Our fate is in our hands: Eikev 5785

 Moshe’s review of the life of the Jewish people in the Sinai desert over the previous 40 years recounts each miracle that occurred to them, but he does so not for the purpose of narrative. Rather, he teaches an important moral lesson for all ages: that, after all the miracles that God may perform on our behalf, our fate stays mainly in our hands. We can summarize this eternal lesson in one verse: “For not by bread alone – even miraculous bread such as the manna itself—shall Jews live by but rather by the word of God, so to speak: that is, the values, commandments and strictures of Torah”.

All attempts to avoid this lesson, to substitute other words, ideas and ideologies for the words of Torah have turned into dismal failures. But reliance upon miracles is just as dangerous a path. My yeshiva teachers would tell us pious young men that prayer helps one to become a scholar in Torah. But they emphasized that sitting and studying Torah for a protracted time with concentration and effort may help even more in the quest for true Torah scholarship. Moshe uses the constant miracles of the desert to drive home the point that much of the responsibilities of life are in our hands. They are governed by our decision-making processes. In essence, the clear conclusion from Moshe’s oration is that God helps those who help themselves. 

In our post–Tisha B’Av mood, and in the run-up to Elul and the High Holy Days, we must remember how much of our fate truly lies in our own hands. Even the small choices that we make in our everyday lives contribute to our life’s achievements and accomplishments. That is what Rashi means when he states that “these are the commandments that one grinds under with one’s heel (eikev)”.  Those little things that we imagine to be insignificant at the time often translate themselves into major decisions that may even have irreversible consequences. The question always before us is this: do our actions measure up to the standards set by God’s word? We live not “by bread alone” nor by miracles alone, but by our own choices and what we do once we have made them.

Once, while driving on a New York City highway—an exercise in patience and utter futility—I missed the exit at which I was supposed to turn off. Many miles and a quarter of an hour later, I somehow managed to retrace my journey and exit at the proper place. I felt that it was a miracle that I was able to do so. In reality, though, it was my negligent error in failing to exit from the highway that forced the necessity of the occurrence of this “miracle” upon me. Moshe teaches us that this is truly a daily occurrence in our lives—and this message is as clear and cogent today as it was to our forebears in the desert of Sinai long ago. 

Shabbat shalom, Rabbi Berel Wein    

For "It's the small things that count", Rabbi Wein's devar Torah on parashat Eikev last year, click here.