What we Learn from a Heel

Rabbi Melanie Aron

August 16, 2003

We usually think of adults disciplining children, and urging them to be better behaved, but the Talmud records a story of a child, who taught a famous rabbi an important lesson. The rabbi was about to take a short cut through a neighbors field. The child called out: Robber, why do you destroy your neighbor's property? The rabbi pointed out: But look there is a beaten path here. The child responded: There is no road here, it is only travelers like you who have one by one, trampled down the wheat and created this path". The rabbi was chastened and taught from then on, that we should be aware of our every action, even where we place our feet.

I thought of that story this week as our Torah portion this morning begins with a curious word- ekev. The word means heel and is the root of the word Yaakov, Jacob. Jacob, you may recall was named heel, as he was grabbing his brother's leg in his effort to be born before his brother.

The portion begins Vehayah ekev tishmuon and is usually translated: "And it shall come to pass because of your listening to all these ordinances" the word heel understood as, in the wake of. But Rashi takes the Hebrew more literally. He interprets this text to mean: "This shall come to pass because you are careful where you put down your heel, because you don't step on the small mitzvoth". He notes that people tread on them with their heels, because they think they are minor.

Last week our Torah portion contained the Ten Comandments, rules that are universally regarded as important. But this week and in the next two weeks, our Torah readings will dwell on some of the other 603 commandments of the Torah, commandments that we usually consider as second or third tier. The use of the word ekev, heel, comes, for the rabbis, to remind us that Judaism, in the words of Rabbi Judith HaLevy, is "an organic whole", and that ignoring the "minor" mitzvoth is damaging, as each commandment in its own way contributes to moving us towards Tikkun Olam.

Generations ago a rabbi sermonizing on this portion urged his flock to pay more attention to what his community considered the less important commandments. These were the commandments about monetary matters, the festivals ( not the High Holidays, but Succot, Simchat Torah, and Shavuot) and learning Hebrew. He was worried about those who were very ritually observant, but were less than scrupulous in their business dealings. He painted a picture of what could be, of a Jewish community marked by joyous celebration of the festivals and devoted study of the Hebrew language.

Each of us could probably make our own list of those commandments that we tend to neglect. For some these might be the commandments, known technically as mitzvoth, those that relate to events in Jewish history or come to strengthen a theological teaching- mitzvoth like the Shabbat, hearing the shofar, or eating Matzah on Passover.

Others may not see the Jewish connection to the commandments known as mishpatim, the social regulations that come to create a good society. I know when I asked the Bnai Mitzvah families recently to identify Jewish commandments that they observe as a family, I got a list of ritual commandments. No one saw as particularly Jewish the mishpatim, commandments about honesty, fair wages, fences on roofs.

Finally there are the chukim, those commandments whose reason we don't really understand, like keeping Kosher. For modern Jews these are probably the one's we are most likely to step over, yet sometimes what seems unnecessary and outmoded in one generation, comes back to seem important and critical 50 years later.

For me this discussion of major and minor commandments calls to mind something I discuss sometimes in premarital counseling. Certainly forgetting your wife's birthday is not a good things to do, and no one would encourage you to do so, but I bet more marriages and friendships are destroyed by small unkindnesses than by major acts of neglect. Saying thank you might not seem like much, but sometimes not doing so , time after time, does make a big difference. Not talking a moment to keep in touch with an old friend will eventually make the two of your strangers. Similarly our Jewish lives may fall apart, not by neglect of the big 10, but by ignoring the smaller mitzvoth that all come together to create a Jewish life.

Among the morning blessings, is a blessing in which we thank God hameichin mitzadei gaver, who makes firm each person's steps. Where we tread, and what we tread over, sets the tone for our entire lives. May we always put our best foot forward.