Shabbat Ekev: As a Result of Listening

וְהָיָ֣ה ׀ עֵ֣קֶב תִּשְׁמְע֗וּן אֵ֤ת הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים֙ הָאֵ֔לֶּה וּשְׁמַרְתֶּ֥ם וַעֲשִׂיתֶ֖ם אֹתָ֑ם וְשָׁמַר֩ יְהֹוָ֨ה אֱלֹהֶ֜יךָ לְךָ֗ אֶֽת־הַבְּרִית֙ וְאֶת־הַחֶ֔סֶד אֲשֶׁ֥ר נִשְׁבַּ֖ע לַאֲבֹתֶֽיךָ׃ 

And if you do obey these rules and observe them carefully, your God יהוה will maintain faithfully for you the covenant made on oath with your fathers (Deuteronomy 7.12)

Our parasha for this Second Shabbat of Consolation is called Ekev, which can be translated “as a result.” In the Torah, good is promised to us, more than once, ekev asher shamata, “as a result of your having listened.” In last week’s parashah we had a review of the Shema; this week the theme, it seems, is being extended. Listen, we are told, and as a result….

Listen. The word shema in Hebrew is so familiar to us that we can easily miss deeper levels of its meaning. Hear, listen, pay attention; all these related actions appear as the meaning of this ancient word in Assyrian, Aramaic and Arabic as well as Hebrew. Another related meaning often appears, which we might see as a sequential understanding of the term: consider, consent, as well as obey, or agree. In Biblical Hebrew usage the term can further mean “take to heart” or to “listen carefully”, to internalize and to respond in deed.

All of these make sense in our own modern Western culture. But this is not the end of the possible meanings of the root ש.מ.ע in the Hebrew of the Tanakh (the Jewish Holy Scriptures). There is one more, less attested meaning, which we find in an account in the book of Shmu’el:

וַיְשַׁמַּ֤ע שָׁאוּל֙ אֶת־הָעָ֔ם וַֽיִּפְקְדֵם֙ בַּטְּלָאִ֔ים מָאתַ֥יִם אֶ֖לֶף רַגְלִ֑י וַעֲשֶׂ֥רֶת אֲלָפִ֖ים אֶת־אִ֥ישׁ יְהוּדָֽה׃ 

Saul gathered the troops and enrolled them at Telaim: 200,000 men on foot, and 10,000 as Judah’s contingent. (I Samuel 15.4)

How is it that the same root that conveys the meaning of listen can also mean gather together? Here is where the connotational context of a verb has changed over time. We may be related to them, at least spiritually, but we do not necessarily or easily discern what the ancient tribes of shepherds in the Levant who first heard these words knew right away: that the default assumption for their lives was as a collective, not an individual.

We are the products of a much different time and place, with different assumptions, as a result, about what words can mean. But we can learn one lesson from the verse from the book of Shmu’el. There is more than one way to hear, and our ancient tradition can re-acquaint us with a truth that can support us in the here and now: sometimes, perhaps always, the things we hear as an individual ought to be tested against, compared with, what others are hearing. What might we hear, understand, take to heart, and act upon more profoundly, more righteously, more truly, if we listen with each other, instead of by ourselves? 

Shema started as a statement of loyalty to HaShem; over time, alas, it became a proclamation that made the death of our martyrs holy. In neither of these cases is its full meaning plumbed individually. After all, does a Shema really exist if no one hears it?