Growing in Our Service of God

Torah Thoughts on Parshas Ekev by Rabbi Ephraim Kletenik

"וְשָׁמַרְתָּ אֶת מִצְוֹת ה' אֱלֹקֶיךָ לָלֶכֶת בִּדְרָכָיו וּלְיִרְאָה אֹתוֹ"  דְבָרִים ח':ו'

“And you shall guard the commandments of God your Lord to go in His ways and to fear Him.”  Devarim 8:6

There is a mitzvah of "וְהָלַכְתָּ בִּדְרָכָיו" – “And you shall follow in His ways.” We are obligated to emulate Hashem’s attribute of being kind and merciful. The Chafetz Chaim points out that this mitzvah is mentioned three times in this week’s parashah. The first instance is found in our pasuk (8:6): “And you shall guard the commandments of God your Lord to go in His ways and to fear Him.” Here the mitzvah of following in Hashem’s ways is mentioned before the mitzvah of fearing Hashem. 

Later in the parashah the Torah says (12:10): “And now Israel, what does God, your Lord ask of you? Only to fear God, your Lord, to go in all His ways and to love Him.” Here the mitzvah of following in Hashem’s ways is mentioned after the mitzvah of fearing Him and before the mitzvah of loving Him. 

Finally, near the end of the parashah, it says (11:22): “For if you will carefully observe this entire commandment that I command you, to do it, to love God your Lord, to go in all His ways and to cling to Him.” Here the mitzvah of following in Hashem’s ways is mentioned after the mitzvah of loving Him and before the mitzvah of clinging to Him. 

The Chafetz Chaim says that there are three levels in serving Hashem. The lowest level is that of serving Him out of fear. The second level is serving Him out of love. The highest level is clinging to Him. The difference between the last two is that serving Him out of love might not be constant but it happens in moments of inspiration, whereas clinging to Hashem implies serving Him out of constant love.

We have found that the mitzvah of "וְהָלַכְתָּ בִּדְרָכָיו" appears here three times, once before fearing Hashem, once before loving Hashem, and once before clinging to Hashem. The Torah arranges the mitzvah of how we are to treat others with kindness and mercy adjacent to the ways to emulate Hashem. The Torah is thereby teaching us that it is impossible for a person to grow in his service of Hashem without growing in His relationship with other people – בֵּין אָדָם לְחֲבֵרוֹ.

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Rabbi Ephraim Kletenik (FYHS 1970) is the 7th Grade Rebbe and General Studies Principal of Yeshivas Tiferes Tzvi. He also serves as an Educational Consultant for Yeshivas Toras Simcha in Baltimore.