Parsha for Kids: Ekev 2023
Below is the transcript for this week’s episode of Parsha for Kids, Ekev 2023.
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Season 5 Episode 3:
Hello! My name is Chana and this is Parsha for Kids. The parsha of the week is Ekev. Ekev has two meanings. One is “because” and one is “heel,” like the heel of your foot. But why would a heel be referenced in the parsha?
Rashi explains that if you listen to the mitzvot that seem small in your eyes, like the kind a person might trample with their heel, then God will keep His promises to you and bless you. Every mitzvah is significant, even the ones that might not seem so important to us.
For example, a person might think that keeping the mitzvah of not committing murder is very important. After all, everyone agrees you shouldn’t kill someone else! But the same person might wonder about the mitzvah of keeping kosher. Does God really care what I eat, they might think? The answer, Moshe tells us, is yes. Even the mitzvot that seem small are still significant.
If we do keep these mitzvot, God will give us all kinds of blessings. He will bless our children, our land, our grain, wine, cattle and sheep. No woman will have a difficult time getting pregnant or having children. God will take illnesses away from us and save us from the plagues that He sent in Egypt. He will take these illnesses and plagues and place them on our enemies instead of us.
TRANSITION
Moshe told Bnei Yisrael, “You might think to yourself, the nations are more numerous and powerful than we are. How will we drive them out of the land?” He cautioned Bnei Yisrael not to to fear them. God performed so many miracles when it came to taking Bnei Yisrael out of Egypt- and raining plagues down upon the Egyptians. God would fight for Bnei Yisrael once again.
Moshe said God would send tzirah in front of Bnei Yisrael when it came time to fight their enemies. Rashi explains that tzirah were a kind of flying insect that injected poison into the Canaanites. The poison caused the Canaanites to become blind, which made it easier for Bnei Yisrael to fight them.
Moshe also taught that God would help Bnei Yisrael destroy the nations of Canaan me’at me’at, little by little. It couldn’t be a one time extinction because then the wild animals in the country would outnumber Bnei Yisrael, and that would be dangerous for them. By explaining this, Moshe made sure that Bnei Yisrael would understand that a gradual conquest was a good thing, not something to worry about. He anticipated their concerns and answered the question they might have had.
Moshe is using a tool called “perspective taking” here. He is considering what Bnei Yisrael’s experience might be like once he is gone. He considers that they might be terrified of the foreign nations, or worried that God is not on their side because God isn’t destroying everyone in one fell swoop. By thinking about what Bnei Yisrael might think or feel, Moshe is able to address their concerns. We can learn from Moshe’s behavior here. If we are ever in a leadership role, and even if we aren’t, we can consider how the people we are in charge of might be feeling about a particular task or situation. By considering their perspective and point of view, we can alleviate their concerns and help them feel better.
TRANSITION
Moshe taught Bnei Yisrael a very important concept.
וְיָֽדַעְתָּ֖ עִם־לְבָבֶ֑ךָ כִּ֗י כַּֽאֲשֶׁ֨ר יְיַסֵּ֥ר אִישׁ֙ אֶת־בְּנ֔וֹ יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ מְיַסְּרֶֽךָּ:
And you shall know in your heart, just as a man chastises his son, so does the Lord your God chastise you.
The word chastise means rebuke or reprimand.
Have you ever done something your parents made very clear you should not do? Did you receive a consequence for your behavior? Parents might have different ways of assigning consequences. Perhaps you had to spend some time in your room thinking about your wrong choice. Or maybe you had to write an essay explaining what you did wrong and how you plan to act differently in the future. Maybe you had a favorite toy taken away from you, or were grounded.
Why do parents do this to their children?
Healthy parents love their children. And it is because they love their children that they take the time to reprimand them. Parents want their children to grow up to be the kind of people who make good choices. That means that parents need to correct their children’s behavior when they are making wrong choices.
By making the comparison between a father and son and God and us, we learn that God gives us consequences because He loves us. If God didn’t care how we acted and whether we made choices that were good for our souls, or good for our community and society, He would leave us alone. But because God does care, He will bring consequences upon us as a nation. These consequences can take many forms- it could be the rain not coming, which means the crops don’t grow, losing an important battle or ultimately being exiled (which means forced to leave) the Land of Israel.
We learned in a previous week’s parsha that God is not a vending machine, and sometimes God says no. In this week’s parsha we learn that God has expectations of us, and He will give us consequences if we do not meet those expectations. But it is coming from a place of love.
TRANSITION
When do you think people turn to God- when things are going well, or when they are going badly?
Many people turn to God when things are going badly. If someone they love is sick or if they do not have enough money, they turn to God in prayer and beg Him to fix the situation for them.
But let’s say things are going well. Let’s say that a person is healthy, living in a beautiful house, and has wonderful children. Does this person remember to pray to God? Does this person remember to thank God and express gratitude for all the good things they have?
Moshe warns that sometimes people forget God. It’s not that they forget He exists, but they forget about His role in their life, or just don’t think about Him very often.
וְאָֽמַרְתָּ֖ בִּלְבָבֶ֑ךָ כֹּחִי֙ וְעֹ֣צֶם יָדִ֔י עָ֥שָׂה לִ֖י אֶת־הַחַ֥יִל הַזֶּֽה:
“And you will say to yourself, MY strength and the might of MY hand has accumulated this wealth for me.”
Of course this is not true. Whatever we have comes from God. This means that when we are dealing with pain, sickness or situations we think are bad, that comes from God. And when we are dealing with happiness, joy and success, that also comes from God. It is important to turn to God in times of distress but also remember to thank Him and remain close to Him during times of plenty.
Unfortunately, humans do not always remember to do this. Moshe warned that if Bnei Yisrael became proud and started to believe that they, human beings, were responsible for all their success, ultimately they would die.
One of the greatest attributes of King David was that he accepted the good and the bad. He believed and had a strong relationship with God when he was experiencing hardships, and also when he was experiencing success. This is one of the reasons that David is the king to which all other Jewish kings are compared, one that was wholehearted with his God.
TRANSITION
Moshe teaches
וְאָֽכַלְתָּ֖ וְשָׂבָ֑עְתָּ וּבֵֽרַכְתָּ֙ אֶת־יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ עַל־הָאָ֥רֶץ הַטֹּבָ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר נָֽתַן־לָֽךְ:
And you will eat and be satisfied and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land that He has given you.
Our Sages learn from this that we have an obligation to bless God after we have eaten a meal with bread. We call this bentching, or Birkat Hamazon, Grace after Meals. There is a set text that we say in which we acknowledge and thank God for giving us food that sustains us.
TRANSITION
Moshe recounts the story of Bnei Yisrarel’s history, including the breaking of the first set of Luchot, tablets, and how he made the second set of Luchot.
Moshe then reminds Bnei Yisrael of their obligations to the orphan, widow and geir. Geir literally means stranger but in this context our Sages understand it to mean a convert. A convert is someone who was not born Jewish but decided to become Jewish. In order to do this, they leaned about Jewish practices, laws and mitzvot and converted with a Beit Din, rabbinical court.
The orphan, widow and convert were all people who lacked protection in Israelite society. The orphan was missing a parent who might otherwise defend him. The widow was missing her husband. And the convert did not have other Jewish family to help him, shelter him or show him the ropes. These marginalized people are the ones God especially adjures us to help. There is even a special commandment to love the geir- not just make sure he is protected but go further than that to love him.
We learn a really important lesson from this. Modern day society is often very status, wealth and fame-focused. For example, on many reality TV shows, people say “I didn't come here to make friends” and engage in cutthroat competition. This is because they are so focused on the end result- becoming famous and winning a lot of money. But fame, money and status are only important to people in this world. When a person dies, they will not be able to take their fame or money with them. And the fact that they were high status and always got to fly first class on an airplane won’t matter either. The important thing is to live your life in a way that will matter to your soul. The body eventually dies but the soul lives forever. And it is the soul that is nourished by acts of kindness, such as helping those who might be having a harder time than we are.
Moshe states, “You shall love the stranger for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” This can be taken two ways. Either, we can see it as a command to be empathetic. We had the experience of being a Jewish nation amongst a larger Egyptian nation, and understand how disorienting that was. This is all the more true for a person who comes from a different background and culture who chooses to convert to Judaism! They too are the minority within the majority.
But Rashi also teaches, “מוּם שֶׁבְּךָ אַל תֹּאמַר לַחֲבֵרְךָ
“Don’t rebuke your friend for a blemish you have yourself.”
For example, if your friend isn’t honest, but you yourself are a liar, you’re not the right person to rebuke her. After all, you have the exact same issue!
TRANSITION
Moshe reiterates how important it is to love and fear God. The parsha ends on a positive note- if we keep all the mitzvot, then God will drive out the Canaanite nations from before us. Moreover, every place Bnei Yisrael’s feet touch, from the desert and the Lebanon, from the river, the Euphrates river until the western sea, will belong to us. No man will be able to stand against us.
In short, God is our protector and savior. When our relationship with Him is strong and loving, we are successful. When it is fractured and broken, we fall.
TRANSITION
So here’s what we learned this week!
All mitzvot are important, even the ones that might seem small in our eyes.
We learn the art of perspective taking from Moshe. He anticipates how Bnei Yisrael might feel or think, and addresses their concerns. If we ever get to lead, and even if we don’t, we should do the same.
God loves us, and even when He punishes us, it comes from a place of love. Just like a father gives his son consequences, so too God gives us consequences when we misbehave.
It’s important to have a relationship with God and to turn to Him when things are going badly AND when things are going well.
It is important to show appreciation to God for the food that we eat.
It is important to protect people like the widow, orphan and convert who might need our help.
If you have any questions or comments on this week’s episode, please email me at parsha4kids@gmail.com. That’s parsha the number 4 kids at gmail.com. Good Shabbos