Eikev
What symmetry can we adopt as part of our spiritual practice?
Reflection by Or HaLev teacher
Moran Peled
"We are part of an organism that includes the eternal and our aspiration to it, the world and other human beings. The fuel that drives and allows this organism to exist is love. Without love, we are doomed to loneliness, spiritual decline, and the loss of our vitality.
This message is shared with us by Moshe Rabbino in parashat Eikev.
The time of the Book of Deuteronomy is the end of wandering in the desert, shortly before the death of Moshe. The place where it takes place is the plains of Moab, before entering the promised land. In this context, Parashat Eikev is characterized by a focus on love, and the soft and inclusive tone of Moshe. Even God in the parshah resembles a father who cares for his son:
`And you knew with your heart that your God disciplines you just as a man disciplines his son.` (Deuteronomy 8:5).
The verb א.ה.ב. - love - appears in Parshat Eikev eight times, more than any other torah portion! And it is not for nothing that the Book of Deuteronomy is the book in which this verb appears the most times (20 times), compared to the runner-up,, the book of Genesis, where it appears 14 times.
God's love in the parsha keeps the people safe in the desert. Their love for God saves them from over-concentrating on themselves: `And you said, in your hearts: `my own power and the might of my own hand have won this wealth for me.` (Deuteronomy 8:17). Moreover, this parsha offers the People of Israel a model of healthy, balanced and harmonious living based on symmetry between three components– the people, God, and other:
Four times the torah portion mentions our love for G-d.
Two times God's love for us is mentioned.
Once our love for the other, the foreigner, is mentioned.
Once, God's love for the other, the foreigner, is mentioned.
This symmetry can be adopted as part of any spiritual practice.
We must love the absolute being within ourselves and in the world in order to evolve. It is thanks to this love that we get an experience of love and the opening of the world to us. This love experience is incomplete without a loving awareness towards the other.
In the parsha, love establishes a whole system of support and repeated support. As meditation practitioners, what may begin with the practice of self-love and wishing love for myself and others during meditation may expand, through prayer, awareness and action, to influencing the world around us and receiving nourishing love back to us."