who judges a halachic case truthfully becomes a partner with God in the creation of the universe.
 
   Rabbi Bloch's exposition of the verse as in Ki Sovo as explained in the Talmudic passage in Sanhedrin, appears to be a bit mystical. Perhaps, however, we can understand the Talmud's explanation of the verse a little better by taking note of another passage in the Talmud, in Shabbos 88b. The gemara there tells us that wnen Moshe went up to heaven to receive the Torah, the ministering angels protested, saying that the holy Torah should not be given over to mortal man. God told Moshe to answer this argument. His answer was that the mitzvos of the Torah have no relevance to the angels. They don't work, so Shabbos has no meaning for them. They have no parents to honor. There is no jealousy among them so they cannot come to murder someone. Moshe's argument was decisive, and God gave him the Torah to deliver to his people
 
     The question, however is, wasn't Moshe's answer really obvious? Didn't the angels themselves understand that the mitzvos of the Torah were not relevant to their lives? Rabbi Yechezkel Abramsky explained that the angels were not saying that the mitzvos of the Torah should not be given to man. Rather, they were arguing that the halachic process should not be given to man. Halachic decisions, they said should be made in heaven and man should observe the mitzvos in accordance with those decisions. Moshe's answer was that halacha can only be decided by those who observe it, to whom it is relevant. Only someone who sees the connection between Torah and reality can have an idea of how halacha should be decided. 
 
 Based on what we have brought from Rabbis Bloch and Abramsky, I believe that we can explain the verses at the beginning of parshas Eikev, as well. The Torah is telling us that if we observe the Torah, meaning that we study its precepts, and combine that study with their performance, then we will see the effects of this in the reality of  our lives. The medieval Talmudic commentator and halachic authority Rabbi Shlomo ben Adres, known as the Rashba, explains that the rewards mentioned here and in other places in the Torah refer to the reward that the nation as a whole will receive for observing Torah. Following our explanation, perhaps we can add that it has relevance to the individual, as well. There is a dynamic relationship between Torah study and observance and our daily reality. Someone who studies Torah and performs its mitzvos invests infinite meaning into his life, and if he keeps his eyes open he can see how the events of his life reflect this reality.