Shalom, Africa
Vol. VI, No. 1
Va’Etchana – Shabbat Nachamu
11 Menacham Av 5769
July 31 – August 1, 2009
Torah: Deuteronomy 3:23 – 7:11
Haftarah: Isaiah 40:1–26
Click here for the Parashah in English
Click here for the Haftarah in English
The Parashah summary and the discussion topic “Saying Shema” were prepared by Rabbi Joyce Newmark for “Torah Sparks,” a weekly service of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
I. Parashah Summary
Moses continues his review of the history of the wilderness years, describing how he pleaded with God to be allowed to enter the land and how God rejected his plea.
Moses then issues to the Israelites the first of several exhortations found in this parasha. This one is about the importance of obeying God’s commandments, and particularly emphasizes the prohibition of idolatry.
Moses sets aside three cities of refuge on the east side of the Jordan. If someone commits manslaughter, he could flee to one of these cities and be safe from the relatives of the person he unwittingly killed.
Moses again exhorts the people to study and observe all of God’s laws and rules. He reminds them of the revelation at Sinai and reviews the Ten Statements. He recalls their reaction to hearing the voice of God and encourages them to retain that feeling of reverence so that they may thrive in the land. Next, he teaches the first paragraph of the Shema. He tells the people yet again that they must keep God’s commandments and shun idolatry. They are to teach their children about the covenant – that God brought Israel out of Egypt and into the land so that they might worship God and keep His commandments. Finally, Moses warns the people against intermarriage, pointing out the danger that it might lead to idolatry.
II. Saying Shema
Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. (Deut. 6:4)
A. Alternate translations:
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. (Hertz Humash)
Hear, O Israel: Hashem is our God, Hashem is the One and Only. (Artscroll Stone Humash)
Hearken O Israel: YHWH our God, YHWH (is) One! (Schocken, Everett Fox translation)
Listen, Israel: YHWH is our God. YHWH is one. (Commentary on the Torah, Richard Friedman translation)
B. The precise meaning of the Shema is uncertain. The four Hebrew words “YHVH eloheinu, YHVH ehad” literally mean “YHVH our God YHVH one.” Since Hebrew does not have a present-tense verb meaning “is” to link subject and predicate, the link must be supplied by the listener or reader. Where to do so depends on context and sometimes is uncertain. Grammatically, “YHVH our God YHVH one” could be rendered in several ways such as (1) “YHVH is our God, YHVH alone”; (2) “The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (literally “YHVH our God, YHVH is one); (3) “YHVH our God is one YHVH.” (Dr. Jeffrey Tigay, “The JPS Torah Commentary: Deuteronomy,” Excursus 10)
C. Another interpretation: “The Lord, our God,” over us (the children of Israel); “the Lord is one,” over all the creatures of the world. “The Lord, our God” in this world; “the Lord is one,” in the world to come, as it is said, “The Lord shall be king over all the earth. In that day shall the Lord be one and His name one.” [Zech. 14:9] (Sifrei, Piska 31)
D. “The Lord is our God” The Lord alone is our God, there is no other kind of divinity that is a partner to Him... “The Lord alone” He alone, and Him we will serve without resorting to any man-made intermediary such as charms, etc. Rashbam (Rabbi Shmuel ben Meir), 1080-1158, France, (Rashi’s grandson) E. “The Lord” Who gives existence and is the Creator. “Our God” He is the Chosen One of all who are separated (from matter), and Him (alone), not through any intermediary... “The Lord alone” Now, being that He granted existence from total nothingness, it is understood that there does not exist any kind similar to Him and that He is separated in kind from all that exists in the world... (Rabbi Ovadia ben Jacob Sforno, 1475-1550, Italy)
E. The rabbis say: God said to Israel: My children, all that I have created I have created in pairs; heaven and earth are a pair; the sun and the moon are a pair; Adam and Eve are a pair; this world and the world to come are a pair; but My glory is one, and unique in the world. (Devarim Rabbah 2:31)
F. We perceive God in many ways – He is kind, angry, merciful, wise, judgmental – and these apparently contradictory manifestations convinced some ancient and medieval philosophers that there must be many gods, one of mercy, one of judgment, and so on. But the Torah says that Hashem is the One and Only – there is an inner harmony for all that He does, though human intelligence cannot comprehend what it is. This, too, will be understood at the End of Days, when God’s ways are illuminated. (Rabbi Nosson Scherman, “The Stone Edition Chumash,” Artscroll)
Sparks for Discussion
This verse is at once perhaps the best known in the Torah and one of the most difficult to translate and interpret. How do you usually translate it? Which of the alternate translations or explanations to you find appealing? Do you find any of them unsettling? What exactly do you mean when you say Shema?
III. Renewing Love, by Dvora Weisberg
Loving God, like loving people, requires the commitment of our intellect, emotions, and actions.
One of the famous commandments found in this parashah is also, on the surface, one of the strangest in the Torah. Moses instructs Israel: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might" (Deut. 6:5). We usually think of love not as something people do on command, but as an emotion that enters the human heart unbidden. How, then, can the Torah expect us to fulfill a commandment to love God?
In reality, of course, love is not exclusively a spontaneous phenomenon. We may fall in love without meaning to or trying to. But sustaining love, as anyone involved in an ongoing loving relationship can attest, requires continuous thought and effort. The lover must make conscious efforts to demonstrate his or her love. People in love must find time to renew their love and keep it fresh.
The same holds true for love of God. By commanding us to love God, the Torah teaches--as a Chasidic master puts it--that each person's inner nature includes the ability to love God. To transform that love from potential to actual requires a conscious and ongoing effort.
Much like love for another person, we develop love for God by taking specific actions that demonstrate our feelings. We show love for God through the performance of mitzvot (commandments) at all times and places. This passage commanding love of God instructs us to adhere to God's word "at home and . . . away, when you lie down and when you get up" (6:7). The demands of living according to the Torah involve both intellect and emotion, mind and heart. The regular, fixed times for performing the actions that demonstrate that love ensure that we constantly nurture it. They thus build an enduring devotion to God that qualifies as love.
See also Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald’s treatment of this topic at National Jewish Outreach Program.
IV. Love the Lord, by Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson
Moses' message to relate to God through love, not only through fear, is especially relevant in the modern age.
What is the proper emotional attitude to take toward God? In our day, as in the past, religious human beings divide into two general camps. Some argue that we must fear and venerate God, while others stress the need to love God.
The two modes of relationship, fear and love, have a long history within Judaism. Both yirat shamayim (fear of heaven) and ahavat ha-Shem (love of God) find ample attestation in traditional and modern writings. While most Jews retain elements of both, individuals and communities tend to stress one tendency over the other.
The natural consequence of a stress on fearing God is to expect human-divine relating to work in one direction. God commands and people obey. Halakhah (Jewish law) is treated as immutable because people, including community leaders, are overwhelmed by a sense of their own inadequacy and insignificance. The highest form of human response becomes complete, unquestioning acquiescence.
While fear of God may be important as a secondary value, preventing the diminution of God into a rubber-stamp of our latest preferences or our most egregious shortcomings, there is a long precedent that gives priority to relating to God in love.
Today's Torah portion highlights the value of ahavat ha-Shem as a primary mode of Jewish piety. Standing before the assembled tribes of Israel, Moses recalls the stirring moment at Mount Sinai when God gave the Ten Commandments. He then continues with the Shema, reminding us of God's unity and pledging our loyalty to God's exclusive service. Immediately following, Moses continues his instructions to the people by telling them, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might." For Moses, the most important component of serving God is to love God.
In his commentary to the Torah, Rashi (11th century France) affirms that judgment. He explains that Moses meant, "Perform God's commandments out of love. One cannot compare a person who acts out of love to one who acts from fear, who serves a master out of fear. When the latter feels overburdened, he leaves and goes away." Rashi, keen student of the human heart, knows that fear can motivate behavior only so long as the power of compulsion remains. As soon as the source of fear loses its strength, service stops.
So, too, those who serve God primarily through fear do so only as long as it "works" for them. Once they no longer see their service as exempting them from the hazards and disappointments of life, their inducement for serving God also stops.
Perhaps it was for this reason that Maimonides (12th century Spain and Egypt) insisted that serving God out of fear is not "the standard set by the prophets and sages." At best, he claims, it is a useful educational measure "until their knowledge shall have increased when they will serve out of love."
What was true then is even more true now. Modernity, with its insistence on the worth of the individual, on the ability of humanity to progress, has moved us beyond the utility of fear as a functional training device. If Jews who wish to be modern also desire to draw close to God, they will do so out of love. What is crucial, then, is to become open to perceiving that love. Through the beauty of nature around us, we can experience God's love as Creator.
Through profundity of our sacred Jewish heritage, we can integrate God's love as the honen da'at, the One who bestows wisdom. Through the performance of mitzvot (commandments), we can takken olam be-malkhut Shaddai, repair the world under the sovereignty of God. And through the acts of compassion and caring from those we love and our community, we can experience God as the Gomel Hesed, the one who bestows lovingkindness.
V: Beyond the Letter of the Law, by Rabbi David Movsas
Doing what is "right and good" in the eyes of God means promoting the values of the Torah beyond the explicit laws.
Va'et'hanan confronts us with an apparent redundancy. Several admonitions throughout the parashah command us to observe the laws taught by Moshe [Moses]. Then, toward the end of the parashah, we are told, "And you shall do that which is right and good in the eyes of G-d."
What new instructions does this verse add? Surely, doing what is "right and good" is already a part of the numerous injunctions already presented. If one observes all the commandments and prohibitions set forth in the Torah, does he not accomplish what is "right and good in the eyes of G-d?" What new obligation does this verse apply?
Both Rashi and the Ramban understand this verse to denote a level of behavior that is lifnim mishurat hadin, above the letter of the law. To appreciate the full spirit of the law, one needs to read between the lines of the Torah, and one who does this shows a sincere desire to observe HaShem's bidding.
The story is told of a poor man who came to the Brisker Rav on Erev Pesach (the day before Passover) with a question. Could he use milk instead of wine for the four Cups instead of wine for the four Cups at the Seder?
The Brisker Rav didn't reply. Instead he took five rubles from his pocket and gave them to the man. The Rav's wife wondered why he had given the man so much money. "Wouldn't one ruble have been enough for wine?" she asked.
"True," the Brisker Rav answered, "but if he was planning on drinking milk throughout the seder, that means he had no money for meat either. I gave him enough for both wine and meat."
The Brisker Rav combined keen perception with adherence to the spirit of the law, for though he could have answered the poor man's question, he went the extra mile to ensure that the poor man would fulfill the mitzvot (commandments) of Pesach as well as enjoy its festive spirit.
A similar precept is encapsulated in the verse, "You shall be holy, for I the L-rd your G-d am holy." It is possible, the Ramban comments, for a person to keep the letter of the law while violating its spirit, thus becoming a naval birshut hatorah – a degenerate within the confines of the Torah. The Torah commands us to be holy, to sanctify ourselves even in those circumstances that are permitted according to the strict interpretation of the law.
These two verses complement each other. "You shall be holy" tells us to take a step back in order to uphold the spirit of the law. It tells us that even though a certain act seems permitted, we must nevertheless demonstrate self-restraint to prevent the spirit of the law from being violated. In doing so we become holy.
At the same time, "You shall do that which is right and good" tells us to take a step forward in order to promote the spirit of the law. Though we may find ourselves in situations where we feel we can sit back and not get involved, the spirit of the Torah demands that we take initiative and get involved.
The Talmud states that Jerusalem was destroyed because her inhabitants failed to raise their standard of behavior above the letter of the law.
It is therefore fitting that Va'et'hanan is always read on Shabbat Nachamu, the Shabbat of Comfort, which follows Tisha B'Av. If we live up to the message of this parashah by doing what is "right and good in the eyes of G-d," we will be deserving of redemption and merit the rebuilding of the Temple.
See also Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald’s treatment of this verse at National Jewish Outreach Program.
V: From the teachings of Rabbi Zelig Pliskin, Growth through Torah
In the Torah, Moses states: "See that I have taught you statutes and laws as the Lord, my God, commanded me to do in the midst of the land" (Deut. 4:5). What do we learn from the added phrase "in the midst of the land"?
[Some religions teach] that if a person wants to live a life of sanctity and perfection of the soul, he must flee from inhabited places and live alone in the wilderness. There he will separate himself from other people and from all worldly pursuits. This is not the path of the Torah. Moses told the people, "I have taught you to follow the commandments in the midst of the land." That is, you should live an elevated life among other people. True sanctity and perfection is to live among people and behave both towards God and towards your fellow men in a manner consistent with Torah values.
The ideal of the Torah is to bring sanctity and idealism into all aspects of human endeavor. If you live alone, you will be free from anger, envy, causing other people pain, etc. However, you will be missing opportunities for kindness, compassion and love. Moreover, the true test of controlling anger or of honesty is when you have to deal with others. Only when you are in the company of other people can you fulfill all aspects of the Torah.
VI. Comment on the Haftarah, by Rabbi Mordecai Silverstein
This Shabbat we read the first of seven Haftarot of consolation (Shiva D'nechamta) which follow Tisha b'Av. The opening word of the Haftarah – "Nachamu" – gives this Shabbat its special name: Shabbat Nachamu – the Shabbat of Consolation. Its opening sentence was meant to be a source of comfort to a people racked by tribulation: "Comfort, oh comfort My people, says (yomar) your God." (Isaiah 40:1)
Rabbi David Kimche (13th century Provance) interprets this prophecy contextually, asserting that this prophecy appears to be a response to the prophecy that immediately precedes it. In that prophecy, Isaiah warns King Hezekiah of the ultimate downfall of the kingdom of Judah at the hands of the Babylonians. (See chapter 39) Isaiah's message of consolation follows, offering solace to those exiled by the Babylonians, proclaiming to them that their exile will ultimately end in redemption.
Kimche apparently understands "yomar", a verb in the future tense, to mean something that will happen in the immediate future. The authors of the following Midrash interpreted this prophecy with broader implication:
Rabbi Hanina bar Papa said, “The Israelites said to Isaiah: ‘Isaiah, our master, is it possible that you came only to offer comfort to this particular generation that suffered the destruction of the First Temple?' Isaiah responded to them: 'I came to bring comfort to all generations.' The verse does not say: 'said (amar) your God,’ rather it says: 'your God will say (yomar).'”
[Similarly,] Rabbi Hanina bar Abba: "In eight places Isaiah wrote 'your God will say', corresponding to the eight prophets who prophesied after the First Temple was destroyed, and these are they: Joel, Amos, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Ezekiel and Jeremiah." (Pesikta d'Rav Kahana 16:10)
Rabbi Yitchak Abrabanel (14th century Spain), unlike Kimche, assumes that the two opinions found in this midrash capture the true meaning of this verse. What other than the tense of the verb "yomar" makes the Midrash's interpretation attractive? It seemed to them inconceivable that Isaiah's message of hope would be directed only to those who came to restore the First Temple. These sages assert that his message was intended for all who have suffered a discouraging defeat and need God given confidence to rebuild. This is a message not just for a single generation. It is eternal..
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And so, with this note of consolation and encouragement, we begin the 6th year of Shalom Africa. What begin in 2004 as “Shalom Nigeria” is now received by readers not only in Nigeria but in Cameroon, the Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia Uganda and Zambia – and India!
Many of the newer readers call themselves Jews but from their descriptions, they need some clarification about what Judaism is and what it is not. In the next few issues, I will be speaking about the Oral Torah and what Judaism has to say about Jesus. For now, though, I need to get ready for the Fast of the 9th of Av.
May God grant us a life in which our hearts’ desires for goodness will be fulfilled. May God bless us all until we meet again.
Rabbi Howard Gorin, Rockville, Maryland
Tikvat Israel Congregation
2200 Baltimore Road
Rockville, MD 20851
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