Our chapters affirm that ekev, as a consequence of the fulfillment of the Mitsvot, the Divine ordinances, the Eternal will watch over the Brit, the pact that he concluded with our ancestors. Our fulfillment of the Mitsvot results in vaahevcha uverachecha vehirbecha, “and (God) will love you, bless you, and multiply you.” We note that the concept of love is present and mentioned several times in this biblical text. Indeed, the word love plays a very important role in a chapter of previous readings, a emotion considered to be a pillar of our faith. We refer to Shema Israel, the paragraph that begins with the statement: “Hear Israel, the Eternal, our God, God is One.”
In the Hebrew language, lishmoa, means to listen, moreover it means to understand and obey. Thus, Shema Israel is not just an invitation to hear a statement about Divine oneness. Shema tells us that it is necessary to understand the implications of this uniqueness in a general way regarding the universe, and in particular, its consequences with regard to human behavior.
On the one hand, the uniqueness of God leads us to conceive the possibility of a logical ordering in the structures and in the laws that govern the cosmos. The notion of the existence of a unique creator and designer of the universe allows us to think that each effect has a cause. This monotheistic conception becomes the genesis of science that explores and classifies in its endeavor to find a convincing explanation of the phenomena of nature. At the same time, the idea of the only God promotes democracy within the diversity that we find in the human species. The Creator Himself is responsible for the existence of all beings, without exception.
A generally accepted characteristic of the Jewish tradition states that action is paramount. Ikar hamaasé, the fundamental thing is the action, avers a saying of our Chachamim. In Jewish tradition, faith and belief, by themselves, do not necessarily lead to salvation. The practice of good actions and an honorable conduct are essential to be worthy of religious approval. However, the importance attached to the phrase Shema Israel suggests that mere listening is a moral desideratum. Is our age not considered to be deaf, because it does not hear the cry of the less fortunate?
The mentioned biblical paragraph, Shema Israel, affirms that the uniqueness of God requires as a consequence, veahavta et HaShem Elohecha bechol levavcha …, “and you shall love the Eternal, your God, with all your heart …. Of course, you cannot legislate love towards another person or another being. By definition, we consider spontaneity, to be the defining quality of genuine love, and, therefore, it cannot consist of a set of artificially fabricated or mandatorily imposed feelings. You can come to veahavta perhaps as a consequence of being immersed in vehagita bo yomam valaila, in the constant study of Torah, as a way and means of an approach to the Creator.
My teacher Harav Yosef Dov Haleví Soloveitchik teaches that there are four ways to approach God. In this way, man transcends the abyss that separates the infinite from the finite. These paths are, Talmud Torah, which is study, ahavat HaShem, love of God, shemirat haMitsvot, the fulfillment of ordinances, and Tefilah, prayer.
If we start from the premise that God knows everything, Talmud Torah, the study of Torah becomes an instrument to come closer and identify with His knowledge. It is a way of establishing a common border with the intellect of God. By studying, we share the Divine knowledge and fuse the finite and the infinite. God reveals himself through nature, that is the cosmos, and in the moral order contained in the instructions of the Torah. Investigation of the universe and a better understanding of ethical and moral parameters are a way of appreciating and apprehending, although without ever fully understanding the essence of Divinity. Jewish tradition orders study as the most precious asset when it affirms Talmud Torah keneged kulam, Torah study surpasses everything (the other virtuous acts).
Love of God, ahavat HaShem, has to be the consequence of a life that is governed by the fulfillment of the norms ordered by the Divinity. A life of Mitsvah serves to mobilize our emotions and feelings, to recognize in every experience and event, the benevolent intervention of the Deity. Ahavat HaShem is the irresistible internal response to the apprehension of the Divine Presence in the universe, which is what gives sustenance and existence to the cosmos. In the absence of God, existence and being are an impossibility.
Man serves God through the exercise of his moral will to reach ethical decisions. The purpose of Halachah, according to Soloveitchik, is to bend man’s will to God’s will. The purpose is to seek the relief of man on a spiritual level, guiding his biological drives and instincts so that they have a transcendental content and significance. The goal of Mitsvah is the transformation of the mechanical and habitual in our lives, into actions that are situated on the spiritual plane, of Kedushat haguf, the sanctification of the body. In some other religions the body is considered to be corrupt and irredeemable. In Judaism, on the other hand, the synthesis and the fusion between body and intellect are sought to forge the spiritual being. Although Talmud Torah is essentially directed at the intellect. The Mitsvah, on the other hand, involves the whole being, its goal is to achieve harmony and integration between body and mind.
Talmud Torah, ahavat HaShem, and Mitsvah are human activities that are intended to foster closeness and encounter with Deity. But Tefilah has an additional characteristic, the existence of the interlocutor and reciprocity. A human being raises his prayer to God, and He answers him. (The answer may also be negative, but it is an answer.) In a figurative sense, man ascends the mountain of prayer and God descends from the heavens. This is how the Bible says in the book of Shemot, Vayered HaShem al Har Sinai …, vayaal Mosheh: “and God descended on Mount Sinai …, and Moses ascended” (so that there is an encounter between the two). Prayer is not a monologue but a participatory dialogue. In Tefilah there is movement on the part of both, while in the first mentioned modalities, man is the active being and God is the passive entity.
Jewish tradition qualifies God as Shomea Tefilah, Who listens to prayer, because without the interlocutor, prayer becomes an act of self-suggestion and ceases to be a dialogue. Prophecy is the means by which God communicates with man (according to Rambam, the medium, the prophet, is a person of great spiritual preparation that permits him to be connected to the Divine message). The Anshei Kneset Hagedolah, the members of “The Great Assembly”, instituted prayer, at the end of the period of prophecy, in order to be able to continue with the Divine relationship and start a new period in our spiritual history. This time in the form of dialogue. Although prayer has an important dose of Techinah, request, its primary motivation is the encounter with the Deity.
These ideas are clearly exposed and contained in the words of our weekly text, Veatá Israel ma HaShem Elohecha shoel meimach, “and now Israel, what does the Eternal, your God, require of you”, ki im leyira et HaShem Elohecha lalechet bechol derachav uleahava oto, “But fear God, your God, and follow His ways, loving Him”, velaavod et HaShem Elohecha bejol levavecha uvechol nafshecha, “and serving God, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul”. Lishmor et Mitsvot HaShem veet chukotav asher anochi metsavecha hayom, “fulfilling His commands and precepts that I prescribe to you today”, (because the basic and essential purpose of all the above is) letov lach, “for your good”.
