"To be a teacher in the right sense is to be a learner.  I am not a teacher, only a fellow student."  (Soren Kierkegaard)

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A FEW PRE-SHABBAT WORDS FROM RABBI AARON

What Are We Saying? What Are We Thinking?

Within our thematically rich parasha we find a section of text [Deuteronomy 11:13-21] which became the second section of the Sh'ma. [note: the first section begins with "sh'ma" and "v'ahavta". The last section is about (1) the fringes [tzitzit] on the corners of our garments, and (2) acknowledging God, who redeemed us from Egypt.] The Sh'ma is recited twice daily [shacharit and ma'ariv] - suggesting that our teachers wanted to drive certain ideas home.  In order for our prayers to be meaningful it is important for us to engage those ideas - how do the words work for us?

The Text

And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto My commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul. I will give grass in thy fields for thy cattle, and thou shalt eat and be satisfied. Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; and the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and He shut up the heaven, so that there shall be no rain, and the ground shall not yield her fruit; and you perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you. Therefore shall you lay up these My words in your heart and in your soul; and you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. And you shall teach them your children, talking of them, when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shalt write them upon the door-posts of your house, and upon your gates; that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, upon the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth.

King and Command

1.       Well, how do you personally relate to God - as a king? As a father or mother? As a cultural construct? Have the citizens (Jews) conferred legitimacy upon the king?(Any recent poll numbers we should consult?) The rabbis who shaped the siddur were pretty strong in their focus on God's kingship. Throughout the siddur, we read "Melech ha'olam" - Ruler of the universe. That phrase is embedded in the classic structure of every blessing. We bow or bend the knee in a few places, following some very old choreographic instructions passed to us through the centuries.

2.       Mitzvot = commandments. Classically framed: God commands, we follow those orders. There are, however, other takes on how mitzvot operate. Mitzvot are part of Judaism's DNA. When we study mitzvot, when we relate to certain gestures as mitzvot, we are reinforcing, passing along that DNA to the next generation. Franz Rosenzweig reframed mitzvot entirely by recasting them as ethical imperatives driven by a commanding voice within each of us (Conscience - our internal ethical compass?)

Talmud - Tractate Brachot (chapter 2, page 2), a short excerpt

The sages asked: 'why does "sh'ma" (section 1) precede "v'haya im shamo'a" (section 2)? So that a person should first accept the yoke of God's sovereignty, and then accept the yoke of God's mitzvot.

Restating the proposition

Before you're ready to take the mitzvot upon yourself - as a body of binding laws, you must first accept the idea that God rules the cosmos.

An analogy from the Midrash (Mechilta Bachodesh 6)

A king wishes to rule over a city. His advisors tell him that he cannot promulgate his laws until the citizens have first accepted him as king. He then performs important deeds for them and asks, "Do you accept me as king?" They answer, "Yes, yes." He then commands them, "then accept my edicts as well."

From a traditional perspective, our recitation serves as our expressing our acceptance of "ol mitzvot - the yoke of the commandments.”  But, as I've suggested, our participation in the communal (or private) ritual might be informed by other mindsets, and those mindsets are no less worthy than the traditional one I've sketched.

Mulling Over the Text

1.       How Does Nature Work? 

Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; and the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and He shut up the heaven, so that there shall be no rain, and the ground shall not yield her fruit...

How does the Western cultural dominance of the science impact upon this text? Do we understand rain, drought, and crop yields as a function of God's might in the world, or have we opted for models which explain rain and crops without resorting to a king who punishes or rewards?

2.       Tenant and Landlord

Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; and the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, ... and you perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you. Therefore shall you lay up these My words in your heart and in your soul... that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, upon the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth.

The Promised Land, according to this text, is not an unconditional gift. There are terms which govern our possession of the Land. [editorial: I actually like this idea! It keeps us honest. If we fail to act in an ethical fashion, the Landlord has the right to evict us.]

3.       Prosperity Can Be Perilous

I will give grass in thy fields for thy cattle, and thou shalt eat and be satisfied. Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them...

Given today’s deep recession and its profound impact around the world, we might scoff at the notion that being satisfied might take us down the slippery slope. Poor Tevye asks God to smite him with the curse of wealth (If I were a rich man). 

Our tradition does not denigrate wealth, nor does it romanticize poverty. But our teachers were keen to point out that when we feel like we have it made, we might be tempted to congratulate ourselves and forget that we have been blessed, and that we need to share those blessings with those in need. As the Grateful Dead taught, 'Cause when life looks like easy Street, there is danger at your door.’

The Take-Home

Words of prayer, words of Torah are not meant to be an ice-skating rink. If we skate over the surface, we'll never feel the words. Put the text under the microscope. Engage the ideas, meditate upon them. The words might uplift us, or enrage us. The text is angel; the angel we wrestle with. If we're up to the challenge, the wrestling might transform us.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Aaron