Teens Question, Eikev 2025

Question

What does Moshe Rabeinu say Hashem expects from us and famously call "not a big deal"? Is it actually a big deal?

Answer

This question is perhaps one of the most essential questions for a thinking Yehudi to ask himself. In fact, the entire sefer Mesilas Yesharim is based on this single question!

יסוד החסידות ושורש העבודה התמימה היא שיתברר ויתאמת אצל האדם מה חובתו בעולמו ולמה צריך שישים מבטו ומגמתו בכל אשר הוא עמל בו כל ימי חייו

The foundation of chasidus and the root of complete service is to for a person to clarify and make real for himself what his duty is in the world and what he must set his sights and his goal in all of his labors all the days of his life

Mesilas yesharim, Perek 1

A Yehudi must ask himself "why am I here?" "What's my responsibility in this world and how can I fulfill it?" The mesilas yesharim quotes an answer from right here in our parsha 

ועתה ישראל מה ד' אלוקיך שאל מעמך כי אם ליראה את ד' אלקיך ללכת בכל דרכיו ולאהבה אתו ולעבד את ד' אלקיך בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך. לשמור את-מצות ד' ואת-חקתיו.

And now Yisroel, what does Hashem your Gd ask of you except to fear Hashem your Gd, to walk in all his ways, and to love him and to serve Hashem your Gd with all your heart and all your soul. To keep Hashem's commandments and his laws 

Devarim 10:12 

Notice the phrases in bold? There are five them

1. Fear Hashem
2. Walk in his ways
3. Love Hashem
4. Serve Hashem with your entire Heart
5. Keep Hashem's commandments 

These are the five elements of perfect service. Keep these five things and you'll have achieved perfect service.

Sound easy?

Moshe rabeinu seems to suggest it's "not a big deal". He said "what does Hashem ask except for...". It's not a big deal, he says. Just do these five things.

If that seems like a surprise to you, you're not alone. Chaza"l ask in the gemara in Brachos (33 amud beis) "is fearing Hashem such a small thing?!" They answer that you have to understand the words in relation to the one who said them. Moshe Rabeinu was at the pinnacle of fear of Heaven. For him, yiras Hashem really was a trivial thing to keep.

But what about us? Hashem wrote the words of Torah for klal Yisroel. They're relevant to our daily lives. Why would Hashem tell us to fear him in a way that only Moshe Rabeinu could manage? Surely we're not expected to be on the level of Moshe!?

We actually often make this kind of claim.

We think we're too old to start learning. True, Rebbe Akiva started learning at 40, but "I'm no Rebbe Akiva," we say.

Or maybe the pressure of parnassah is too much. Hillel might have managed to learn despite severe poverty, but "I'm not Hillel," we say.

The yetzer hara keeps putting nisyonos in front of us. We know Yosef Hatzadik stood against nisyonos we can't fathom, but "I'm no Yosef," we say (see Yoma 35 amud beis).

"I'm no Avrohom"

"I'm no Yitzchok"

"I'm no Yaakov"

....

and yet, chaza"l teach us the exact opposite

כל אחד ואחד מישראל חייב לומר מתי יגיעו מעשי למעשה אבותי אברהם יצחק ויעקב

Every single Jew must say "when will my actions reach the actions of my forefathers, Avrohom, Yitzchok, and Yaakov"

Tana d'vei Eliyahu 25:1 

We are meant to say "when will I be like Avrohom?" "When will I be like Yitzchok?" "When will I be like Yaakov?"

There's a powerful lesson here in chaza"ls words. One of the yetzer hara's greatest tricks is יאוש- despair. If he can convince us something is beyond our reach, we won't even try. When we say "I'm no Avrohom, Yitzchok, Yaakov, Hillel, Rebbe Akiva, ...." what we're really saying is "I don't believe it's even worth trying". That's the critical words the yetzer hara wants us to say. "I don't believe it's even worth trying." That moment of despair will guarantee we won't grow and we won't get better.

Chaza"l are teaching us not to let יאוש be a stumbling block. Set your goal for true spiritual greatness. Don't let the yetzer hara convince you you're not enough. Remember what the mesilas yesharim taught us - we have to make it crystal clear to ourselves where we set our goal every single day - and that goal is total complete service of Hashem.

Perhaps this was part of Moshe Rabeinu's kavannah in presenting the principles of shleimus as trivial. He wanted to teach us the correct mindset for our goals. We should strive to make yiras Hashem so much a part of our being that it seems trivial to us, like it was to Moshe. We shouldn't say "that's too much" or "I'm no Moshe." That's a trick of the yetzer hara trying to stop us before we even start.

Remember the words of chazal 

לא עליך המלאכה לגמור ולא אתה בן חורין להבטל ממנה 

It is not your responsibility to finish the work, but neither are you free to stop doing it

Avos 2:15 

Hashem expects us to do as much of the work as we can. Whatever we don't manage to finish was never our responsibility in the first place. So set your goals far beyond your wildest dreams. Make yourself an Avrohom, Yitzchok, v'Yaakov. Make yourself a Moshe or Yosef. Become a perfect y'rei shomayim.

Don't let yourself be the reason you don't become who you're meant to be.