Eikev: Deuteronomy 7:12 - 11:25

In this is Parsha Moses continues talking to The people of Israel about keeping the laws and how G’d will faithfully maintain that covenant that He made with their fathers. Moses continues on with how G’d will favor them at the end of their journey. Then Moses takes a walk down memory lane, reminding the Israelites what happened when Moses was was on the mountain receiving the Tablets of the Covenant. That they failed in their faith and created the golden calf. That they angered Moses so much he threw down the Tablets of the Covenant. That they angered G’d in different locations.

Yes, Moses is speaking as an angry father, pointing out to the defiant “children” what they might possibly lose due to their lack of faith in G’d’s Covenant. After chastising the Israelites he then tells them that G’d only wants them to keep the laws and commandments He had given them.

The final chapter of this portion Moses then enjoins them to “Therefore impress these My words upon your very heart: bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a -symbol on your forehead, 19 and teach them to your children — reciting them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up; 20 and inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates — 21 to the end that you and your children may endure, in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to assign to them, as long as there is a heaven over the earth.”.

The final portion of the Sh’ma. The Sh’ma, meaning "hear," is one of the central points of the morning and evening prayer service.
"Hear O Israel, The Eternal is our G-d, the Eternal is One". The essence of Judaism. Jewish homes have the Sh’ma inside their Mezuzah’s. Every time you pass through a door with a mezuzah on it, you touch the mezuzah and then kiss the fingers that touched it, expressing love and respect for G-d and his mitzvot and reminding yourself of the mitzvot contained within them.


Etz-Ron's Amy Gilron has developed a special mosaic technique, combining bits of different woods, each with their own individual colors, patterns and grain, to decorate Mezuzahs.