Shabbat Parashat Eikev - 5784

Rabbi Hal Miller

And it will be because of your listening to these ordinances and your observing and

performing them, then Hashem your God will safeguard for you the covenant and the

kindness that He swore to your forefathers. [Devarim 7:12]

The second word of our verse, and the name of the weekly parsha, is eikev. What does

it mean in this context? Rashi says "and it will be because of your listening", that because

the people will heed even the "light" commandments, then God will fulfill His promises.

Rav Soloveitchik adds that this means we can not consider any mitzvah as beneath us,

to leave it for someone else of "lower" status to do. Rav Moshe Feinstein explains Rashi

that since the word eikev usually means 'heel', our verse is saying that one should not use

his heel to trample upon any commandment, including major ones, by applying their own

counsel on how to fulfill the mitzvah. Rabbeinu Yonah writes that according to Rashi, the

'light' mitzvot are the rabbinic ones, and that violating them brings severe punishment.

Ramban understands eikev like ba'abor, which usually means "on account of". Rav Hirsch

calls it "as a consequence of", which is similar. There is a nuance difference from Rashi in

that "because of" means "since" or "in accordance with", but "on account of" means as a

direct result of the prior action. Ramban further disagrees with Rashi because the verse

does not actually say 'mitzvot', rather 'mishpatim', laws. Rashi's idea of "light mitzvot" does

not make sense here. Ramban suggests that the verse refers to monetary laws, that we

should not treat them lightly. Onkelos translates eikev as "in exchange for", that God is

making a deal with the people, but Ramban adds that it here means cunning or devious.

Kol Dodi is similar to Ramban when he asks why the verse uses the word eikev instead of

bishvil, for the sake of, or tachat, in place of. He says that eikev refers to the extremity, that

we should go to the maximum lengths to do the mitzvot instead of just doing the minimum.

Sforno understands the word to mean that we should do the mitzvot, not for our own

benefit, but to enable God to fulfill His promises to the patriarch. Ramban on verse 10:12

says the opposite, that God is not doing anything here for His benefit, rather for ours.

Tehillim [19:12] says, "in observing them there is great reward" meaning that the observance

of a mitzvah itself is the reward. All seem to agree that we are to perform all the mitzvot,

regardless of whether we understand why they were commanded, regardless of whether we

think it would be better to do something else instead.

Hal Miller