Parashat Va’etchanan

There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done.

Nothing you can sing that can’t be sung.

Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game

It’s easy.

There’s nothing you can make that can’t be made.

No one you can save that can’t be saved.

Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you

in time – It’s easy.

- The Liverpooler Rebbes

The revelation at Sinai was the defining moment in the transformation of the Jewish people from a nation of slaves to a spiritual community, united by their covenant with their creator. The experience was so intensely awesome and breathtaking that the Israelites couldn’t handle it. They asked Moshe to serve as their go between:

They said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear, but let G-d not speak with us lest we die.” (Ex. 20:16)

Afterwards, still reeling from the experience, the people had an opportunity to hear all the specifics: And he (Moshe) took the Book of the Covenant and read it within earshot of the people, and they said, “All that G-d spoke, Naaseh v’nishma, we will do and we will listen.” (Ex. 24:7)

Naaseh v’nishma, we will jump right in, and learn the details later….

The Talmud in Masechet Shabbat (88a) praises this response:

R. Eleazar said: When the Israelites gave precedence to ‘we will do’ over ‘we will listen,’ a Heavenly Voice went forth and exclaimed to them, Who revealed to My children this secret, which is employed by the Ministering Angels ? As it is written: Bless G-d, his angels, those mighty in strength, that fulfill his word, that listen to the voice of his word. First they do and then they listen? (Psalms 103:20)

Moshe returns to the mountain to get the rest of the Torah:

And G-d said to Moses, “Come up to Me to the mountain and remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets, the Torah and HaMitzvah, the commandment, which I have written to teach them.” (Ex. 24:12)

The tablets and the Torah seem self explanatory, but what is HaMitzvah, The Commandment?

Unfortunately, the Israelites could not wait long enough to find out. Before Moshe could return from the mountain they built the Golden Calf, and stumbled their way from one unfortunate event to the next. The inspiration was short lived, indeed, and they seemed to live in constant fear of G-d. What happened to naaseh v’nishma? Evidently they were not angels after all, merely human.

In this week’s parasha, always read on the shabbat after Tisha B’Av, Moshe is addressing the next generation, who had come of age during the 40 years of desert wanderings, and were to inherit the land denied their parents after the infamous episode of the scouts. That episode was the event that set the stage for all the calamities to befall the Jewish people in the future on that fated calendar day of the 9th of Av.

Moshe is recounting the history of the revelation at Sinai, which many remembered from their childhood and adolescence. He recounts that moment of initial inspiration: Moshe called all the Jewish People and said, ‘Shema Yisrael, listen carefully Israel, to the statutes and laws that I am relating in your presence today, for you are to study them, and be careful to fulfill them.” (Deut. 5:1)

Moshe is telling the people that they need to listen, to comprehend before they take action. Moshe reviews the ‘Ten Commandments” spoken by G-d at Sinai. He then recalls the response of the previous generation 40 years earlier, after they begged Moshe to intercede for them:

You approach, and hear all that the Lord, our God, will say, and you speak to us all that the Lord, our God, will speak to you, V’shama’inu Vi’asinu, and we will listen and we will do. (Deut 5:24)

But wait…we will listen and we will do….. The order here is reversed! Why is Moshe presenting a revisionist history?

Moshe retells G-d’s response to the original declaration, Naaseh v’nishma, we will do and we will listen, reported in Exodus 24:7 : “…. I have heard the sound of this people’s words, that they spoke to you, everything they said is excellent!” (Deut. 5:25)

G-d does not say, ” I heard their words”, but rather, I heard et kol devarim, the sound, the intent of their words.

The sentiment and the passion were there, but their procedure was out of order. Moshe takes the liberty of correcting their error, V’shama’inu Vi’asinu, and we will listen and we will do.

Moshe continues reporting G-d’s response to him forty years earlier:

Would that their hearts be like this, to fear Me and to keep all My commandments for all time, so that it might be well with them and with their children forever! Go say to them, ‘Return to your tents.’ But as for you, stand here with Me, and I will tell you the entirety of HaMitzvah, the commandment, the statutes, and the ordinances which you will teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess. (Deut 5:26-28)

HaMitzvah, THE COMMANDMENT, is back on the table…

And now, in chapter 6, we will find out just what that means. This is HaMitzvah, the commandment, the statutes, and the ordinances that the Lord, your God, commanded to teach you, to perform in the land into which you are about to pass, to possess it. And you shall, therefore, listen, O Israel, and be sure to do, so that it will be good for you, and so that you may increase exceedingly, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, spoke to you, a land flowing with milk and honey. (Deut. 6:1-3)

Now that we have our priorities straight we can proceed:

Shema Yisrael, Ad-noy El-haynu Ad-Noy Echad!

Listen, Israel! Ad-noy our G-d, Ad-noy is the One (Deut. 6:4)

First, Listen…

Then, Do…

V’ahavta et Ad-noy El-hecha, b’chol l’vavcha, uv’chol nafshecha, u’vchol mi’odecha.

You are to love Ad-noy your G-d with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your resources” (Deut. 6:5)

Loving G-d…. that was the element that was missing from the previous generation!

By placing the procedure for acquiring the Torah in the correct order we will be able to relate to G-d out of love, instead of solely by fear.

Perhaps this teaching of Moshe in our parasha, perhaps the Shema itself, is a tikkun, a repair, of the missteps of the generation that left Egypt. They did not know that naaseh v’nishma must eventually lead to n’shma v’naaseh, and instead lived their days in constant fear of G-d.

This is the essence of the first paragraph of our twice daily recitation of the Shema. All you need is love…a purely human emotion, angels need not apply.

By carefully listening to the words of the Torah, by studying the teachings of Moshe and the sages we can come to take action, and strive to fulfill all the mitzvot motivated by love and understanding, not merely by fear.

Wishing you a lovely shabbat,

Rabbi Greg

Thanks to my friend and teacher R’ Menachem Leibtag for his insights on the meaning of HaMitzvah.

All you need is love, all you need is love,

All you need is love, love, love is all you need.

Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.

All you need is love, all you need is love,

All you need is love, love, love is all you need.

There’s nothing you can know that isn’t known.

Nothing you can see that isn’t shown.

Nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be.

It’s easy.

All you need is love, all you need is love,

All you need is love, love, love is all you need.

All you need is love (all together now)

All you need is love (everybody)

All you need is love, love, love is all you need.