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CHUMASH CANDESCENCE
PARASHA VA'ET-CHANAN
DEUTERONOMY 3:23- 7:11
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL
"A Listening People"
In the traditional Shacharit (morning) service one exclaims (also read
on page 756 of our Gates of Prayer):
"How happy are we! How blessed our lot! How sweet our destiny! How
magnificent our heritage! How happy are we that as we rise and as we lie
down, morning and evening, twice every day we proclaim:
Hear oh Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One."
This watchword of our faith, the Shema, is found is this week's Parasha
(Deut. 6:4). We also are retold the "Ten Commandments", albeit with some
different wording than is written in Exodus (Deut. 5:6-18). It has been
written that all of the 613 commandments in the Chumash (Five Books of
Moses) stem from one or more of these Ten Commandments. Even the sin of
slander is said to derive from the admonition not to steal and not to
murder, as when we commit loshan ha ra (slander) we steal and murder
someone's good name.
We as Jews are witnesses for God. No, we do not have to go out ringing
door bells and handing out copies of "The Watchtower." We have a hint to
this obligation in verse 6:4 in Deuteronomy. If you open to the Hebrew
page of your Chumash, you will note that the letters Yud in Shema (hear)
and the Daled in Yechud (one) are in a larger font. The letters
Yud-Daled, or "ed" is the Hebrew word for "witness."
If we delve deeper, we will come to realize that each of the "Ten
Commandments" has its roots in the Shema. If we really believed that God
is One, that God is "in charge of all", would we take His name in vain?
We certainly would not curse an employer to his face who provides us our
needed pay check to sustain our lives . If we truly believed the words of
the Shema , would we curse the Face of God who provides us with our very
existence and who is omnipresent? If we with certainty believed in the
Oneness of God, we would be able to rest on the Sabbath and fill our
lives ,on at least this day, with spiritual pursuits and forgo the
mundane? We would have the faith that we would not "lose out" if we did
not close a business deal or attend a secular social event on Shabbat.
We certainly would honor our parents who provided us with the vessel that
houses our Godly soul and who sustained us with physical nourishment. If
we believed in the concept of the Shema, how could we begin to steal
another's property, spouse, life, or good name, or even think jealously
of our fellow's status or belongings? If God is truly One,, then
everything we have or do not have is exactly the way He wishes it to be.
Is this a truism? Does the Shema leads us to complacency as well?
Of course the answer is "no" for the Jewish people. A people, who we are
traditionally taught that God Himself called "stiff necked", is certainly
not a candidate for a complacency award. We are taught this, albeit
subtley, in verse 6:5. This verse begins what many call the "ve'ahavta "
(you shall love). Again, I invite you to open the Hebrew text. You will
note that the Hebrew word for "heart" (lev), is spelled incorrectly with
two vuvs (v's).
The rabbis interpret the heart as a metaphor for the seat of our craving
and aspiration. Rashi says this double vuv means we are to love God with
both our good and evil inclinations. The Talmudic sage Rabbi Yonah
says that this means we should use our good heart to perform mitzvoth and
to fight the bad heart's desire to sin. The Rambam (Maimonides) says that
the evil inclination (yetzah ha ra) refers to man's earthly cravings,
such as the desire for food, drink, sex, wealth, etc. The "ve'ahavta"
commandment demands that we channel our "base" drives into the service of
God and of good. The Talmudic rabbis stated wisely that without man's
yetzah ha ra, we would not build houses or have children. God does not
want us to be complacent and accepting of bad situations. He wants us to
fight with all of our might to change things to make them the best we can
here in our homes and on our earth. However, we are to do so in an
ethical manner. The ends do not serve to justify the means in Judaism.
What do we mean when we announce that God is One? It means that we can
perceive God in many ways throughout our lives. God can be angry, kind,
merciful, judgmental, wise, and yet seemingly stupid or uncaring. While
it is difficult for the human mind to grasp the concept that One entity
can be all of these, we are commanded to do so. In ancient times, people
had different gods for each of these manifestations. We are taught that
there is an inner harmony in all that God does. Whatever phase we are in
life, whatever is happening to us or in the world,--good, bad or
neutral--, we are commanded to believe in One God. This is why we bless
God, even at the grave sites of our beloved, by calling Him the "true
Judge."
In Talmud Tractate Berachot, the first book of the Talmud, the first
question asked, is when does one say the Shema. This leads the rabbis
into a fascinating discussion of the Shema, the Ve'ahavta, the Amidah
and kavenah (the concentrated intention of prayer). They clearly say that
it is better to say an abbreviated prayer in one's vernacular with
kavenah, then the complete prayer in Hebrew in rushed manner. A Chasidic
rabbe once defined kavenah in prayer as singing "Adon" in Adon Olam
(Master of the Universe), without already thinking of the word Olam.
In this Tractate the rabbis discuss the concept of loving God "with all
of your soul." Rashi says that this means that we should love God even if
it costs us our life. Rambam says this refers to the very rare situations
of idolatry, adultery and murder. Traditional Jewish law requires that
one give up his life rather than sin. In Berachot 54A the rabbis say one
must love God even in the moment when He takes one's life. They recommend
that the Shema be on every dying Jew's lips. In Berachot 62B, the story
is told of rabbi Akiva who joyously says the Shema in his last dying
breath as the Romans are torturing him by tearing off his flesh. His
students witness this and ask why he is so happy when he is in so much
pain. Rabbi Akiva answers,"all my life I prayed that I would be able to
maintain my love of God even if it cost me my life. Now that I succeeded
in doing so, should I not be happy?" The Talmud does not record if rabbi
Akiva then re-said the Shema to make sure they were indeed the last words
on his lips before death took him.
In the Ve'ahavta, the verse following the Shema, we are commanded to
love God. How does one command anyone to love anything? We are not even
asked to love our parents, only to honor them. In our traditional Ketubah
marriage contract a man is not commanded to love his wife, but only to
care for her. How do we love God? How do we say this part of our daily
service with kavenah?
The Rambam says that the Torah supplies the answer in the next few verses
in Deuteronomy 6:7-9. He says that Jews should think about the Torah,
study it and teach it. When one meditates on God's "great and wondrous
deeds and creations and sees in them His incomparable and infinite
wisdom, one will immediately come to love and to praise him and be filled
with longing to know Him." If only this were so easy. What if one thinks
of the Torah as Midrash (stories to teach a lesson)? What if one accepts
the critical theory of Torah's authorship? What if one does not believe
in the tales of Adam and Eve, the "Great Flood", burning bushes that
speak, the ten plagues including the Angel of Death and Moses on Mt.
Sinai for 120 days getting both the written and the oral law.
This is not a question asked sarcastically in the 21st-century CE. This
question was asked is earnest 900 years ago by the Spanish rabbi Brachya
Ibn Pakuda. His text "Duties of the Heart" is among the rarest jewels in
the crown of Jewish spirituality. It is available in paperback by
Feldheim Press. He writes that the commandments can be divided into
"duties of the limbs",--such as obeying Shabbat or not stealing--, and
"duties of the heart", which belong to "the hidden, private realm of the
wisdom of the inward life." Some of these many duties are to love God, do
not take revenge or bear grudges (Lev.18:18), do not hate your neighbor
(Lev 19:17), do not be tightfisted or hardhearted (Deut.15:7), love the
stranger (Deut 10:19) and not to covet (Deut. 5:18). He discovers that
the duties of the limb, which we in Reform Judaism call ritual, are a
small percentage of the 613 commandments, while the duties of the heart,
which we in Reform Judaism still cling to, are many.
Ibn Pakuda was ahead of his time in Jewish thought in that he quoted
often from Greek and Muslim philosophy. Rambam did the same and was
castigated for it. Pakuda quotes his justification from Tractate Megillah
16A. "Anyone who speaks wisdom, even if he is from among the other
nations of the world, is called a wise man." Pakuda says that in order to
love God one must study. He says it is our duty to intellectually
investigate the subject of God's unity, and even His existence. He says
we should not accept the words of the Shema on faith alone. How many of
us say the Shema with our tongues but not our hearts? How many really
understand the meaning of God's existence and absolute Unity? Pakuda
discusses those that pronounce the words of the Shema with their tongues,
and think they are done with the matter of God's Oneness. He says they do
not realize that their hearts are empty of the Shema's true meaning, as
their thoughts are vacant of any knowledge of the subject. Pakuda says
many Jews declare God's unity with their tongues but do not conceive of
God within their hearts.
As a liberal Jew did you ever wonder why we stand up for the Shema while
at traditional shuls they remain seated? The answer for the
traditionalists is found Talmudically. Rabbi Hillel's school, the most
liberal rabbis of the Talmudic era, rules that one should remain seated
so as not to destroy one's kavenah. Rabbi Shammai's school, known as a
the more strict interpreters, rules that one should rise. This was at a
time when Jews prayed at their own pace. The Talmud agreed with Hillel's
school. Reform Jews, following rabbi Shammai, rise to make a public
display in unison of our belief in the tenets of Judaism. But as rabbi
Pakuda alludes, do some of our actions before and after we state the
Shema serve to nullify its meaning?
If we really believed in God, would we treat some of our fellows
disrespectfully? Would we discuss fellow congregants behind their backs
and still smile to their faces? Or worse yet, would we snub them to their
faces? If we really believed in the Shema and the commandment to love God
that immediately follows it, I would hope that we as Reform Jews could
truly accept the yoke of this one commandment. If we did accept this
mitzvah, so many other paths to help our fellow and treat him/her with
love would flow naturally from our hearts. Tikun Olam (repair of the
world) would not be just a slogan, but it would already be an
accomplishment.
I mentioned that the Ten Commandments listed in this Parasha differs in
wording from Exodus. In Deuteronomy 5:12 we are told to
"safeguard"(shomar) Shabbat. In Exodus 20:8 we are told to remember
(zachor) Shabbat. We as Reform Jews threw off the yoke of "Shomar
Shabbos", as well as being observant of other ritual commandments. We
never agreed to do away with remembrance of our religion. Nor did we
ever agree to do away with the love and belief in God and the man-to-man
laws that abound throughout the Torah.
As Reform Jews we have an obligation to be informed Jews. The Greek
philosopher Epictetus said "Only the educated are free." We do not follow
rules and regulations on faith alone. Even the concept of God must be
intellectually understood and not just accepted on blind faith. We must
be a learning, thinking, grappling people. We have an obligation to teach
our children as well. As the Shema says, we must be a "listening people"
for our movement and our religion to survive.
Shabbat Shalom,
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL
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