Dead Skin

By Rabbi Joshua (sensitively known as the Hoffer) Hoffman

Parshas Eikev begins with the statement that as a result of keeping the mitzvos the Jews will receive abundant reward. The word used for "as a result of" is "eikev," which literally means "heel". Rashi explains that this refers to mitzvos which people treat lightly, so to speak trampling on them with their heels. My teacher, Rabbi Hirsch Eisenberg, zt"l, explained that the heel has dead skin, the most callused, insensitive skin on the body. Rashi is thus saying that if we properly perform the mitzvos that are generally treated insensitively then we will receive a great reward. Rav Bezalel Rudinsky further interpreted this to mean that each person needs to sensitize himself to those mitzvos that he treats in a flippant fashion.

Later in the parsha God tells the people that all He asks of them is to love Him and to fear Him and perform all of his mitzvos. The Sefer Ha'ikarim explains that attaining love and fear of God on our own, in a direct way, is extremely difficult. Therefore He gave us the mitzvos so that through observing all of them we can attain the love and fear of God via an indirect route. That is why it is important to perform every single mitzvoh no matter how minor we consider certain ones to be.

In the second section of Kerias Shma, which is included later on in this week's parsha, we are told to place God's words, the words of the Torah, upon our heart. The heart, by contrast to the heel, is the most sensitive organ of the body. When there is something amiss with the heart, this affects all the other organs as well. By striving to perform God's commandments with love, we can combat our tendency to treat some mitzvos insensitively, and thereby achieve the ultimate goal of attaining love and fear of God.