Parshat Ekev
Mina Cohen
While I waited for Ada to be born on that long Saturday, one of the things I did to pass the time was look at the torah reading for that day. Every week a portion of the torah is read in chronological order and every Jewish community throughout the world reads the same portion each week.
The portion that week was Eikev and it's the third portion in the book of Deuteronomy. There are some beautiful passages in this reading and one that I think is especially meaningful for this family. It goes like this:
God would make you know that man does not live by bread alone.
In Israel there is a theatre company called Na'Laga'at (Please Touch). It is a meeting place for hearing and visually challenged people that invites everyone in. They invite participation in a dialogue that promotes the needs and aspirations of every person, in the belief that all human beings are equal and every person has the right to make his or her contribution to society.
One of their performances is called "Not by Bread Alone" that takes the audience on a magical tour of their inner world, a world of darkness, silence, and bread. As the process of bread making unfolds on stage the actors and the audience explore memories, dreams, and joyful moments and are able to "touch" the spark of Creation present in all of us. Bread is a symbol of our need for a home and for our ability to share our good fortune with others. Yael and Ben's family is one that very much espouses these ideas and Ada will undoubtedly be inspired to follow them as well.
Skipping some of the "sterm and drang" in between in the torah portion we come to:
God is bringing you to a good land, a land with brooks of water, fountains and depths, that emerge in valleys and mountains. A land of wheat and barley, vines and figs, and pomegranates, a land of oil producing olives and honey.
This is a family that enjoys good food and wine and cares about the natural world that Ada is going to grow up in and enjoy. The verses go on:
A land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, you will lack nothing in it, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose mountains you will hew copper. And you will eat and be sated, and you will bless God, for the good land given to you.
This last part appears in the blessing after meals. It's said after every meal to acknowledge and give thanks for what we have. When Yael was a child she liked the melody for this blessing so much she used to sing it in the car. I guess it helps to have a catchy melody that hopefully she can teach Ada. But the idea of saying a blessing after each meal helps us to acknowledge our good fortune and be intentional as we make our way through this very complicated thing called life.