The thoughts of your heart

One of the modern tools I enjoy using when studying the parsha is Ctrl+F. The patterns in the verses that in days of old took devotion, diligence and brilliance to notice, can now be noted and studied with a quick find function.

This leads me to a unique word usage that comes to prominence in this week’s parsha, Eikev. If you search all of the Book of Devarim (which I did) for the term meaning “in your heart” (בבלב) you will find it a total of six times, spread throughout the 34 chapters of the book. Yet, you will note that there is a cluster of four instances, two thirds of the total, that appear in our parsha. Each one is addressed to the Jewish People and their thoughts as they cross over the Jordan into the Land of Israel. The clustering of these references calls our attention to a unit that we can interpret as one.

Of that cluster, there are two specific references that give us an idea of the whole.

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The first instance, at the very beginning of the parsha (7:17-18): “If you say in your heart: ‘These nations are greater than me; how can I dispossess them?’ do not be afraid of them; remember what your God did to Pharaoh.” Here, the Jewish heart is questioning the Jews’ ability to fulfill their destiny of settling the Land, and God reassures them, reminding them of the recent Exodus from Egypt.

The next instance stands distinct from the first. Here the verse reads (9:4): “Do not say in your heart…: ‘For my righteousness God has brought me in to possess this land.’”

The first reference tells us of the Jewish People’s response as they look over the horizon into a new land and they feel afraid. They see the strength of the peoples of Canaan and question their ability to survive their ascension to the Land of Israel. The second occurrence is the exact opposite. Here, the Jewish People are looking into the future and they have already successfully settled the land — and at that moment, they indulge national and religious arrogance. They see their success formed by their “righteousness” and the “strength of their hands.” God dispels this illusion, too, and explicates that the success grows from His infinite strength and love of his People.

What is so interesting about this pair of thoughts that the people have — linked in the phrasing of “in your heart” — is that they are exactly the opposite of each other. The Jewish People are both overconfident and insecure. Yet, God’s response to each of these is that their experiences need to be put into fuller religious context. Before they enter the land and they are overcome by the strength of the people of Canaan, they must zoom out to see that it was God who took them from Egypt, a nation far more powerful than the chieftains of Canaan. When the Jewish People are settled and secure and they look back with satisfaction at what they have accomplished, and once more have cut God’s role out of the picture, they again need to take a broader perspective and note the wide frame of time and destiny.

The pairing of these experiences and responses demonstrates that no matter the circumstance or environment, the inclination of our hearts is to cut the frame in a way that leaves God out. To this we must continue to respond with a reframing, both broader and deeper, that shows God’s impact throughout history, that will allow us to accurately interpret God’s role and ours. PJC

Rabbi Yitzi Genack is the rabbi of Shaare Torah Congregation. This column is a service of the Vaad Harabonim of Greater Pittsburgh.