Ekev
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The Power of Gratitude
In the early 1990s, one of the great medical research exercises of modern times took place. It became known as the Nun Study. Some seven hundred American nuns, all members of the School Sisters of Notre Dame in the United States, agreed to allow their records to be accessed by a research team investigating the process of ageing and Alzheimer’s…
Why Civilisations Fail
Read Video Transcript Parshat Eikev poses for us the great question: What is the real challenge of a free society? And in this week’s parsha, Moshe Rabbeinu springs the great surprise. Let us see his words: “Be careful that you don’t forget the Lord your God. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle…
The Art of Listening
What exactly was the first sin? What was the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil? Is this kind of knowledge a bad thing, such that it had to be forbidden and was only acquired through sin? Isn’t knowing the difference between good and evil essential to being human? Isn’t it one of the highest forms of knowledge? Surely God…
Why Civilisations Fail
The Summary This summary is adapted from this week’s main Covenant & Conversation essay by Rabbi Sacks. What is the real challenge of maintaining a free society? Is it surviving when times are hard? Surprisingly, no. The real challenge to a society is not poverty but affluence, not insecurity but security, not slavery but freedom. Moshe explains that once all…
The Greatness of Humility
At a dinner to celebrate the work of a communal leader, the guest speaker paid tribute to his many qualities: his dedication, hard work, and foresight. As he sat down, the leader leaned over and said, “You forgot to mention one thing.” “What was that?” asked the speaker. The leader replied, “My humility.” Quite so. Great leaders have many qualities,…
The Covenant and the Love
An interesting phrase both appears at the end of last week’s parsha and at the beginning of this week’s, and these are the only places where it appears in the Torah. The phrase is ha-brit veha-chessed (Deuteronomy 7:9) or in this week’s parsha, et ha-brit ve-et ha-chessed (Deut. 7:12). Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; He is the faithful…
The Pursuit of Joy
Happiness, said Aristotle, is the ultimate good at which all humans aim.[1] But in Judaism it is not necessarily so. Happiness is a high value. Ashrei, the closest Hebrew word to happiness, is the first word of the book of Psalms. We say the prayer known as Ashrei three times each day. We can surely endorse the phrase in the…
The Politics of Memory
The Parsha in a Nutshell In Eikev Moshe continues his speech, setting out the principles of the covenant the Israelites made with God, and what it demands of them as a chosen nation in a Promised Land. If they are faithful to the covenant, they will be blessed, both materially and spiritually. But they should not attribute their success solely…
No Longer Shall You Be Called Jacob
…have wrestled with God and with man and have prevailed.” It also resonates with two other senses. The root letters in the name Yisrael are Sar which means “prince, royalty”. Yashar means “upright.” Both of these are in sharp contrast with the name “Yaakov,” from ekev, so named because he was one who “holds on to his brother’s heel.” The…