Menachem Mirski
Thoughts on Parashat Eikev 5784
It may be boring to start a d’var Torah again by saying “we live in times of huge societal tensions and disagreements, where everyone is fighting with each other etc”. But it’s true. Was it different one, two, three decades ago? Who knows, some say yes, some say no. We, human beings, have a pretty strong and natural tendency to idealize our past: oh, things were not that wrong in the ‘80s. Oh, the ‘90s was such a great decade. No, it wasn’t. I lived through those times as a kid and then as a teenager, I was surrounded by a loving family and through the lens of my youth remember these times as very pleasant. But it wasn’t that great then either. I remember pain, frustration and several bad things that happened then. But as long as you are not depressed or traumatized by something bad memories are just memories and good, pleasant memories are uplifting!
Anyway, sometimes relationships between human beings go down the route that we realize we have enough of each other. We go home then, limit our human community to the closest people we have and separate ourselves from all that makes us feel anxious or upset. It’s a natural mechanism, we all need that from time to time. It reveals some part of human essence that is addressed in our Torah portion for this week:
Yet it was to your ancestors that יהוה was drawn out of love for them, so that you, their lineal descendants, were chosen from among all peoples—as is now the case. Cut away, therefore, the thickening (lit. foreskin, Hebr. וּמַלְתֶּ֕ם אֵ֖ת עׇרְלַ֣ת לְבַבְכֶ֑ם) of your hearts and stiffen your necks no more. For your God יהוה is God supreme and Lord supreme, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who shows no favor and takes no bribe, but upholds the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and befriends the stranger, providing food and clothing.—You too must befriend the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. (Deuteronomy 10:15-19)
What does it mean to cut the foreskin of your heart (sometimes translated as circumcise your heart)? Before I tell you what I think it means let me quote two major commentators of Jewish holy writings. Here is what Rashi says about it:
[YE SHALL CIRCUMCISE] THE FORESKIN OF YOUR HEART — This means: ye shall remove the closure and cover that is on your hearts, [which prevent My words gaining entrance to them]
And here is how another great commentator, Ibn Ezra, thinks about this expression:
CIRCUMCISE THEREFORE THE FORESKIN OF YOUR HEART. The reference is to separation from lusts, which are as gross and leaden as a foreskin. It is also possible that it refers to cleansing the heart until one understands the truth.
Both of these answers are compatible and describe the foreskin of the heart as something in line with the way Jewish tradition perceived this element of male body: as something redundant that is at the same time an obstacle which needs to be removed. According to both Rashi and Ibn Ezra, this obstacle prevents human beings from hearing the Divine words. I completely agree with this view but I would add something more: the idea of removing it is tied in the same verse to the idea of not being of a stiff neck anymore, namely, ceasing to be stubborn. And this, in my opinion, refers not only to human-Divine relationship but also to human-human relationships, given the fact that this whole passage talks about creating a just and kind human community. Therefore, I believe that the message of the verse is the following: human beings are not naturally predicated to create just, peaceful and thriving human communities. The animalistic part of our essence constantly drives us in the direction of survival or dominance rather than living in peaceful harmony with one another. Therefore, in order to live in peace and harmony with other human beings we need to ‘correct’ our nature; not to suppress but correct and adjust it in a way that our emotions and our instincts will serve us and that we won’t serve them. We need to remove this obstacle because it leads to moral corruption.
That’s what I believe “the foreskin of your hearts” (orlat levavchem) stands for – a natural fear, reserve we have towards other human beings, an obstacle we need to overcome in order to create together an open, kind and vibrant human community. A community in which people don’t fear or resent each other, because they have ways to express themselves and their needs without fear of being condemned or rejected. A human community that highly values honesty, freedom of thought, belief and expression that is at the same time dominated by love, kindness and mutual understanding. You need to have all parts of this equation present at the same time in a properly functioning human community. You cannot have true love, kindness and understanding when your thoughts and feelings are suppressed by others and you are afraid to express them. On the other hand, you will ruin every human relationship if you always speak what’s on your mind. So, be open, be transparent and honest, say what you believe you should say and do it always in a kind and respectful way.
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Mirski
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