There are a few questions that Hashem is going to ask everybody after 120 years. It will be determined, based on these answers, whether they go up or down. These questions are: Did you set time to learn Torah? Did you set aside tzeddakah money? Did you shoot Beshansky in the face in Paintball? I’m finally able to honestly say ‘yes’ to one of those questions.
Vacation right now is enjoyable as ever. We’ve hiked, biked, kayaked, visited the beach, got stung by Jellyfish, saw a surfaced Israeli submarine leave to open waters, visited museums, visited the milk factory, did paintball, slept, and even did a little learning now and then. I can assure you that there will be some excellent desktop photos posted on my site starting next weekend. So stay tuned… okay, on to Torah!
This week’s parsha contains the second of three paragraphs of the ‘Shema’, which we read at least twice a day. The first paragraph, which begins with the famous words, “Shema Yisroel” and “V’Ahavta Es Hashem…”, deals with accepting the yoke of G-d’s Kingship upon oneself. The second deals with accepting the yoke of mitzvos, by learning and performing them. When we accept these mitzvos upon ourselves then Hashem will do ‘his part of the deal’, and give us the physical and spiritual supplies necessary for our survival.
“And it will come to pass that if you continually listen to My commandments that I command you today”
Rav Schwab writes several interesting thoughts on the Shema, I thought it would be appropriate to share them.
The pasuk says that we should ‘listen’ to the commandments. Listening to something means that there is something to be said, that these commandments are passing on a message. Here in this pasuk we see such a message: “…if you continually listen to MY commandments”. These commandments were given to us by Hashem, not by mankind. These are HIS commandments. In the end, a Jew does not eat kosher because “it’s healthier”, or put on tefillin or tzitzis as some “symbolic gesture”; it’s simply because Hashem told us too. Of course, in some cases we can see some logical reason for having certain mitzvos, such as not stealing or murdering, but the true essence of a mitzvah goes to the fact that Hashem has given us the commandment, and that’s that. Rav Schwab compares this to the laws of gravity. We all know gravity exists, but even today, while scientists are able to explain its effects, they are baffled on its existence and what its essence is. We know gravity works, simply by the fact it does!
I remember having a discussion with a ‘frum’ Protestant friend of mine in high school. She told me that for hundreds of years, the European peasants were kept in the dark about many things; many were never taught to read or write, for example. Today, we call that era, The Dark Ages. The reason, she said, that they were never taught, was so that the corrupt elements of the Church would be able to properly control the population. So when the Pope decided to free Jerusalem from the Muslims, he would say, “Oh, by the way, please feel free to kill Jews on the way”. And when the populace would ask why, he could state, “It says in the Bible, that’s why!”, and since they could not confirm or deny such a fact, they said, “Okay, sure why not!”.
Judaism is not such a religion. Since we began, Jews have always put a strong emphasis on education, whether religious or secular. The State of Israel has the highest reading/writing rate in the entire Middle East. We are also known as a ‘stiff-necked’ people. Why? Because we are taught to always question and find answers, and not accept things for what they seem to be.
Learning about mitzvos consists of two parts, says Rav Schwab: One, learning that an act is a mitzvah to do or not to do. Two, attempt to understand all the details and reasons behind the mitzvah. This may seem to be contradictory to the above statements, but in reality it is not.
Every mitzvah has lessons and reasons behind it. The lessons are for us to learn and find. Perhaps, even the reasons are too, but the ultimate reason for performing a mitzvah IS because Hashem told us to. Nonetheless, we are commanded to ‘continually listen’ to the mitzvos, and to continually hear out the message of the mitzvos.
Many people honestly ask, why do we do this, why do we do that? I know some people who got smacked by the Nuns for asking those questions in Catholic school. Not so in Judaism. It is encouraged to ask such questions. It is equally encouraged, however, to go out and find the answers to those questions. After all, it seems rather foolish to constantly ask questions, without putting in any effort to find answers.
Thankfully we live in a day and age, where finding such information is easy. Thanks to publishers such as Feldheim, Artscroll, and the like, we have libraries of books on all levels and in all languages to learn from. There are plenty of yeshivos in Israel and around the world, such as Ohr Somayach, Aish HaTorah, Project SEED, etc, to go and learn from. People have the ability to go on 1 to 12 month programs to Israel to learn Torah, each at his or her level. You have internet sites galore with dvrei torah or Ask The Rabbi. The possibilities are endless! We are all obligated to ‘continually listen’ to the mitzvos, to continually ask and learn about them; and thankfully we have more tools at our disposal then we ever had before. Have a great Shabbos!