For the week ending 8 August 2020 / 18 Av 5780
Parshat Ekev
Questions:
1. What must the Jewish People do to ensure that Hashem will fulfill His promise to do good for us?
2. What were the:
a) wonders
b) strong hand
c) outstretched arm that the Jewish People saw in Egypt?
3. When a group performs a mitzvah, whose name is attached to the mitzvah?
4. How did the Jewish People do their laundry in the midbar?
5. How did the Jewish People obtain clothing for their growing children in the midbar?
6. How many days did Moshe spend on Mt. Sinai altogether?
7. On what day did Moshe come down from Mt. Sinai having received complete forgiveness for the Jewish People?
8. How was Aharon punished for his role in the golden calf?
9. Who made the ark in which Moshe placed the second set of tablets? What special function did it later serve?
10. Which sin of the Jewish People was prompted by the death of Aharon?
11. Why were the levi'im chosen by Hashem?
12. Why do the levi'im have no portion in the land?
13. All aspects of man's life are in Hashem's "hands" except one. What is this?
14. What is the "added benefit" of observing the mitzvot?
15. What is meant by circumcising one's heart?
16. What are the sources of water for the fields of Egypt and Eretz Yisrael?
17. What path does the Torah prescribe for gaining new knowledge?
18. Which activity is "serving Hashem with the heart"?
19. When the Jewish People sin, why are they considered worse than the generation of the flood?
20. How does one "cleave to Hashem"?
Answers:
1. 7:12 - Guard even the "light" commandments.
2. 7:19 -
a) Plagues;
b) Pestilence;
c) Slaying of the firstborn.
3. 8:1 - The person who finishes it.
4. 8:4 - The ananei kavod (clouds of glory) cleaned and bleached their clothes.
5. 8:4 - As their children grew, their clothing grew with them.
6. 9:18 - 120 days.
7. 9:18 - The tenth of Tishrei, Yom Kippur.
8. 9:20 - His two sons died.
9. 10:1 - Moshe. This ark would accompany the Jewish People into battle.
10. 10:6-7 - When Aharon died the ananei kavod departed causing many Jews to fear war with the King of Arad and to retreat toward Egypt.
11. 10:8 - Because they did not participate in the sin of the golden calf.
12. 10:9 - Since they served in the Temple, thus they were not free to work the land.
13. 10:12 - Fear of Heaven, which is dependent upon the person.
14. 10:13 - There is reward.
15. 10:16 - To remove those things that block the words of Torah from entering.
16. 11:10 - Egypt is irrigated by manually carrying water up from the Nile. Eretz Yisrael is supplied by rainwater requiring no work on the part of its inhabitants.
17. 11:13 - By repeatedly reviewing what one knows, one more easily acquires new knowledge.
18. 11:13 - Prayer.
19. 11:17 - Because the generation of the flood had no one from whom to learn.
20. 11:22 - Attaching oneself to Torah scholars.
