Parashat Eikev is Moses’ long goodbye to the Israelites. He’s speaking to a people about to cross into the Promised Land, reminding them of the forty years it took to get there. Forty years of wandering. Forty years of lessons learned slowly, sometimes painfully.
It’s hard to imagine that kind of patience today. And maybe the best way to see the difference is to look back at some of the changes we’ve lived through.
I still remember when the TV in our house stopped working in the 1960s. We didn’t throw it out or call someone to rush over—we carried it to a shop. The shelves were lined with boxes of radio tubes and wires, and the repairman would test each one until he found the culprit. Then you waited—sometimes a week or more—before you could pick it up. Today, if a TV stops working, so many of us just buy a new one that same day—or watch something on a phone or tablet until we do.
Or think about taking pictures. Remember winding a roll of film, taking 24—maybe 36—careful shots, and then dropping it off to be developed? A week later, you’d finally see your photos… and realize half of them had someone’s thumb over the lens. It took patience—and sometimes, a sense of humor. Today’s kids take a hundred photos in a minute, delete the bad ones instantly, and move on.
And the phone. When I was younger, if you wanted to talk on the phone, you had to stand in one place—usually in the kitchen, with the cord stretched as far as it would go. You couldn’t walk the dog while talking or make a phone call from the car. You had to be present for the conversation. Now we make calls from the grocery store, from the highway, from the sidewalk while the dog is pulling on the leash.
We’ve gone from a world where so much required patience—to one where almost nothing does. And while instant access can be a gift, Moses’ message in Eikev warns us of the cost when we lose the long view. He tells the Israelites: Remember the long road. Remember who sustained you. Don’t forget that wisdom comes from the journey, not just the destination.
That’s where we, the older generation, come in. We’ve lived through change—not only the changes in technology, but the slow changes that come with age, with raising families, with building careers, with losing people we love. We know that some things cannot be hurried. Trust. Resilience. Perspective. Faith.