Torah Tidbits || Israel Center

Torah Tidbits

22 May 2012 / 1 Sivan 5772

Issue 917

Parshat Eikev 5770

August 03, 2010

Lead Tidbits

Sedra Stats

Sedra Stats - Parashat Eikev

46th of the 54 sedras;
3rd of 11 in D’varim
Written on 231.83 lines in a Torah; rank: 14

Lead Tidbit

Think of a gift of value that you have given someone and/or received from someone. To or from a parent, your spouse, a sibling, a child, a friend. Now think of the thank you that you either received or gave. Verbally or in writing…....Birkat HaMazon is one of our Thank You notes to G-d. We thank Him for the food He provides us and all living creatures. And we thank Him for several special features His gift of life provides us with.

Aliya-by-Aliya Sedra Summary

Aliya-by-Aliyah - Parashat Eikev

SDT: stands for Short D’var Torah, and is a long-standing feature of Torah Tidbits. Usually interdispersed within the Aliya-by-Aliya Sedra Summary, they make a short point about a single issue in the sedra. Many an SDT have been shared at Shabbat tables throughout Israel (and abroad, via the internet) for many years. Here is one for Parshat Eikev…

Chizuk and Idud

Chizuk & Idud - Parashat Eikev

By Rabbi Menachem Schrader, Efrat

In Parshat Eikev, Moshe Rabeinu informs the Jewish people that God has chosen them to inherit the land of Israel - not because they are worthy of that prize, but rather because of the evil of those who presently inhabit the land, and because of the merit of the Patriarchs and the oath made to them. These are very sobering words, to say the least.

Wisdom & Wit

Wisdom and Wit - Parashat Eikev

By Shmuel Himelstein

A Ba’al T’shuva complained to the Maggid of Mezeritch that even though he was now a fully observant Jew, he still had thoughts going back to the time that he had not been observant.

Vebbe Rebbe

CASE: The plaintiff (=P) hired the defendant (=D) to handle an investment sum of $5000 at his discretion. According to P, D claimed to be able to reach 50% profits annually. P maintained the ability to follow the investment’s progress and withdraw the money at any time. They signed a contract that stipulated the conditions for distributing profits. The contract also mentioned the risk factor, which, it said, corresponded to the great possibility of high returns. The contract also warned against investing more than 40% of one’s portfolio in this type of investment. After achieving a 10% profit in the first few days, the investment plummeted to a mere $36. P does not claim that there was negligence in the way the investment was handled but said that he was not sufficiently warned about the degree of danger of loss this investment carried (D disputes this claim). Rather, P says that since he was misinformed about the investment, the whole transaction should be void and the money should be reimbursed.

Ethical Teachings of the Torah

THE CHALLENGE OF MONEY: WAGES AND LABOR; EMPLOYER AND EMPLOYEE [part 2]

By Dr. Meir Tamari

Monetary wages have a moral dimension in that what is being paid for is clearly stated, easily measurable and requires no disclosure on the part of the recipient. Benefits on the other hand, are none of these; furthermore, they vary according to the status of the employee and sometimes even between individuals in the same group. In socialist and planned economies, the very nature of non-monetary wages encouraged evasion of the publicly proclaimed egalitarian wage structure that was contrary to economics, while at the same time encouraged accept- able falsehoods both of the employees and their superiors.

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