Machshavot HaLev - Yeshivat Lev HaTorah

210
Eikev
One Moment at a Time
Rav Natanel Lebowitz
T he pasuk in this week’s parsha (Eikev 10:12) states, “And now, Yisrael, what is
Hashem asking from you but to just to fear Him, follow all His ways, love Him and
serve Him with all our heart.” It is not such a big request. We should easily be able to
achieve the instructions the Torah gives.
The Gemara in Berachos (33b) asks, are the commands of the pasuk a small thing?
Loving and fearing Hashem are extremely difficult and the Torah is even asking us to
do it with all our heart. Why does the Torah make it sound like it should be so simple?
The Gemara answers that for Moshe it was a small thing. After everything that Moshe
witnessed and experienced, it was easy for him to attain this high level of complete
commitment. Moshe saw with his own eyes how indescribably awesome Hashem’s
infiniteness was and for him there was no other option but to fulfill the charges of the
pasuk.
However, where does this leave me? The Torah was not just speaking to Moshe and it
even introduces the pasuk with, “And now, Yisrael,” which directs the commands that
follow to everyone! Furthermore, we believe that Moshe was the ultimate teacher. As
the ultimate teacher, he should know better than anyone else that what is easy for me
may not be as easy for my students. When presenting an idea to an audience, we need
to present the idea in a manner that speaks to those we are instructing.
To address this idea, perhaps we should focus on the first word of the pasuk. If the