30 July 2021

What Does Hashem Want From Us?

21 Menachem Av 5781
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Parashat Eikev

We're coming up quick on Rosh Chodesh Elul and the beginning of the Forty Days of Awe. Time to start getting serious. Here are a few salient quotes from the parashah which should give us pause as we  contemplate our teshuvah.
...You shall faithfully observe all the Instruction that I enjoin upon you today, that you may thrive and increase and be able to possess the land that the LORD promised on oath to your fathers.

...Bear in mind that the LORD your God disciplines you just as a man disciplines his son. Therefore keep the commandments of the LORD your God: walk in His ways and revere Him. For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land,....

...When you have eaten your fill, give thanks to the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you. Take care lest you forget the LORD your God and fail to keep His commandments, His rules, and His laws, which I enjoin upon you today.

...Remember, never forget, how you provoked the LORD your God to anger in the wilderness: from the day that you left the land of Egypt until you reached this place, you have continued defiant toward the LORD.

...And when the LORD sent you on from Kadesh-barnea, saying, “Go up and take possession of the land that I am giving you,” you flouted the command of the LORD your God; you did not put your trust in Him and did not obey Him. As long as I have known you, you have been defiant toward the LORD.

...And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God demand of you? Only this: to revere the LORD your God, to walk only in His paths, to love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and soul, keeping the LORD’s commandments and laws, which I enjoin upon you today, for your good.

...Love, therefore, the LORD your God, and always keep His charge, His laws, His rules, and His commandments.
From the Haftarah:
I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, They shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine. And all mankind shall know That I the LORD am your Savior, The Mighty One of Jacob, your Redeemer.

~ SHABBAT SHALOM ~