Parashah #46: Ekev (Because) D’varim (Deuteronomy) 7:12-11:25

Chapter 11:18 provides the detail concerning the mandate in the Sh’ma (Deut. 6:8) to physically wrap Tefillin around our hand (forearm) and forehead. This command was discussed in the parashah last week. No matter how we may try to rationalize and justify not obeying this command, it is a command.
We are to infuse our lives with Torah that implies 24-hour observance. This is not hard. It requires prayer, study, and practice. Our study needs to be in an organized manner and not all over the place. If we search “here and there and every website that has anything labeled “Jewish,”we will only become confused and overwhelmed with “white noise” and no solid knowledge. We should make time before we go to work, time at lunch, and again time in Torah study before going to bed. Daniel provides a perfect example of this practice (Dan. 6:11). Torah study can take many forms such as praying, mediating, reading from Torah, or performing a mitzvah.

Many Christian clergy teach there is no reason to fear G-d because He is all love. I submit this is taught because they do not understand the Hebrew translation or they want to add to the membership and church coffers. I agree that all Clergy hope to build up membership and secure the existence of their ministry. However, religious leaders should take care not to adulterate the Word of G-d and the objective in order to simply get more people to attend. True Torah teaching is a difficult message. After all, who wants to fear anyone if we define fear in the social context of having dread of someone who is going to harm us? This is another reason that an understanding of Hebrew is so important in interpreting scripture. The fear required in the command of HaShem fearing G-d) cannot be equated to our cursory understanding of the word in English. At its most basic level, it consists of a fear of the consequences of our actions. Fear of G-d teaches us that G-d is not a “vatran”. A vatran is someone who forgives people for their misdemeanors even when they have not corrected their behavior. This concept is taught in many Christian churches; that all one must do is profess the Name and all will be forgiven. Trust and faith in G-d does not work this way. G-d has placed a system in the universe whereby if someone commits a spiritually negative action, as a consequence, he or she will be spiritually damaged. This is a simple cause and effect relationship that is validated throughout the Torah.

The Sages expound on this idea, explaining exactly what we should and should not fear. Let’s look at a seeming contradiction in Scripture and discuss what is taught in the Gemara in Berachot (a specific volume of rabbinical commentary on the oral Torah). King Solomon writes in Proverbs; fortunate is the man who is constantly afraid.” In contrast, Isaiah writes: “those from Zion who are afraid are sinners.” The Gemara explains that the verse in Proverbs is referring to ‘divrei Torah’ understood to mean referring to spiritual matters. We only have control over our free will in spiritual pursuits. Therefore, the Gemara teaches us that it is correct to fear one’s own failure in the spiritual realm because we have control over it and have the ability to stumble. Have you been taught that we no longer stumble because G-d’s laws were “nailed to the cross”? Let’s look at what Paul (Sha’ul) has to say about this because Christians and others often misinterpret Paul to their own destruction. The Bible confirms this fact (2 Peter 3:16).“Rom. 7:14-25 reads “ For we know that the Torah is of the Spirit; but as for me, I am bound to the old nature, sold to sin as a slave. I don’t understand my own behavior- I don’t do what I want to do; instead I do the very thing I hate! Now if I am doing what I don’t want to do, I am agreeing that the Torah is good. But now it is no longer ‘the real me’ doing it, but the sin housed inside me. For I know that there is nothing good housed inside me- that is, inside my old nature. I can want what is good, but I can’t do it! For I don’t do the good I want; instead, the evil that I don’t want is what I do! But if I am doing what ‘the real me’ doesn’t want, it is no longer the ‘real me’ doing it but the sin housed inside me. So I find it to be the rule, a kind of perverse ‘Torah’, that although I want to do what is good, evil is right there with me! “For in my inner self I completely agree with G-d’s Torah; but in my various parts I see a different ‘Torah’ [rabbinical Torah; Oral Torah; NOT G-d’s Torah] one which is operating in my various parts. What a miserable creature I am! Who will rescue me from this body bound for death? Thanks be to G-d, he will!- through Yahshua the Messiah, our L-rd” This does not mean we now have license to do whatever we want and rest assured we will be forgiven . Yahshua released us from the death indictment for imputed sin and provided a way for us to become reconciled to G-d and subsequently saved in the future. This way requires repentance and subsequent obedience on our part. There is no cart blanche with G-d, no careless observance designed “our way.”