It would seem that the world is becoming decreasingly calm as the years go by. At the same time, there is rarely anything new under the sun and a sense of disequilibrium has covered society from time immemorial.
the power of silence
Silence is a powerful thing that can be good or bad. If you see a crime being committed and someone being hurt or killed and you keep silent, it is sinful. How many people stood by and watched the Nazi brutes beat up, and haul away Jewish men, women, and children? How many kept silent as Jews went to their deaths? Standing by and saying nothing was wrong.
heavenly silence
the guard of silence
a diligent accounting
diligence and memory
covetousness and contentment
My comments on frugality earlier this year emphasized the limited resources of our planet and the mitzah of sharing more with those in need. These are worthy reasons to practice frugality and be free from the love of money, of course, but now I’d like to consider the root of frugality, which is contentment, or being satisfied with what we already have, so that we’re not constantly coveting more.
frugality as responsibility
righteousness, faithfulness, and life
The rabbis of the Talmud discuss the 613 precepts of Torah and how the prophets sought to distill them into just a few principles. David, in Psalm 15, lists eleven; Isaiah reduces them to six (Is. 33:15-16); and Micah refines them even further to three: “It has been told you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: only to do justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly before your God (Mic. 6:8).
righteousness in listening
This week’s parasha is a source for many liturgical texts within the Jewish tradition such as Ve’ahavta (Deuteronomy 6:5–9), Ki HaShem Hu HaEloqim (Deuteronomy 4:39) from the Alenu, and Vezot HaTorah (Deuteronomy 4:44) from the Torah service, with the most obvious being the great, prayerful/theological/liturgical declaration, Shema Yisra’el, HaShem Eloqenu, HaShem Echad “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone” (Deuteronomy 6:4). Just as the Shema is central to the liturgical tradition of the Jewish people, the root form of this word, shin-mem-ayin, is particularly relevant and recurrent in the text of this week’s parasha.
Shin-mem-ayin (the verb from which we get the word Shema) can be translated as: “to hear” and “to listen” and in some contexts “to heed” and “to obey.” This verb appears in seven verses in Parashat Va’etchannan:
But the LORD was wrathful with me on your account and would not listen (shama) to me. (Deuteronomy 3:6; NJPS)
And now, O Israel, give heed (shema) to the laws and rules . . . (Deuteronomy 4:1; NJPS)
Observe them faithfully, for that will be proof of your wisdom and discernment to other peoples, who on hearing (yishme‘un) of all these laws will say, “Surely that great nation is a wise and discerning people.” (Deuteronomy 4:6; NJPS)
Hear (shema), O Israel, the laws and rules I proclaim to you this day! (Deuteronomy 5:1; NJPS)
The Lord heard (vayyishma) the plea you made to me. (Deuteronomy 5:25; NJPS)
Obey (veshamata), O Israel, willingly and faithfully that it may go well with you . . . (Deuteronomy 6:3; NJPS)Hear (shema), O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone. (Deuteronomy 6:4; NJPS)
Each use of shin-mem-ayin is an illustration of an act of relating; whether between Moses and God, Israel and the nations, Israel and Torah, or Israel and God. The act of engaging in relationship known as shin-mem-ayin (a verb, something you do, an action) is one with a variety of consequences. The opportunity for Moses to enter the land of Israel was thwarted by God’s refusal to listen to his request. Israel’s listening, obeying, giving heed, to the words of God and Moses have direct bearing on their survival in the land and relationship with other nations. God heard them so they must now hear him. Listening becomes an act of righteousness.
It is the faith that we have heard, our willingness to hear others and each other, and our hearing of God that make us who we are when we are at our very best. Only in our shin-mem-ayin are we faithful to keep that for which we were commanded to do. As Moses’ sobering example in the beginning of the parasha shows us (Deuteronomy 3:23-28), only through God’s shin-mem-ayin are we able to receive God’s favor.
In this second parasha in the book of Devarim (“words”), we learn that words hold very little without their being heard, listened to, heeded, and obeyed. Our destiny(ies), our relationships, and our words are all deeply bound in the act of shin-mem-ayin. May we merit to hear and to be heard.
in the midst of argument
is profanity unclean?
God is with us
eat that frog
There's an old saying that goes, "If the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning is eat a live frog, then nothing worse can happen for the rest of the day!"off with the dross
accidents happen
a good place to start
patience muscles
Most of us have heard it said, at one point or another, “all good things come to those who wait.” We have also probably heard, “you can’t always get what you want.” For the most part we think of patience in relationship to those things that are eventually coming to us. This week’s parasha (Pinchas) reveals a deeper level of patience.
the solution of Pinchas
At the tail end of parashat Balak we read of one of the most violent incidents of the Jewish people’s journey in the desert. In spite of all that had transpired up until that point, the people were still drawn to idolatry of a most heinous kind: the idolatry that objectifies the other (divine and human).
