The Ran on Ekev

Moses warns the people not to forget God after they enter the land and settle contentedly; he tells them how this could happen: "Lest you eat and become satiated, build good houses and settle…and all you have shall increase. And your heart shall be exalted and you shall forget the Lord your God who took you out of the land of Egypt…"(12-14). The enjoyable life that God gives us may turn us away from Him. Pleasures can make one vain and not wish to acknowledge the source of one's luxury. Yesterday we discussed what such pride in one's accomplishments can lead to; but if a person is successful, how can he or she not feel pride?

After the Torah warns that the individual's heart may become exalted, this leading to the forgetting of God, it says: "And you shall say in your heart, my strength, and the might of my hand, has made for me this wealth." It then continues: "You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you strength to beget wealth." (verses 17-18) How does the Torah view the claim, "my strength and the might of my hand, has made for me this wealth"? Most readers understand it negatively. Attributing success to human power is incorrect; everything emanates from God; your strength is not your own, nor is your wealth. By this reading, verse 18 counters verse 17 by contradicting it. The person had become proud and had forgotten God (verse 14), the expression of this pride, in disregarding God, is his attribution of success to himself. Considered thus, these verses require a radical view of human interaction in the world. Providential influence is total, and must be considered the exclusive cause of all that takes place.

While we may naturally nod to such a claim, we must realise what it assumes. We know that our actions are not determined in advance; we have free choice, and are therefore morally responsible for our behaviour. But if human success is not to be attributed to human effort, we must believe that while God does not interfere with our choices, He not only reserves control of their effects, but is in reality their sole cause. One can argue this, but it demands a total review of our understanding of reality. Usually one assumes that free choice means that one is able to act in the world freely, and cause things to happen. If one wishes to accumulate wealth, one can do so; within certain parameters, God has enabled us to direct our destiny. But the reading that we are now considering insists that human beings make no real changes in the world; everything is providential; you only choose to act, but the effect is divine.

The Ran (Rabeinu Nisim, Spain, 1320-1380) in his Derashot (10^th derasha), offers an alternative reading of these verses (adopted by Abarbanel). The Torah does not contradict our natural assumption that we are able to make effects in the world. Verse 17 tells us what one may feel upon finding oneself successful: "my strength and the might of my hand, has made for me this wealth." This is not incorrect. We might say that it is a wrong focus, but not an empirical mistake. The Torah does not argue against such an intuitive notion, rather, we are told: "You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you strength to beget wealth." The human being is reminded of the source of his success - where his strength comes from. Pride has no place because God is the ultimate source of everything. But one's intuitive sense of being an actor in the world is correct; you did gather wealth, but it was God who gave you the ability to do so, and He helped you all the way. When one understands what is really going on human pride is illogical, not because you do not cause things to happen, but because there is a wider and deeper picture.

Courtesy of Yeshivat Har Etzion - www.etzion.org.il