PARSHAT EKEV – WHO REALLY GIVES US THE POWER TO SUCCEED?

ב”ה

Success is one of the greatest tests of faith.

When people suffer, they often look upward. They pray for help, search for meaning and become conscious of how little they truly control. But when life is going well—when business prospers, the family is healthy and plans succeed—it becomes much easier to forget the One Who made that success possible.

Parshat Eikev speaks directly to this danger.

Moshe describes the Jewish people entering a good land, eating to satisfaction, building beautiful homes and accumulating wealth. Then comes the warning:

¹ וְרָ֖ם לְבָבֶ֑ךָ וְשָֽׁכַחְתָּ֙ אֶת־ה’ אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ
“Your heart may become elevated, and you may forget Hashem your G-d.”

The Torah does not say that wealth is evil. It does not condemn comfort, achievement or material success. The danger begins when blessing changes the heart—when prosperity produces arrogance and the illusion of independence.

A few verses later, Moshe reveals the thought that lies beneath this forgetfulness:

² וְאָמַרְתָּ֖ בִּלְבָבֶ֑ךָ כֹּחִי֙ וְעֹ֣צֶם יָדִ֔י עָ֥שָׂה לִ֖י אֶת־הַחַ֥יִל הַזֶּֽה׃
“You may say in your heart: ‘My strength and the power of my hand made me this success.’”

Moshe then gives the answer:

³ וְזָֽכַרְתָּ֙ אֶת־ה’ אֱלֹקיךָ כִּ֣י ה֗וּא הַנֹּתֵ֥ן לְךָ֛ כֹּ֖חַ לַעֲשׂ֣וֹת חָ֑יִל
” You shall remember Hashem your G-d, for it is He Who gives you the strength to achieve success.”

The Torah does not deny that a person worked. It does not say that planning, courage, intelligence and discipline are meaningless. It teaches that even the power to work is itself a gift.

The Test of Success

The Lubavitcher Rebbe explains that there are two general tests in life: the test of poverty and the test of affluence.

Poverty tests whether a person will remain faithful when he lacks. Affluence tests whether he will remain humble when he possesses abundance.⁴

In some ways, success is the more subtle test. A hungry person knows that he is dependent. A person who is satisfied may begin to imagine that he has become independent.

Parshat Eikev therefore commands a Jew to thank Hashem specifically after eating:

⁵ וְאָכַלְתָּ֖ וְשָׂבָ֑עְתָּ וּבֵֽרַכְתָּ֙ אֶת־ה’ אֱלֹקיךָ
“You shall eat, you shall be satisfied, and you shall bless Hashem your G-d.”

The danger of spiritual forgetfulness often begins not in hunger, but in satisfaction.

Although the formal mitzvah of Birkat Hamazon belongs to the Jewish people, gratitude to the Creator is relevant to every human being. Gratitude corrects our vision. It reminds us that blessing was not inevitable and that life does not owe us anything.

An ungrateful person says, “This belongs to me because I earned it.”

A grateful person says, “I worked for this, but the ability to work was itself a gift. Why was this blessing
placed in my hands?”

Bread Is the Vessel, Not the Source

Earlier in the same chapter, Moshe recalls the manna:

⁶ לֹ֣א עַל־הַלֶּ֤חֶם לְבַדּוֹ֙ יִחְיֶ֣ה הָֽאָדָ֔ם כִּ֛י עַל־כׇּל־מוֹצָ֥א פִֽי־ה’ יִחְיֶ֥ה הָאָדָֽם׃
“Man does not live by bread alone, but by everything that proceeds from the mouth of Hashem does man live.”

The Torah does not mean that bread is unnecessary. Human beings need food. Rather, bread has no independent power to give life. It nourishes because Hashem placed within creation the power to nourish.

Bread is the vessel, not the Source.

The same is true of money. Money can purchase food, shelter and medicine, but money itself is not the source of life. Employment may be the channel through which livelihood arrives, but the employer is not the ultimate source. Medicine may become the instrument through which healing comes, but neither the doctor
nor the medicine is the Master of life.

One of the great mistakes of human beings is confusing the channel with the Source.

A person receives an opportunity through a particular client and begins to believe that his entire future depends upon that client. He receives his salary through an employer and begins to fear the employer more than he fears G-d. He succeeds through a certain investment and begins to treat the market as though it controls his destiny.

The Torah does not tell us to ignore natural channels. It tells us not to worship them.

We Must Still Work

Faith does not mean passivity.

A farmer must plant. A doctor must study. A businessperson must make decisions, negotiate and accept responsibility. Parents must educate their children, and societies must establish justice.
The Torah says:
⁷ וּבֵֽרַכְךָ֙ ה’ אֱלֹקיךָ בְּכֹ֖ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר תַּעֲשֶֽׂה
“Hashem your G-d will bless you in everything that you do.”

The blessing comes from Hashem, but there must be something that we do.

Hashem gives us intelligence so that we should think. He gives us talents so that we should develop them. He places opportunities before us so that we should act upon them.

Even the most “self-made” person did not make himself. He did not design his mind, choose his natural abilities or command his heart to continue beating. He cannot guarantee the economy, the loyalty of customers, his health or tomorrow’s opportunities.
Human effort is necessary, but it is never independent.

We make the vessel. Hashem sends the blessing.

The Business of Charity

The life of Shalom Ber Goldshmid provides a remarkable illustration of this principle.

As a young man, the Rebbe advised him to learn kosher slaughter and to begin a small business slaughtering chickens on Thursdays and delivering them to Jewish homes in time for Shabbat.

The Rebbe’s reason was surprising. He told him that when he delivered the chickens, the children would be home and would proudly repeat the words of Torah they had learned in school. His business would therefore become an opportunity to hear Torah.

Already at the beginning, the Rebbe was teaching him that business is not separate from Divine service. A livelihood can become a vehicle for holiness.

Goldshmid later opened a butcher shop on Empire Boulevard in Crown Heights. The Rebbe gave him a clear instruction: everyone who entered the shop should leave with meat for Shabbat, whether they could pay or not.⁸

This was not merely a private act of charity performed after business hours. The charity was built into the business itself.

Goldshmid accepted the Rebbe’s instruction. He understood that if he apparently lost money in one way, Hashem could return it through another channel.

One day, a newly married woman entered the shop. Her husband had no income, and she did not know how they would obtain food. Goldshmid assured her that whenever she came, she would receive what she needed.

Another customer had a large family and normally purchased substantial amounts of meat. Suddenly she began buying only chicken wings, the least expensive item in the shop.

Goldshmid asked what had happened. She explained that her husband had lost his job and that the family had no money.

He told her that the Rebbe had taught him that ahavat Yisrael means providing a fellow Jew with what he or she needs. She should take what her family required and pay whenever she was able.

Many years later, she sent him a cheque for the full amount. But long before that payment arrived, Goldshmid was already convinced that the Rebbe had been correct. He had not truly lost by giving. Even when the money did not return through the same person, the blessing came through another channel.

This story reveals a profound interpretation of:
⁹ כִּ֣י ה֗וּא הַנֹּתֵ֥ן לְךָ֛ כֹּ֖חַ לַעֲשׂ֣וֹת ׃
“For He is the One Who gives you the strength to achieve success.”

If Hashem is the true source of livelihood, then giving to another person does not mean that we have taken money away from the Source. Hashem is not limited to one customer, one transaction or one calculation.

This does not mean that a person should conduct business recklessly. Torah requires responsibility, honesty and sound judgment. But responsibility must not become an excuse for hardening the heart.

Goldshmid understood that his butcher shop was not merely the place where he earned money. It was the place where Hashem had positioned him to feed Jewish families, honour Shabbat and practise ahavat Yisrael.

His business was also his mission.

The Giver Is Also a Recipient

Charity can easily produce another form of כחי ועצם ידי

A person may think: “I earned this money, and now I am generously giving some of my money to someone less fortunate.”

The Torah asks him to look more deeply.

Who gave him the health to work? Who gave him the intelligence to succeed? Who brought the opportunity, customer or transaction? Who placed the needy person before him?

The giver is not the ultimate source. He is also a recipient.
Hashem gives one person resources and gives him the privilege of becoming a channel of blessing to another. The recipient receives food or assistance; the giver receives the opportunity to fulfil his purpose.

The Rebbe once expressed the principle of ahavat Yisrael to Goldshmid very simply: when a Jewish man or woman needs something, one should try to provide it. It does not matter whether one knows the person or who that person is.⁸

For a Jew, this is an expression of ahavat Yisrael and tzedakah. For a Ben Noach, generosity, compassion and support for those in need are essential expressions of a life lived under the authority of the Creator.

The Seven Noahide Laws establish justice and prohibit theft and cruelty. But their purpose is not merely to create a society in which people avoid harming one another. They point humanity toward a world governed by responsibility, kindness and recognition of G-d.

Success Is a Mission

Once we understand that success comes from Hashem, the question changes.

We no longer ask only:

“How much have I earned?”

We ask:

“What has Hashem entrusted to me, and why?”

Wealth enables a person to support a family, employ workers honourably, strengthen education, relieve suffering and build institutions of Torah, justice and kindness. One person may possess financial resources; another may possess time, patience, knowledge or influence.

Every gift contains a mission.

A person who believes that everything belongs to him will experience charity as a loss. A person who knows that everything is entrusted to him will experience charity as the fulfilment of the gift.

The butcher shop on Empire Boulevard became more than a business. It became a place where families were fed, Shabbat was honoured and people retained their dignity.

That is not business interrupted by holiness.

That is business transformed into holiness.

Remember Who Gives the Power

Parshat Eikev asks every person to examine his heart:

What do I secretly believe controls my life?

My money? My intelligence? My employer? My customers? The market? The approval of other people?

These things matter, but none of them is G-d.

We must work, but we must not worship our work.

We must respect natural channels, but we must not confuse them with the Source.

We must earn, but we must also ask why Hashem enabled us to earn.

The person who truly believes:

¹⁰ הוא הנתן לך כח לעשות חיל
“He is the One Who gives you the strength to achieve success,”

will not become passive. He will work with greater purpose.

He will succeed without becoming arrogant.

He will give without believing that he is the ultimate giver.

He will help others without fearing that generosity places him beyond the reach of Hashem’s blessing.

And when success comes, he will not ask only:

“How can I enjoy what I have earned?”

He will ask:

“Why did Hashem place this in my hands?”

That question transforms success from a possession into a calling, wealth from an idol into an instrument, and a place of business into a place where Hashem’s goodness becomes visible.

We make the vessel. Hashem gives the power. Our mission is to use His blessing in a way that allows others to experience blessing as well.

May we merit to recognize the true Source of all blessing, to use every gift with humility, generosity and purpose, and very soon to welcome Moshiach Tzidkeinu, when the entire world will openly recognize Hashem and be filled with Divine knowledge.

Shabbat Shalom.

By Rabbi Avriel Rabenou, MSc. MBA

Sources and References

Sources
¹ Devarim 8:14.
² Devarim 8:17.
³ Devarim 8:18.
⁴ Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, sicha of Shabbat Parshat Eikev 5721, on the
spiritual tests of poverty and affluence, adapted in Likkutei Sichot—Eikev.
⁵ Devarim 8:10; Berachot 48b.
⁶ Devarim 8:3. See also Likkutei Torah, Parshat Eikev, 14a, regarding the Divine vitality within food.
⁷ Devarim 15:18. See Hayom Yom, 27 Sivan, on creating a pure and honest vessel for Hashem’s blessing.
⁸ Shalom Ber Goldshmid, “The Business of Charity,” Here’s My Story, Jewish Educational Media’s My
Encounter with the Rebbe oral-history project.
⁹ Devarim 8:18.
¹⁰ Ibid.
This version is approximately 1,650 words including the sources.