The Parsha of Eikev brings out some interesting points of discussion regarding the exact nature of what Moshiach’s arrival will bring, I want to discuss them as it is of upmost importance that we desire to do what Moshiach intends us to do. I also want to question what is often assumed of Moshiach to be and on this point I want to begin with Rambam on Moshiach in explanations he gives of his 13 principles. So let’s start not with Rashi this week but instead with some amazing things from Rambam.
Rambam states of Moshaich “It will be an age of great perfection, through which we will become worthy to enter the world to come. The Moshiach will then die, and his son will rule in his place. …..We do not hope and long for the Messianic age in order that we might have much gain and wealth. We do not want it so that we should be able to ride horses and indulge in wine and song, as those with confused ideas believe. The main reason why our prophets and saints desired the Messianic age with such a great longing is because it will be highlighted by a community of the righteous and dominated by goodness and wisdom….The people in that age will obey all the commandments of the Torah without neglect or laziness, and nothing will hold them back. This is what the prophet predicted Man will no longer teach his friend and his brother saying know Hashem. For all of them will know me, great and small alike. The scripture is speaking of the knowledge of G-d that comes through the Torah, as the previous verse says I will place my Torah in their hearts. The Prophet likewise said in G-d’s name I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh. There are many other similar passages that speak along these lines. It is through this that we will be worthy of the world to come, which is the final goal.”
It is of course in this last paragraph that we have a tie to our Parsha. For Rashi says regarding our passage “ערלה- the blockage of your heart and it’s covering.” He also defines Orlah as related to circumcision in Shemos 6:12 as well.
The Baal Haturim brings down this additional insight “only regarding your forefathers. The word רקonly is considered an exclusion, for we find judgement directed even against the patriarchs: Regarding Abraham, he was Judged for saying Whereby shall I know? (Gen. 15:8) Isaac because he loved Esau and Jacob because he said My way is hidden from Hashem. (Isaiah 40:27) Juxtaposed to the verse beginning only your forefathers, is the command ומלתם, You shall circumcise the foreskin of the heart.to indicate that you should circumcise the foreskin of the heart just as the forefathers did……Therefore, G-d Said see even the patriarchs had to be brought to judgement, yet they repented and atoned and I forgave them. You can do the same thing by cutting away the barrier in your heart and returing to me” Remember this is the perfect patriarchs who needed this circumcision of the heart, to return fully to Hashem, how much more so do we need this circumcision of the heart. As Ramban states about this circumcision of the heart in Parshas Netzvaim “And the Eternal thy G-d will circumcise thy heart. IT is this which the rabbis have said if someone comes to purify himself they assist him from on high. The verse assures you that you will return to him with all your heart and he will help you. This following subject is apparent from scripture: Since the time of creation man has had the power to do as he pleased to be righteous or wicked. This grant of free will applies likewise to the entire Torah period, so that people can gain merit for choosing the good, and punishment for preferring the evil. But in the days of the Moshiach their choice of genuine good will be natural; the heart will not desire the improper and it will have no craving whatever for it. This is the circumcision mentioned here, for lust and desire are the foreskin of the heart, and circumcision of the heart means that it will not covet or desire evil. Man will return at that time to what he was before the sin of Adam., when by his nature he did what should properly be done, and there were no conflicting desires in his will, as I have explained in Bereshis 2:9 It is this which scripture states in Jeremiah. Behold the days come, saith the Eternal, that I will make a new covenant with with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant I made with their fathers. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Eternal. I will put my law in their inward parts and in their heart I will write it. This is in reference to the annulment of the evil inclination and to the natural performance by the heart of its proper function. Therfore; Jeremiah said further, and I will be their G-d and they shall be my people and they shall teach no more everyman his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying know Hashem for they shall all know me……The new heart alludes to man’s nature, and the new spirit alludes to his desire and will. It is this which our Rabbis have said and the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them. These are the days of Messiah as they will offer opportunity neither for merit nor for guilt, for in the days of Messiah their will be no evil desire in man but he will naturally perform the proper deeds and therefore there will be neither merit nor guilt in them, for merit and guilt are dependent upon desire.” (It should be noted here that Ramban’s intention is not to state that man in the era of the Messiah will be completely devoid of the desire to do evil, for if that were the case there would be no place for reward and punishment, which is founded upon the principle of man’s freedom of choice between good and evil. Rather, the import of his words is to state that man will be so motivated for good that he will naturally be doing good and proper according to the will of G-d, and it will appear as if the instinct for evil has been eliminated from him, although potentially it will still be with him.)” We also see that Moshiach has done this as it is stated in Sukkah 52a-b That Moshiach ben Yosef and the death of the Evil inclination seem to occur simultaneously. Here is the beginning of the daf where it speaks on this matter:
The Gemara asks: Granted, according to the one who saidthat the lament is for Messiah ben Yosef who was killed, thiswould be the meaning of that which is writtenin that context: “And they shall look unto Me because they have thrust him through; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son”(Zechariah 12:10). However, according to the one who saidthat the eulogy is for the evil inclination that was killed,does one need to conduct a eulogyfor this?On the contrary, one should conduct a celebration. Why,then, did they cry?
כדדרש רבי יהודה לעתיד לבא מביאו הקב"ה ליצר הרע ושוחטו בפני הצדיקים ובפני הרשעים צדיקים נדמה להם כהר גבוה ורשעים נדמה להם כחוט השערה הללו בוכין והללו בוכין צדיקים בוכין ואומרים היאך יכולנו לכבוש הר גבוה כזה ורשעים בוכין ואומרים היאך לא יכולנו לכבוש את חוט השערה הזה ואף הקב"ה תמה עמהם שנאמר(זכריה ח, ו) כה אמר ה' צבאות כי יפלא בעיני שארית העם הזה בימים ההם גם בעיני יפלא
The Gemara answers: This can be understood as Rabbi Yehuda taught: In the future,at the end of days, God will bring the evil inclination and slaughter it in the presence of the righteous and in the presence of the wicked.For the righteousthe evil inclination appears to them as a high mountain, andfor the wickedit appearsto them asa mere strand of hair. These weep and those weep. The righteous weep and say: How were we able to overcome so high a mountain? And the wicked weep and say: How were we unable to overcome this strand of hair? And even the Holy One, Blessed be He, will wonder with them, as it is statedwith regard to the eulogy: “So says the Lord of hosts: If it be wondrous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, it should also be wondrous in My eyes”(Zechariah 8:6).
א"ר אסי יצה"ר בתחילה דומה לחוט של בוכיא ולבסוף דומה כעבותות העגלה שנאמר(ישעיהו ה, יח) הוי מושכי העון בחבלי השוא וכעבות העגלה חטאה
Apropos the evil inclination and the battle against it, the Gemara cites that which Rav Asi said: Initially,when it begins to entice someone, the evil inclination is like a strand of a spider’s web [bukhya]; and ultimately it is likethe thick ropes of a wagon, as it is stated: “Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as if it were with a wagon rope”(Isaiah 5:18). Initially, the enticement is almost imperceptible, like a thin strand; however, after one sins, it is like wagon ropes tied tightly around him.
The Gemara asks: Granted, according to the one who saidthat the lament is for Messiah ben Yosef who was killed, thiswould be the meaning of that which is writtenin that context: “And they shall look unto Me because they have thrust him through; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son”(Zechariah 12:10). However, according to the one who saidthat the eulogy is for the evil inclination that was killed,does one need to conduct a eulogyfor this?On the contrary, one should conduct a celebration. Why,then, did they cry?
כדדרש רבי יהודה לעתיד לבא מביאו הקב"ה ליצר הרע ושוחטו בפני הצדיקים ובפני הרשעים צדיקים נדמה להם כהר גבוה ורשעים נדמה להם כחוט השערה הללו בוכין והללו בוכין צדיקים בוכין ואומרים היאך יכולנו לכבוש הר גבוה כזה ורשעים בוכין ואומרים היאך לא יכולנו לכבוש את חוט השערה הזה ואף הקב"ה תמה עמהם שנאמר(זכריה ח, ו) כה אמר ה' צבאות כי יפלא בעיני שארית העם הזה בימים ההם גם בעיני יפלא
The Gemara answers: This can be understood as Rabbi Yehuda taught: In the future,at the end of days, God will bring the evil inclination and slaughter it in the presence of the righteous and in the presence of the wicked.For the righteousthe evil inclination appears to them as a high mountain, andfor the wickedit appearsto them asa mere strand of hair. These weep and those weep. The righteous weep and say: How were we able to overcome so high a mountain? And the wicked weep and say: How were we unable to overcome this strand of hair? And even the Holy One, Blessed be He, will wonder with them, as it is statedwith regard to the eulogy: “So says the Lord of hosts: If it be wondrous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, it should also be wondrous in My eyes”(Zechariah 8:6).
א"ר אסי יצה"ר בתחילה דומה לחוט של בוכיא ולבסוף דומה כעבותות העגלה שנאמר(ישעיהו ה, יח) הוי מושכי העון בחבלי השוא וכעבות העגלה חטאה
Apropos the evil inclination and the battle against it, the Gemara cites that which Rav Asi said: Initially,when it begins to entice someone, the evil inclination is like a strand of a spider’s web [bukhya]; and ultimately it is likethe thick ropes of a wagon, as it is stated: “Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as if it were with a wagon rope”(Isaiah 5:18). Initially, the enticement is almost imperceptible, like a thin strand; however, after one sins, it is like wagon ropes tied tightly around him.
The important thing to see here is that Moshiach’s main purpose is to change the nature, and the desire of our hearts in serving Hashem. This is the true import of what Moshiach does for me, and for which I invite you to participate in this important Mitzvah of Circumcison of the heart. The Era has not been completed we still have the opportunity for sin, but all the mitzvahs we do is not for merit, and the averas are not for guilt. For as Ramban said it comes naturally out of the heart, Moshiach “who we pierced, and we mourn for him as an only son” also died so that the evil inclination might also be dormant in us. I invite you today to investigate Moshiach ben Yosef, Yeshua ben Yosef, who the builders rejected and has become the chief cornerstone, to fulfill the positive commandment of Circumcise your heart, and thereby get a new nature, that seeks only good.