Toward the end of Parshat Ekev, Moshe presents us with what we know as the second paragraph of the daily Shema. Whereas the first paragraph of the Shema relates to us individually to love and keep Hashem as part of our daily lives, the second paragraph refers to our behaviour, in plural, as a nation to keep to the Torah. The second paragraph, connects us to the land, and we are warned of the dire consequences of straying from the Torah, in that there will be no rain and thus we will not be able to survive on the land Hashem has given us. Interestingly, this is preceded by Moshe telling us that land which Israel is to inherit is unlike Egypt where there is abundant water on the ground and little rain. Bnei Yisrael are moving to a land of hills and valleys where the water is dependent on the rain.
The Ari Hakadosh (Rav Itzchak Luria), in a Kabalistic discussion sees the Exodus from Egypt, as an evolution to the connection between heaven and earth. The transition is from Egypt, where the water is not only abundant but seemingly not dependent on the heavens, to the Holyland where we are dependent on the connection to the heavens above, through rainfall. More powerfully than that the Ari connects us to the opening verse of the Torah, “In the beginning Hashem created the heaven and the earth,” these two domains are totally connected, one does not exist without the other. In the view of the Ari true knowledge and understanding comes from the connection of worldly and earthly matters with spiritual and heavenly matters. Egypt was connected to the river and ground beneath their feet, and as we remember Pharoah and the Egyptians worshipped the Nile. We are being taken to a land with an everlasting connection between heaven and earth and as we are told here, “and land which Hashem watches over from the beginning to the end of the year.”
This connection between heaven and earth is strengthened by the slightly unusually ending to the second paragraph “That your days will be multiplied and the days of your children, on the land which Hashem promised to your forefathers, as the days of heaven above the earth.” The last words here, as the days of heaven above the earth, has often puzzled me, but can be connected to the above discussion. The two domains are completely intertwined and Hashem deliberately designed and created the control of nature through the cycle of water, rising to the clouds in the heavens and flowing back to us through rain. I have only found a single commentator who tackles these closing words, the Netziv, who gives us a daring lesson in cosmology. He explains that over the course of history the coverage of the sea over the continents has changed, some countries have expanded and other disappeared under the sea. This is all controlled by Hashem’s design of the Universe and the sun and planets which give us the twenty four hour day. This will continue to change, but if we keep to the Torah, Hashem will ensure that the land of Israel will always be there and large enough to sustain our nation.
We live near the sea in Netanya, near one of the few cliff areas on our coastline, and for many years we have been promised a lift nearby to go down to the beach, which now after many delays seems to be moving forward. We were told by the Mayor that the latest delay was due to the discovery that, that area of the beach was the turtles breeding ground, A nice story, let’s hope the turtles find a new love nest near the sea.