This Shabat’s parasha is “Ekev”, the portion in which we are on the verge of entering the land. A land that is described as a land of abundance. A Land G-d keeps His eye on, as it says in the text. Says BT Rosh ha Shanah 17b:
“The Lord your G-d always keeps His eye”–sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. How for better? If Israel were utterly evil at the New Year, and it was decreed that there be not much rain, and then the people mended their ways; more rain cannot be given, for the decree was already made. Rather, the Holy One, blessed be He, brings the rain at the proper time on the land that needs rain, all according to the land. How for worse? If Israel were completely righteous at the New Year, and it was decreed that they have plentiful rain, but then the people changed their ways; one could not bring less rain, for the decree had already been made. Rather, the Holy One, blessed be He, causes the rain to fall in the wrong season, on land that does not need it.
Indeed, Rashbam interprets it like this: G-d’s dealings with this Land can be both a blessing and a threat. After all, this is a land quite unlike Egypt, where regular flooding of the Nile ensures abundance. In this land, abundance or scarcity is directly connected to our righteousness, or lack thereof. As such, there is abundance, but also retribution. This thought can be found further on, in the famous “vehaya im shamoa” of Devarim 11:13-22, which we recite daily, as part of the Shema.
There’s a deep sense of a living connection with nature, with ecology. What happens when we are not “righteous” can be seen in the here and now, as the increasing scarcity of natural resources propels us towards a state of a violent struggle for those resources. “Judeo-Christian” attitudes of domination over the natural world are often held responsible for the state we are in now. Yet we find the opposite attitude in this parasha. Gershon Steinberg-Caudill (The Ecorebbe):
Our ancient Storytellers, Prophets (Vision-bringers), Rabbis and Sages did not view the Creation account as a mandate to exploit and abuse the environment. To the contrary! Our ancient Storytellers, Prophets, Rabbis, and Sages considered the Earth our Mother! The first human is called ADAM because he/she (the Adam was androgenous) was created from the DIRT-ADAMAH of the Earth. The author of the Book of Job has Job saying: “My skin is but a clod of earth” (Job 7: 5), and “My life is a Breath” (Job 7: 7)and “I am become as DUST and ASHES” (Job 30:19). Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust; as the old funeral saying goes, that which is from God (the Breath) returns to God; that which is of Earth (the body) returns to Earth.
It is “beyn ha zmanim” at the moment, the stretch of time between Tisha b’Av and the High Holidays. Soon we will be sounding the shofar. That shofar is the emblem of a sacrifice, of the Akedah, the binding of Yitschak. It is often thought that the Akedah concentrates on Avraham’s faith, his unquestioning loyalty towards G-d. I think, however, that the Akedah is about Yitschak, who is prepared to sacrifice himself, just like in Chöd we are a willing sacrifical victim. It’s no coincidence that both sacrifices are symbolized by musical instruments, the Shofar and the Kangling. Yitschak, in the words of the Torah, is replaced, eventually, by “another” animal. The shofar that we play is one of Yitschak’s limbs.