Parshas Eikev: Footsteps of Personal Redemption

AI summary (may contain mistakes)

What does the word eikev hint to? One reading takes it as the end: a Jew stuck with his yetzer hara can rejoice now that Hashem will eventually bring him to his tikkun, and that simcha moves him forward. Read as footsteps, eikev teaches holding on to small bursts of inspiration instead of waiting for total clarity. Further pesukim of the parsha follow on wealth, Eretz Yisrael and yiras Shamayim.

Key points

• Another reading of the pasuk on wealth sees it freeing the heart to come close to Hashem.
• The Chiddushei HaRim says Eretz Yisrael comes through the Avos, so even an unworthy generation stays entitled.
• The Yesod HaAvodah calls ruchniyus the easiest task, since effort there is guaranteed to bring results.

In this shiur

1. 0:00Eikev as the end
2. 2:01Eikev as footsteps of redemption
3. 3:25Wealth and forgetting Hashem
4. 4:37Not because of your righteousness
5. 5:46What Hashem asks of you
6. 7:10Why yiras Shamayim is a small thing

Topics

• Parshas Eikev
• Simcha
• Yiras Shamayim
• Eretz Yisrael