PARSHAT EIKEV – ONE REQUEST THAT IS MANY · Sukkat Shalom B'nei Noach

בס”ד

Eikev (Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25 )

Devarim, 10:12: “And now, Israel, what does Hashem your G-d ask of you, except to fear Hashem your G-d, to go in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve Hashem your G-d with all your heart and all your soul”
Psalms, 27:4: “One thing I ask of Hashem — that I may dwell in the House of Hashem all the days of my life, to gaze upon the pleasantness of Hashem and to visit in His Sanctuary.”

Moshe tells the people that G-d only requires one thing of them – to fear Him. However, he then goes on to enumerate a number of other requirements – to go in G-d’s ways, to love Him, and to serve Him. The obvious question is how could Moshe say that G-d requires only one thing, and then outlines a number of other things.

This question is expressed in a fascinating manner in the Midrash.¹ King David states that he only requests on thing from G-d – to be able to dwell in the House of G-d for all his life. The problem is that he also carries on to enumerate other requests – to gaze upon the pleasantness of G-d and to ‘visit’ in His Temple. The Midrash relates that G-d responds to David that he said he was only requesting one thing, but he went on to make a number of requests. David responds by saying that he was merely emulating G-d himself when G-d in this week’s Torah Portion says that He only asks for one thing and then outlines a number of requests. This answer only leads to more questions. Firstly, how did David answer G-d question by saying that He did the same thing? Secondly, now the question is even more difficult – how could both G-d and David seemingly exaggerate on what they were requesting.

A number of commentators offer the following answer:² When G-d said that He only requires fear of Heaven, He meant that fear of Heaven is the foundation of serving G-d and that the other things mentioned in the verse are expressions of or manifestations of that fear of Heaven. This means that if a person has true fear of Heaven, then he will inevitably also go in G-d’s ways, love G-d and serve Him. Thus, G-d was only requesting one thing – fear of Heaven – which if observed in totality – will lead to everything else.

When King David asked ‘just’ to dwell in the house of G-d and then enumerated a whole list, he was emulating G-d in that he was also asking ultimately for one thing, from which everything else would flow. In this case, if he was able to live in the house of G-d then the other things in the verse – to gaze upon His pleasantness, and visit His sanctuary – would also inevitably be granted. Thus, David was answering G-d’s question of how he can say he’s asking for one thing and then ask for many. He was saying that he learnt from G-d that just like there is one foundation of serving G-d and from there, everything else flows, so too, there is one foundation in closeness to G-d from which everything flows.

To take this idea a step further, it seems there is an intrinsic connection between G-d’s ‘single’ request and that of David. The definition of fear of Heaven isn’t merely fear of being punished, rather it is a deep awareness of G-d’s presence at all time. Hence, the word ‘yira’, meaning to fear, is the same root as the word ‘lirot’ meaning to see. When one sees G-d at all times, he develops a constant awareness of His presence and consequently he won’t come to sin.

When King David asked to dwell in the House of G-d, he was expressing that very desire to have total fear of Heaven. This is because when a person ‘lives in the House of Hashem’, it means that whatever physical place he finds himself in, he is always in G-d’s House. This in turn means that he is aware that G-d is everywhere. By asking to dwell in G-d’s House, David was in fact asking to fulfil G-d’s request of fear of Heaven.

These deep ideas remind us of the foundations of serving G-d. There is always the risk that a person can observe many Mitzvot, learn Torah, pray and so on, but he can forget the purpose of it all – to have a relationship with G-d and to do His will. As the phrase goes, a person can ‘miss the forest for the trees’ – he can focus on details and miss the big picture and the point of it all. Accordingly, it is essential that despite all a person’s efforts in Torah learning and Mitzva observance, he should constantly be working on increasing his fear of Heaven and desire to be constantly living with G-d.

It is clear that great Rabbis and people who achieved great things for the Jewish people were acting upon a solid foundation of fear of Heaven. Rabbi Noach Weinberg, for example, was known primarily as a pioneer in outreach and for influencing directly and indirectly thousands of people. However, people who knew him were aware that the foundation of his extraordinary efforts was a palpable fear of Heaven, as evidenced for example, by how when he said a blessing, it was as if he was directly speaking to G-d as if He was right in front of him. It was from this great fear of Heaven that all his wonderful accomplishments flowed.

May we all merit to constantly work on our fear of Heaven and live in the House of G-d.

By Rabbi Yehonasan Gefen

Notes

Yalkut Shimoni, Tehillim, Remez 706; Midrash Shocher Tov, Chapter 27.
Lulei Toratecha, pp. 167-168, written by Rabbi Netanel Solomani; Habina v’habracha, pp.29-30, written by Rabbi Baruch Sorotskin, Rosh Yeshivah of Telz.

WEEKLY TORAH PORTION,

The Guiding Light
by Rabbi Yehonasan Gefen