VAETCHANAN_DEUTRONOMY III:23-VII:11
The name of these chapters reflects Moshe’s discouragement when God communicated to him that He would not lead the people of Israel to the Promised Land. Although he was aware that the Divine will not be altered, Moshe prayed, because prayer is also an individual’s recognition that his fate depends on God. Even when it is thought that there is no merit for reconsideration, the person must pray, because the act of praying in itself, when accompanied by sincerity and repentance, is able to produce an alteration in the personality of the individual in such a way that, after prayer, due to the change it causes, the person could be worthy of a different sentence.
Another basic aspect of the weekly reading is the text of Shema Yisrael. When Rabbi Akiva was asked what the great fundamental concept of the Tora was, he opined that the phrase Veahavta lereacha kamocha, “And thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” was the cardinal teaching. There is no doubt that this expression condenses a fundamental principle of Judaism, a lesson that Hillel used in his alternate version when he responded to the person who wanted to learn the basics of Judaism while standing, leaning on one leg: “Do not do to your neighbor what is hateful to you.”
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the phrase Shema Israel embodies the essential ideological and theological message of Judaism as opposed to an idolatrous environment. This principle is the existence of one God, a claim that includes the existential brotherhood of human beings because it implies that we were created by the same God, the one God.
The Midrash testifies that the first to enunciate this fundamental phrase of Jewish tradition were the sons of the third patriarch, Yaacov. When Yaacov was about to die, he could not rest because he feared that his children would later forget his teachings. He questioned them about their beliefs and they answered: Shema Israel (alternate name of the patriarch), HaShem is our God, HaShem is unique. After hearing this unequivocal affirmation of faith, Yaacov bid farewell to this world to meet his father and grandfather: the patriarchs Avraham and Yitschak.
In this sense, Rambam makes an important reflection. While material things can be fractionated because there is always something that is smaller, a fact that was demonstrated with the division of the atom that is composed of parts or particles increasingly smaller and difficult to measure. Rambam points out, that the phrase HaShem echad, which states that God is one or the only one, implies that He is indivisible. God is a whole that cannot be divided or broken. If we consider that the uniqueness of the human being lies in the fact that God breathed his spirit into him, this being the spiritual ingredient that separates him from the other creatures that were created by God, it can be assumed that this spirit or soul is indivisible. That both the evil inclination and the tendency to do good are part of a whole. are an integral element of the soul. Perhaps the difference between good and evil—which are a manifestation of the same source, the soul that has a Divine origin—is part of singular spiritual energy that manifests itself positively or negatively only by its use, due to the ethical or immoral conduct that is chosen.
This is how the Hasidic rabbi sentenced when asked what is distance between Mizrach and Ma’arav, East and West. The rabbi replied: none. It is enough to take a 180-degree turn on the same spot to diametrically change the direction of the individual’s gaze.
At the end of the day, the choice between moral conduct that conforms to imperatives indispensable for coexistence in society and behavior that is indifferent to the set of laws contained in the Tora, the Mitzvot, depends on the individual. The proximity of an era in which humanity will recognize the existence of the one God is a consequence of the will of the person that must be translated into moral and ethical conduct, in which love for one’s neighbor prevails, according to Rabbi Akiva.
MITZVAH: TORA ORDINANCE IN THIS PARSHA
CONTAINS 8 POSITIVE MITZVOT AND 4 PROHIBITIONS
- Deuteronomy 5:18 Not Desiring what belongs to another Jew
- Deuteronomy 6:4 Believing in the Unity of God
- Deuteronomy 6:5 Loving God
- Deuteronomy 6:7 Studying the Tora
- Deuteronomy 6:7 Recite Shema Yisrael every morning and every night
- Deuteronomy 6:8 To tie the Tefillin on the arm
- Deuteronomy 6:8 Placing Tefillin on the head
- Deuteronomy 6:9 Affixing a Mezuza on the jambs of the doors of our homes
- Deuteronomy 6:16 Failure to unreasonably test an authentic prophet
- Deuteronomy 7:2 Eliminate the 7 nations that occupied the Land of Israel
- Deuteronomy 7:2 Not having positive feelings for idolaters
- Deuteronomy 7:3 Do not marry idolaters
