The Netivot Shalom comments:’Only in our Parasha do we find the promise of ‘and He’, Hashem, ‘will love you’.
Why here?
To answer this, let us bring the relevant psukim:(7:12-13)’והיה עקב:This shall be the reward when you hearken to these ordinances, and you observe and perform them; Hashem, your G-d, will safeguard for you the covenant and the kindness that He swore to your forefathers. He will love you, bless you, and multiply you’.
Rashi brings the exposition of our Sages, on the opening words, notes that עקב- in addition to the literal meaning of ‘reward’, in Hebrew is also ‘heel’. Thus they say:’If you will heed the minor commandments which one (usually) tramples with his heel’.
The Maharal, on this Rashi, notes that it is far from Rashi’s usual practice, of bringing the plain meaning of the words, and explains: ‘He felt compelled to expound that the Torah here is talking about ‘minor’ Mitzvot, as why otherwise would it use the word ‘עקב’, and not simply say: ‘if you observe my ordinances’, as it does in Parashat Bechukotai.
‘By choosing the word עקב, it came to teach us, that even for a ‘little’ thing, for which you might think there is no reward, there IS a reward, for its observance’.
Here we ask: What are these ‘minor commandments that man usually tramples under his heel’?
Answers Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch:’In each generation, we are to especially pay heed to observe those Mitzvot which are being neglected, the generation seeing them as being of little importance tothem, and therefore, as it were, are ‘Mitzvot that men trample under their heel’.
‘This arbitary distinction between ‘important’ Mitzvot, and ‘minor’ ones, has always brought disaster to our people. The first Mikdash was destroyed because of the people’s laxity in observing Mitzvot between man and man; the second Mikdash was destroyed because of the non-observance of Mitzvot between man and Hashem.
‘The Torah here lays down that the first result of the observance of Hashem’s Mitzvot, is that ‘He will love you’; He will see in you His faithful servant, as you are nullifying your will before His. He will therefore love you, in the way that a Master loves his faithful servant.
‘In addition, since all your actions are only those that are in accordance with His Will, ‘your success is His success’, and He will bless them, as their fruition enhances His kingship on earth’.
The Kli Yakar offers the following answer:’The Mitzvot in question are the חוקים: the Mitzvot for which we do not know the reason.
‘This leads the Nations, and other unbelievers, to mock us, and to deride those who wish to perform them, as ‘fools’.
‘This may cause those whose Emunah is less than perfect, to refrain from performing them, and, as it were, ‘to trample them under their heel’.
‘Those who, ‘against the people’- the mockers- nevertheless observe these חוקים, merit the reward, in the words of the Psalmist: (Ps’ 19:12)’When your servant is scrupulous in them, in observing them, there is great reward’.
Surely, these faithful servants, who perform these Mitzvot in the face of the mockery, and despite their ‘benefit’ being obscured, merit Hashem’s love!
Rav Eliyahu Shlezinger proffers that the Torah is here alluding to Tefilla: prayer, a Mitzvah that is תדיר: frequent-as we pray three times each and every day- and, perhaps because of its regularity, not performed with the appropriate respect.
‘Later in our Parasha, we find the parsha of ‘Yirat Hashem’, in which we are enjoined that Hashem ‘only asks of us’ to be in awe of Him, to go in all of His ways, AND to love Him, and to serve Him with all of your heart and all of your soul’.
‘Our Sages ask on this injunction: What is: ‘To serve Him with all of your heart’? Their answer: What is service of the heart? It is tefilla: prayer’.
‘Our Sages (Brachot 6) lament ‘there are matters which concern the loftiest heights, yet men didrespect them’. Rashi, there, comments:’Like tefilla, which ascends upwards’.
Yet, these are seen by some as ‘minor Mitzvot which are trampled under their heel’!
How far we have fallen in this lofty matter from the earlier generations, can be seen from the teaching of our Sages:(Brachot 30:):’The first chasidim would wait one hour, and only then pray, so that their hearts should יתכוון:properly be directed to our heavenly Father’.
Our Sages, in another place, teach that רחמנא ליבא בעי: ‘Hashem wants our hearts’: surely then, those who, despite there being a general laxity and lack of proper respect to tefilla- do not perform this Mitzvah in the perfunctory and mindless way that we walk, merit, measure-for- measure, that their love of Hashem is reciprocated, and that, ‘He will love them’’.
The Netivot Shalom, in whose name we raised our question, offers a beautiful answer:’The letters of עקב, are an acronym for קדש עצמך במותר: the Ramban’s famous dictum: ‘Sanctify yourself in those things which are permitted’: do not be contemptible in matters that are ‘permitted’- i.e. not specifically prohibited by the Torah.
‘In addition to not transgressing those Mitzvot which forbid certain actions, even in those not forbidden, fulfil the over-riding injunction: קדושים תהיו: You shall be ‘holy’. This applies in conduct, in the manner in which we eat, and in all things and desires.
‘In respect of prohibited matters, there is the threat of punishment that deters a person from offending; thus, abstention from those actions does not necessarily reflect from the love of Hashem.
‘Those who sanctify themselves in these permitted areas, clearly do so out of their love of Hashem, abstaining only because they wish to fulfill the Will of Hashem’.
‘In return, Hashem ‘will love you’: since the way of Hashem is measure-for-measure: if a Jew sanctifies himself even in that which is permitted by the Torah, and does so only because of his love of Hashem, and surrenders all his permitted desires and pleasures to Hashem out of his desire to give נחת רוח to Him, as a reward, ‘Hashem will love him’: he causes Hashem’ s love for him to be aroused.
‘Therefore, only here, is the promise ‘He will love you’, given’.
The Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh adds:’Why does the Torah here write the word והיה: ‘and it shall be’? Further, why does it write עקב, and not simply write:’If you observe..’, as it does elsewhere?
‘The answer may be found in the teaching of our Sages that: והיה in all places signifies simcha: happiness. Moshe Rabbeinu here came to teach the people that they are only to rejoice when they have observed ALL of Hashem’s Mitzvot; if they should be lacking in any one of the Mitzvot, whatever ‘kind’ it may be, there is no place for simcha.
‘This is why the Torah says והיה עקב: the ‘end’, simcha, is only a consequence: בעקבות, of the performance of all of Hashem’s Mitzvot’.
A parting gem, based on the insight of the Ba’al HaTurim: ‘The numerical value of עקב is 172, which is also the number of words in the first Ten Commandments, and therefore promises great reward’.
Might not the Sage be alluding to the lofty level of Bnei Israel, at that stand, when they declared as one:’All that Hashem says, we shall do and we shall hearken’. Their commitment surely was to observe all commandments- major or minor- and not to ‘trample any under their heel’.
And, this merited Hashem’s love!
לרפואת נועם עליזה בת זהבה רבקה, ונחום אלימלך רפאל בן זהבה רבקה, בתוך שאר חולי עמנו.