Third Reading: The Yeshivah of the Future
Parashat Eikev is blessed with beautiful descriptions of the Land of Israel, including the Seven Species with which the land is blessed and its description as “a land of olive oil and honey.” The Land of Israel is described as “a good land, a land of brooks of water, fountains and depths that emerge in valleys and hills.” The beauty, richness, and even the strength of nature is extensively expressed in the parashah: “a land of mountains and valleys, drinking water from the rain of heaven.” The Land of Israel and its conquest are recurring themes in the parashah.
These descriptions of nature do not only illuminate the what the Israelites will encounter in the future during the conquest of the Land of Israel. They also reflect what already occurred at Mount Sinai. We see this in an additional detail that Moses adds regarding Mount Sinai. When reminding the people of the Sin of the Golden Calf, he reveals that, “I threw its dust into the brook that descends from the mountain.” Until now, we did not know that water flowed from Mount Sinai in the form of a brook. This brook carries some deeper meaning.
THE DESCENT OF THE TORAH
Those meticulous in their reading of the Torah text have pointed out the following. In the Ten Commandments as they appear in parashat Yitro, there are exactly 620 letters. However, in parashat Va’etchanan, the parashah preceding Eikev, there are 88 additional letters in the Ten Commandments, where 88 is the value of “brook” (לחנ). Symbolically, this addition of the “brook” descending from the mountain reflects the difference between the first set of Tablets and the second set.
The first Tablets were entirely the work of God, whereas the second Tablets were physically crafted by Moses, with the writing added by God.
Moreover, the first set of Tablets represent the Torah as it exists above (a Torah that Moses needed to ascend to the heavens to bring down), while the added “brook” descending downward indicates, as the Alter Rebbe expressed, that “the Torah is likened to water—just as water descends from a high place to a low place, so too the Torah descended from its place of glory, which is His blessed will and wisdom... and from there it journeyed and descended through the hidden steps, from level to level in the chain of worlds, until it was clothed in physical matters and worldly affairs... so that every mind could grasp it.”
THE TORAH OF THE LAND OF ISRAEL
Just as the brook descending from Mount Horeb, the brooks and springs of the Land of Israel also symbolize the journey and descent of the Torah as it becomes clothed in physical matters. However, while at Mount Sinai, God’s will was enclothed in physical commandments, the brooks and springs of the Land of Israel bring the Torah down to be engarbed within nature—representing the connection between Torah and science.
A foundational example of this connection can be found in the request of Caleb’s daughter, Achsah, when she sought to be married. She approached her father, saying, “Give me a blessing, for you have given me the south land; give me also springs of water.” On the surface, Achsah was expressing dissatisfaction with the dowry she received from her father, Caleb. However, on a deeper level, this request symbolizes the rectification of the sin of Adam in the Garden of Eden. Adam ate from the Tree of Knowledge after being tempted by Eve. Indeed, it is the role of the woman to tempt—not for wrongdoing, God forbid, but to draw the man down from his somewhat detached place above reality, to “know,” meaning to engage with her. As the well-known play on words says, “A kosher woman does/makes the will of her husband,” meaning she endeavors with her feminine wisdom to create or direct her husband’s will. Similarly, Achsah, whose name connects her with the primordial serpent, came to ask her father, Caleb, not to leave her barren and dry like the southern land, but to give her a blessing—symbolized by a reservoir of water descending from above to irrigate and fertilize a desolate land.
THE YESHIVAH OF THE FUTURE
The Torah of the first Tablets, from Mount Horeb before the brook descended from it, is primarily a masculine Torah, one that is not easy or quick to engage with reality. The Torah of the second set of Tablets had already descended from its lofty place to fulfill God’s will (her “husband”) by connecting with and transforming reality (e.g. tefillin from animal hides, ink from plants, etc.). The Torah of the Land of Israel, symbolized by Achsah, entices her “husband” to descend even further into nature itself, revealing how every part of creation truly testifies to the Creator, and how God surveyed the Torah in order to create the world with all its elements, from the human to the inanimate.
The Torah of the Land of Israel, likened to the waters of its brooks and springs that flow in the valley and the mountain, entices God to reveal Himself within the study of nature. The yeshivot of the future in the Land of Israel are destined to bring the Torah into the world of nature, and when nature itself will testify to the Creator. This will not only be a rectification for Eve but also a rectification for the snake in the Garden of Eden.
Studying the Torah in this manner is among the central roles of the Mashiach—especially Mashiach ben Yosef, to use the language of the Midrash, or “the one who is presumed to be Mashiach,” to use the language found in the Rambam—who is entrusted with the duty of rectifying the serpent.
(Translated from Alon Gal Einai, issue #6; based on a class from 10th of Av, 5766)
