Ekev (Because) Deut 7-11

Torah Portion:  Ekev (Because) D’Varim (Deuteronomy) 7:12-11:25

HafTorah: Isaiah 49:14-51:3

This week we read a Torah portion that contains many spiritual lessons like the second paragraph of the Shema as well as Moshe’s speech about what G-d expects of the people when they cross over into the Land.

One glaring difference is in the personal pronoun used mainly in this portion as compared to last week. For example, the first part of the Shema from last week’s portion was written with the singular pronoun, “you.”  This week we read the second paragraph and see it written with the plural pronoun, “you.” I would like us to explore this and see what it might say to us spiritually. This is especially important given what happened in Israel this past week and what is going on in our country and communities each day. Deut. 7:12-13 is an example of this, when Israel as a nation kept G-d’s Torah He would bless them and multiply them.

Devarim (Words) Deut 1

Torah Portion: Devarim (words) Devarim (Deut.) 1:1-3:22

HafTorah: Isaiah 1:1-27

NT John 15:1-11; Hebrews 3:7-4:11

Tonight we read the first Torah portion of the book of Devarim (Deut.). This entire book is somewhat a sermon from Moses to the people. In it we see him sharing and retelling the history of the last 40 years as well as a recounting of the Law from which we get the Greek word that became the common name for the book. We might wonder, why did he spend all this time going back over the Law. Rashi, a great Jewish writer and teacher says, “They (the words of Torah) should be new in your eyes everyday. So we go over the Torah each year and each year find things that speak to us that we never saw before.