Deu. 03 : 23 - 07 : 11 Va'etchanan

[R' Y'hoshua Moshe]

The following is a commentary for Va'etchanan “And I besought”- Devarim (Deuteronomy) 3:23- 7:11 by Rabbi Yaakov benYosef. Enjoy!

15 Av 5765 – Aug. 20, 2005

"There are more demands competing for our time today then there were in previous generations. As a result, it has become more difficult for believers to stay focused on HaShem. In spite of these demands HaShem wants us to focus our lives around Him. To help keep us focused in the midst of the confusion HaShem gave us His . Unlike the ordinances and commandments of false gods, HaShem's ordinances and commandments are supposed to become part of each individual's heart. Ezekiel 36:26-27 states “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” HaShem's desire to place His commandments in an individual's heart separates HaShem's form of worship from other forms of worship. HaShem's form of worship is supposed to be a lifestyle. When we do not serve HaShem from our heart we cannot make the part of our lifestyle. Instead, the becomes an abstract set of rules. In Va'etchanan we can see how HaShem intends to make the part of our lifestyle. To understand what HaShem intends to accomplish this we must look at Devarim 6:4-9 which states:

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.”

The Shema is the key understanding of how to make the part of our lifestyle and to serve HaShem with our heart, mind, and soul.

The Shema shows us that the first way we can make the part of our lifestyle is teaching. The type of learning that is best suited for making the part of our lifestyle is the student and teacher relationship. Unlike personal or private study, a student and teacher relationship edifies both the student and the teacher. In fact, the student-teacher relationship was the format that Yeshua used when He taught the to his disciples. The student-teacher relationship is also the format that HaShem wants us to use when training our children as Devarim 6:20-24 states:

“When thy son asks you in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD our God hath commanded you? Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand: And the LORD shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes: And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers. And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.”

Through the interaction of the parent teaching the child both individuals are accountable to each other. Therefore, each individual is edified and encouraged to live a lifestyle that reflects the because of their relationship with the instructor.

For the to become part of our lifestyle we must also learn to become active in our observance. In the Shema we can see HaShem's desire this when He commands us to bind the to our hand. Binding the to our hand indicates that we should actively seek ways to apply the in our lives. Through the process of application our righteousness can flourish. Devarim 6:25 states: “it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.” Yeshua also wants His followers to apply the to everyday acts. We can see this demonstrated in Yeshua's parable of the righteous Samaritan in Luke 10:30-37. The actions of the righteous Samaritan fulfilled the commandment to love your neighbor. It was by action that the Samaritan was able to produce concrete evidence of the righteousness of HaShem.

In addition for the to become part of our lifestyle we must also remember that the was given by grace. Devarim 6:9 states “write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.” Writing the on our doorposts is a physical reminder that HaShem gave us the because He loved us, not because we deserved it. Devarim 7:8-9 states

“because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations”.

The was given out of love; therefore, we are relieved of the responsibility of earning it. In other words, HaShem delivered us and gave us the freely, before we knew how to serve Him. The was given to us so that we would learn how to relate to HaShem. The was not given so that we could work our way to righteousness.

HaShem wants serving Him to become our lifestyle. Therefore, it is HaShem's plan to place His commandments in our heart. Placing His in our heart requires teaching, action, and remembrance. When we use all three of these methods the becomes part of our lifestyle. As a result, HaShem will have a nation that will worship in spite distraction. HaShem wants His nation to worship Him with heart, mind, and soul."

By Rabbi Yaakov benYosef – ABOUT-.org

[Mark]

The recitation of the Shema (and other traditional Hebrew prayers) carries the stigma of empty ritualism- and it should; but not as a condemnation; but a warning.

Modern sages in Judaism have suggested that when praying the Shema once in the morning and once at night, then you are fulfilling the mitzvah (the good work) to teach your children diligently and to speak of when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you arise and when you lie down.

Similarly, to bind tefilin on one's forehead and on one's forearm is understood to fulfill the command to bind the upon one's hand and to let them be frontlets between our eyes.

Please don't misunderstand. Praying the Shema each morning and evening is a valuable tool and an element of our process of worship that ought not be discounted or neglected. The donning of tefillin as a process of worship has tremendous advantages- but never replace the substance of the command with a ritual act thatcan be checked off as completed, not having to consider it again until the next appointed time. This is not the principle of the Shema.

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one. He is unchanging and immutable- utterly singular. If we are to exist in His presence, we must be the same: without contradiction. To compartmentalize our lives in being spiritual and worshipful one moment, with our tallit enfolding us and the tefillin weighting us, then carnal and mundane in the next is an absolute hypocrisy- denying the substance of what the Shema is to teach us, rejecting intimacy with the Father and King, being His patron rather than His child.

We are command love the Lord our God with all of our heart, mind and soul... not just the twenty minutes devoted to morning prayers.

To teach the commands of God to our children diligently is to live them as the natural outflowing of our lives. Disturbing to me is how Deuteronomy 6:7 is quoted in many churches as a command in Scripture; but the subject matter of that command, the , is absolutely condemned. It is replaced with, at best, a cultural morality. In our communities we are no less hypocritical. We recite the Shema and pursue a Hebraic identity in our conduct and vocabulary; yet seldom do we remember the intention of the command is to walk in intimacy with Adonai. We teach our children so that our children will be taught, and more often than not, so that they may impress our peers, not to walk in humility before God. They are learning well.

To bind the commands to our hands is to make every action an expression of obedience to , in submission to God's will, in intimate fellowship with His abiding Presence. To make them frontlets before our eyes is to interpret every circumstance as it should be seen through God's eyes. It is a call to live holy and righteous before God- not to live pious and disciplined before man.

May we see our failings as an opportunity to draw closer to Him. We thought we were there; but now we see that there is so mcuh more room to snuggle in up under His arm.

[alon]

This weeks par'shah
4 Aug, 2017