When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the L-rd your G-d (Deut. 8:10)
A Jew doesn't pray to G-d only in difficult circumstances, when he is poor and hungry. Even in the best of times, when he has "eaten and is full," he should remember that it is G-d Who has given him all these blessings and that he should thank Him accordingly. (Lev Simcha)
A blessing for obeying the commandments of the L-rd your G-d.and a curse, if you will not obey the commandments (Deut. 11:27-28)
The Torah's language is significant and precise: G-d promises to bless the Jews for obeying His commandments, yet threatens to curse them "if" they will not obey. The blessing is assured; the curse is only conditional. In fact, all Jews will return to G-d in the End of Days and receive His blessing. (Panim Yafot)
And you shall bind up the money in your hand (Deut. 14:25)
The Torah commands the Jew to "bind up" his money and rule over it, and not the other way around. In other words, his monetary affairs must never exert such an influence over him that he becomes subservient. (Rabbi Meir of Premishlan)
It states in Psalms (51:16): "Save me from bloodshed ('damim'), O G-d, G-d of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness." In Hebrew, the word "damim" also means money; King David was thus praying that he never make the mistake of considering money to be G-d. (Rabbi Moshe of Kovrin)
Reprinted from the Parshat Eikev 5760/2000 edition of L’Chaim.
Courtesy YIVO – 1926 photo of unemployed Jewish seamstress at her sewing machine in Bialystok, Poland.
