Torah Portion of the Week

Building Character through the Themes of the Weekly Torah Portion

Torah

Deuteronomy 7:12–11:25

Next Reading:

August 16, 2025

22 Av, 5785

Haftarah

Isaiah 49:14–51:3

 וְהָיָה עֵקֶב תִּשְׁמְעוּן אֵת הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים הָאֵלֶּה וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָם וְשָׁמַר ה׳ אֱלֹהֶיךָ לְךָ אֶת־הַבְּרִית וְאֶת־הַחֶסֶד אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע לַאֲבֹתֶיךָ׃

V’ha-yah e-kev tish-m’un et ha-mish-pa-tim ha-e-leh ush-mar-tem va-a-si-tem o-tam v’sha-mar A-do-nai E-lo-hei-kha l’kha et–ha-b’rit v’et–ha-che-sed a-sher nish-ba la-a-vo-tei-kha.

And it shall come to pass, because you hearken to these ordinances, and keep, and do them, that the Lord your God shall keep with you the covenant and the mercy which He swore to your fathers.

Deuteronomy 7:12

Eikev means “reward” or, literally, “because.” Eikev begins with Moses telling the Jewish people that they will experience great blessings—health, abundant produce, prosperity, and fertility—when they follow all of the commandments that God established in the Torah. With the help of God, all of their enemies would be completely conquered.

After admonishing the Israelites to obey God’s commands, Moses began to describe all of their experiences in the desert, including the tests and trials they went through, as well as the miracles they experienced. Despite the tests and trials they endured during their forty years of wandering, their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell, and God provided manna for food. Moses wanted to emphasize that all of this had been provided by God.

Moses goes on to tell the people that in order to teach them to keep His commandments, God disciplines them as a loving parent disciplines his child.

Moses reminded the people to give thanks to God continually for the bounty He provided. They were getting ready to enter a bountiful Land, and they were told to be careful not to put their faith in themselves, but to maintain their faith in God. Everything they had was from God. They were never to presume that by their own hand they would enjoy the fruits of the Land.

Two meaningful lessons that can be derived from this Torah portion are trust and thankfulness.

Trust through Trials

The trials which the Children of Israel went through in the desert have been called “chastisements of love.” The Hebrew word here for “chastisements” also means “instruction.”

These “chastisements of love” were God’s way of disciplining the Children of Israel to instruct them in a way that would help them grow. It has been said that the same way a parent suffers when their child receives punishment (as an act of love for their own betterment), God, too, suffers when we receive punishment. We must trust God and remember that ultimately, His discipline is for our betterment, and will bring about the guidance, instruction, and wisdom that is essential for our personal growth.

Thankful for Everything

Moses strongly cautioned the Israelites that once they entered the Promised Land and experienced all of the wealth and success that God would give them there, they should be careful not to forget the One who provided it.

When things are going our way and we seem to be getting everything we want, it can be easy to become self-centered, arrogant, and full of ourselves, thinking that we earned all of it on our own, by our own strength and effort. We might end up thinking that we are better than those who don’t have as much, and we may even begin lording it over them.

We must remember that everything belongs to God, and everything that we have is a gift from Him. When someone gives you a gift, it is common courtesy to thank them for it. Likewise, we should be thankful to God for everything that He has so generously provided us with. Recognize and enjoy all of the good that you have—and always remember where it came from. Make thankfulness a daily habit.

In describing the beauty and bounty of the Land of Israel, this portion lists the seven species which are native to it:

Wheat
Barley
Grapes
Figs
Pomegranates
Olives
Date Honey

A Glance of Hebrew | Eikev STBM Messer

Pronunciation Guide for Transliterated Hebrew Words

a

[a] as in arm

ai

[ai] as in Thailand

e

[e] as in red

ei

[ei] as in eight

i

[i] as in ski

o

[o] as in score

oi

[oi] as in oil

u

[u] as in rule

ui

[ui] as in gluing

ch/kh

[ch] as in the Scottish loch

g

[g] as in good (not as in giant)

tz

[ts] as in hats

‘

short “eh” or “uh” sound

The Hebrew Scriptures in this text have been derived from the Westminster Leningrad Codex (WLC), and the English translation is based off of the JPS 1917 Tanakh.