VOLUME 122 NUMBER 3
Av 17, 5786
July 31, 2026
Parshas Eikev
Candlelighting Time 7:56
The mitzvah to thank Hashem after a meal, specifically one of bread, is mentioned in the parsha. However, the context of this mitzvah is very puzzling. Obviously, one must thank Hashem for the meal that he has just enjoyed. But the language used in the Torah does not emphasize that theme. Rather, we thank Hashem for the benefits that we receive from the land that we merited to have. K’Sav Sofer questions that it would be much more appropriate to express our gratitude for the food in front of us rather than the bounty of the land that we may have harvested to procure through a market or a store. Furthermore, the Torah states that we will enjoy a land that is plentiful and we will not need to limit our enjoyment of its resources. Yet we learn in Pirkei Avos, that the way of Torah is that we should eat our bread with salt and drink only a very limited amount of water and sleep on the floor. Apparently we are not supposed to indulge in our eating so what is the point that the Land of Israel has so much bounty and availability.
K’Sav Sofer puts forth a startling premise that creates a new platform for how we conduct our lives in every aspect. Chovos HaLevovos asserts a very powerful and astonishing point. He writes that tempering one’s bodily desires is equivalent to composing and fashioning one’s neshama or soul. Our desire to enjoy the physical pleasures of life dampers and dulls our sensitivity to ascribing to a higher plane of life and attitude in our service to Hashem. Whereas an attitude where the spiritual plays a more significant role in our lives then the physical attractions that so interest us somewhat dissipate and fade. Although we are bodily creatures and so were we created and formed by Hashem, but the more that we attempt and struggle to elevate our neshama where it is not muffled by our physical involvement in life, the more so it becomes activated and predominate in our lives and our attentiveness to what our goals should be.
K’Sav Sofer understands the statement in Pirkei Avos that one should eat bread with salt and drink sparingly as a goal and that’s why the language employed is one of future tense because we have to acclimate ourselves to that objective but it is not necessarily where we are actually positioned in life. Therefore, now we can better understand the verses in the parsha. Of course, Hashem has given us a land with tremendous physical opportunities and availability because we have the choice to select how we want to live and successfully realize our aim in life. The beauty of Judaism is that although it is abundantly clear from the Torah what Hashem truly desires that we accomplish in life, nonetheless, we have free will to make those decisions based upon our own initiative and motivation. We can become as great as we would like to or, as the Yetzer Hora, evil inclination would prefer, live docile with mediocrity. Although there isn’t a punishment meted out to those who select mediocrity as an option, still we all profoundly realize that this is not the purposes of this world and its inhabitants. He cites the Midrash that explains why the parsha that mentions the mitzvah for the Kohanim to bless the nation is proximate to the parsha of the Nazarite. The Nazarite restrains his indulgence in worldly matters and that merits a blessing.
Perhaps the most significant blessing that we can focus on this time of the year as we slowly but surely prepare ourselves for Rosh Hashana, the Day of Judgement, is to understand our role in the world and not underestimate how valuable our lives are and the actions that we take.
A BYTE FOR SHABBOS
The Jewish nation is only punished as a catalyst to encourage us to repent. However, that only works if we are cognizant of our status that Hashem is the ruler of the universe and we are his servants. However, if we forget that important theme then we are punished in a more severe fashion in order to jolt us back into reality.
GOOD SHABBOS
