{"id":30792,"date":"2025-08-15T16:58:54","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T19:58:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tuviaserber.com\/?p=30792"},"modified":"2025-08-15T16:58:57","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T19:58:57","slug":"parashat-ekev-words-that-have-an-effect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tuviaserber.com\/en\/parashat-ekev-words-that-have-an-effect\/","title":{"rendered":"Parashat Ekev - Words that have an effect"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week's Torah reading is called Eikev<\/em>, which means \u201cbecause of.\u201d The reading begins: \u201cBecause you will fulfill My commandments, I,\u201d says Gd, \u201cwill keep My covenant with you,\u201d and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Torah itself contains many, many commandments, and in this particular reading there is one \u2014 just one \u2014 called in Hebrew devekut<\/em>. Devekut<\/em> means attachment, to join, so to speak, with Gd. The Torah says: \u201cYou will attach yourself to Me,\u201d says Gd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our sages ask the obvious question: How can you attach yourself to Gd? He is immaterial and spiritual; we are material. What does that even mean? The sages answer: you must emulate Gd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as He visits the sick \u2014 as we know He visited Avraham, our forefather, after his circumcision \u2014 so you should go and visit the sick. Just as He buries the dead \u2014 as we know He buried Moshe Rabbeinu when he passed away \u2014 therefore you should work on burying your dead. In other words, you have to emulate G-d's actions. That is what it means to attach yourself to Him: be like Him, behave like Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, there is one detail in His behavior that we apparently cannot emulate. We know that Gd creates the world constantly through His words. This is what the Torah says: Gd said, \u201cLet there be light\u201d \u2014 and there was light. \u201cLet there be heavens\u201d \u2014 and there were heavens, and so on. He spoke and created the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can we emulate this? Do our words actually create worlds? The answer is no \u2014 obviously not. However, our words dog<\/em> have an effect in the world. How do we see this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will bring two teachings from two great sages, from different times and different places in the world, that explain how our words can have an effect on another person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first was Rabbi Yaakov Tam, who lived in France in the 1100s. He was the grandson of Rashi, the great commentator on the Torah. Rabbi Tam was a great sage, and he used to say one particular phrase: \u201cWords that come from the heart reach the heart.\u201d They have an effect on the other person's heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you just talk \u2014 and those words don't really come from you \u2014 you're just speaking, and so on, then that is not going to reach the heart. That is not going to have an effect on the other person. In other words, it is not going to create something in the other person. But if you speak from your heart, those words penetrate the other person's heart and have an effect there. That's the first idea, from Rabbi Tam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second idea comes from Rabbi Moshe Alshich, a student of the Arizal, around the 1500s in Tzfat, in the north of the Land of Israel. He wrote quite a lot and was one of the very few sages referred to as the holy<\/em> \u2014 like the \u201choly Arizal,\u201d the \u201choly Shlah,\u201d and so on. The \u201choly Alshich\u201d wrote a commentary on the previous parasha, where the Torah talks about the love of Gd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the ideas he brings there, in connection to the Shema and the various commandments in it, is about the verse: \u201cYou shall teach your children.\u201d That is the regular translation: you shall teach your children the words of Torah, and so on. But the Torah uses a very special word here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It does not say, as it says in other places, t'lamed<\/em>, \u201cyou shall teach\u201d \u2014 which comes from limud<\/em>, learning. Instead, it says v'shinantam<\/em>. Shinun<\/em> means to repeat. \u201cYou will repeat and repeat and repeat\u201d \u2014 say it so many times until they understand it, until it is clear in their minds. That is what it means to teach your children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, here comes the Alshich's commentary. He says something very interesting: shinun<\/em> does not only mean to repeat. It also comes from the word for \u201csharp.\u201d When something is sharpened<\/em>, it means it is pointed and penetrating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Alshich connects this to a seen in Psalms: \u201cThe arrows of a mighty person are very sharp.\u201d What does that mean? When you take a bow and want to shoot an arrow, the more you pull the arrow back \u2014 the closer you bring it to your own heart \u2014 the farther it will go and the deeper it will penetrate into the target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Alshich explains: What does it mean to teach your children? It is not just talking about something, not just repeating it. It is more than that. It must be very deep in your own heart. The deeper it is in your own heart, the deeper it will reach the other person's heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we see those words do<\/em> have an effect in the world. Our words have an impact. And through our words, we can learn to emulate Gd. As we learn in this week's portion: attach yourself to Gd, join Him, emulate Him. How do you do that with your words? The deeper they are in your heart, the deeper their effect will be on someone else.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This week\u2019s Torah reading is called Eikev, which means \u201cbecause of.\u201d The reading begins: \u201cBecause you will fulfill My commandments, I,\u201d says G-d, \u201cwill keep My covenant with you,\u201d and so on. The Torah itself contains many, many commandments, and in this particular reading there is one \u2014 just one \u2014 called in Hebrew devekut.… Read More \u00bbParashat Ekev - Words that have an effect<\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30791,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3332],"tags":[3519],"series":[],"class_list":["post-30792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ekev-en","tag-words"],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/tuviaserber.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/00EnglishParasha-2.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/tuviaserber.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/avatar1400.jpeg","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"light","subscribeUrls":{"castbox":{"key":"castbox","url":"","label":"CastBox","class":"castbox","icon":"castbox.png"},"rss":{"key":"rss","url":"","label":"RSS","class":"rss","icon":"rss.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/tuviaserber.com\/en\/feed\/podcast\/rabino-tuvia-serber","embedCode":"

Parashat Ekev - Words that have an effect<\/a><\/blockquote>