By Rabbi Russ Resnik
Deuteronomy 7:12-11:2

Hurricanes and floods seem to come with greater and greater frequency as time passes, but images from Hurricane Katrina, which pounded the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama three years ago this month, remain with us. New Orleans was evacuated and the entire city became flooded after the hurricane passed. Television screens around the world were filled with pictures of people who did not, or could not, leave when the evacuation order came. Some were wading chest-deep through filthy water in what had been their neighborhoods. Others were trapped in apartments and on rooftops waiting for days to be rescued. Those who had finally escaped the flood waters found refuge on the bare concrete expanse of interstate highways waiting again for help. Others were transported to huge shelters where they'd be warehoused for days until someone could figure out the next step.

Such images remind us of the question, is there justice in this world? Is disaster a punishment for wrongdoing? Conversely, is there a reward for doing right instead of wrong? This week's parashah opens with a promise of reward for those who do right, but later portrays the limitations of reward.  

Then it shall come to pass, because you listen to these judgments, and keep and do them, that the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and the mercy which He swore to your fathers. And He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flock, in the land of which He swore to your fathers to give you. You shall be blessed above all peoples (7:12-14b).  

There may be a reward for doing right, as this passage states, but one of the early sages, Antigonos of Socho, downplays its importance: "Don't be like those who would serve a master on the condition that they would receive a reward. Rather, be like those who would serve without that condition. Even so, let the fear of Heaven be upon you."1

Antigonos's distrust of reward may arise out of the historical setting in which he lived, as hinted at by his name. He is the first of the rabbinic figures to have a Greek name, and lived in the era when the land of Israel was ruled by the Hellenistic empire established by Alexander the Great. Many Jews lived in Israel in those days, but it was hardly the scene of reward as promised in Deuteronomy. Under the imperial occupation, as during the New Orleans flood, the lesson is that even if reward is slow in coming, one must still remain faithful.

Centuries later, under a different foreign occupation, Yeshua also instructs his disciples not to serve on the condition of receiving a reward. "So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do'" (Luke 17:10). At the same time, he does promise a reward to his followers, both in this age and the Age to Come:  

Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel's, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time-houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions-and in the age to come, eternal life. (Mark 10:29-30) 

Of course, this promise is a bit different from the promise in Parashat ‘Ekev, because it comes "with persecutions." But the Torah also reminds us that rewards have their problems.  

When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you. Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, lest . . . you say in your heart, "My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth." (8:10-17, emphasis added) 

The reward should lead us to be wary, because prosperity can make us forget God. In the contemporary world, the nations that are the most prosperous are filled with secularism, unbelief, and depravity, falling under the deception that "My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth." Surely, in the midst of the materialism and consumerism of our modern world, we need to be on guard. The practical instructions of Torah about care for the poor may provide a safeguard for us.  

If there is among you a poor man of your brethren, within any of the gates in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother, but you shall open your hand wide to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs. (Deut. 15:7-8) 

I once encountered a man who appeared a bit deranged begging on a street corner, crying out, "I just need $2.89 for a plate of spaghetti at Tommy's [a local restaurant]!" I walked right by him, but had hardly gotten across the street when I felt compelled, as if from above, to go back and give the man $5.00 so he could buy lunch. When I walked away, I thought, "But who knows if he really even needs the money?" Again, I felt a divine intervention, this time saying, "Right, who knows if he needs the money, but you need to give it to him."

We may never have an answer in this world to the questions about justice raised by the New Orleans flood and other natural calamities. As we keep our hearts and hands open to the poor among us, however, we guard ourselves from the deceptiveness of prosperity-even prosperity that we might consider a reward from God. And we will always have poor among us, "[f]or the poor will never cease from the land" (Deut. 15:11). Or as Yeshua reminded us, "For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good" (Mark 14:7).

The poor, of course, have many needs, but we who have much also need them.

For the journey: The Torah says to "beware" when we are well fed, that we don't forget God. Surely, this warning must be in full force for us in the West today! When we encounter those who are not so prosperous, whether on a local street corner, or in the world news, how does their presence help us to beware?   

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Russ Resnik

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Adapted from Creation to Completion: Your Guide to Life's Journey from the Five Books of Moses, by Russell Resnik, published by Messianic Jewish Publications, www.messianicjewish.net.