Parashat Ekev
Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25
Isaiah 49:14-51:3
These days I am quite familiar with cravings. Lemons, limes and grapefruit tend to do the trick. Throughout my pregnancy, food has frequently been on my mind. Cravings, though, are not only something that pregnant women experience. We all know the familiar hankering for something savory or sweet.
Despite the abundance of manna that God provided, we also know that the Israelites in the wilderness experienced constant cravings. Even though manna was given to them every day, and in a measure appropriate for each person’s needs, nevertheless, they were still hungry and yearned for more.
In this week’s Torah portion, Ekev, we learn, “God subjected you to the hardship of hunger and then gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your ancestors had ever known, in order to teach you that man does not live by bread alone, but that human beings may live on anything that God decrees” (Deut. 8:3).
Usually interpreted to mean that human beings are not fulfilled by material things alone, this phrase offers a broader meaning as well.
The portion continues with a warning to the Israelites. Once they have entered the Land of Israel — a land with streams and fountains, a land of wheat and barley, vines, figs and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey — they should take care not to become arrogant and forget the true source of their wealth.
Our obligation today to thank God after the conclusion of a meal is based on this verse from Ekev: “When you have eaten and are satisfied, give thanks to Adonai your God for the good land which God has given you” (Deut. 8:10).
In addition to offering gratitude for the gifts that we receive, medieval Jewish philosopher Judah Halevi observes that by blessing God, we double our enjoyment of the food.
And, because this verse includes the instruction not only to eat, but “to eat and be satisfied,” it hints at other human needs besides hunger. We know that manna did not satisfy the spiritual yearning of the people. They continued to yearn for God’s presence.
Food feeds the body but not the spirit. We experience spiritual cravings as well.
If you pause and reflect, we usually recite a blessing before we perform a certain action. However, there are two actions that require a blessing both before and after — the act of eating and the act of reading Torah.
We recite Hamotzi before we eat and Birkat Hamazon following a meal. When one is called up for an aliyah to the Torah, he or she recites a blessing before and after the Torah reading.
By framing these two sacred acts with blessings, our tradition teaches that they are on an equal level of holiness. The sages pointed out in Pirkei Avot, “If there is no flour [sustenance] there is no Torah; if there is no Torah there is no flour.” Human beings crave nourishment for both the body and the soul.
In Judaism, the two come together around our kitchen table. Over time, the table came to be seen as God’s altar. This is why our rabbis taught, “Whoever speaks words of Torah at the table, it is as though they had eaten from the table of the Holy One.”
One of my favorite Shabbat memories is of sitting around the Shabbat table, surrounded by friends, eating and singing long into the evening. The Shabbat table serves as an ideal, “a taste of the world to come,” as it aims to fulfill both our physical and spiritual hunger.
During these troubled times, may our tables serve to strengthen ties of community and increase holiness in our lives.
Rabbi Karen S. Citrin is the associate rabbi at Reform Peninsula Temple Beth El in San Mateo.