~ One Hundred Words on the Parsha - Eikev

ואשברם לעיניכם (דברים ט:יז)

Moshe tells bnei Yisrael, I broke them (the luchos) in front of your eyes (literally, “to your eyes”).

The eyes that beheld the molten image that the Jews made were now not able to see insights in the Torah. As we see from the verse in Tehillim (119:18), גל עיני ואביטה נפלאות מתורתך – “Uncover my eyes so that I will see wonders in the Torah.” Our eyes need to be uncovered from whatever is blocking them from gaining insights in Torah. Chazal state specifically that after the breaking of the luchos it became much more difficult to understand תורה שבעל פה.

ואשברם לעיניכם – I broke them to your eyes – this will affect your eyes as they relate to learning Torah.

~ One Hundred Words on the Parsha - Eikev

“All that ה' asks of you is to fear him…”

The גמרא comments that the above verses make fearing ה' sound easy which, in fact, it is not. The גמרא goes on to say, however, that from משה רבינו‘s perspective it was, indeed, easy.

The Tchebener Rov quotes the ב"ח as noting that in על המחיה, we petition ה' to eat of its fruits and be satiated with its goodness, because fruits that grow in ארץ ישראל derive קדושה from the land. That leads to יראת שמים. The Rov continues that since משה רבינו was so great in יראת שמים, he did not need to eat the fruit of the land to be imbued with the קדושה leading to this יראה. Why, then, was he so anxious to enter the land? In order, as חז"ל say, to observe the מצוות תלויות בארץ.