Listening to God, the Shema, and Cellphones in Shul

Eikev Sermon: "If it's all about hearing, are we listening to the right things?" 

Rabbi Avi Billet 

The book of Devarim primarily consists of a very long speech given by Moshe Rabbeinu. It began with the recounting of the Ten Commandments in last week’s parsha, and will carry itself all the way through Parshas Ki Savo.

It’s an incredible study in psychology, sociology, culture, history, theology, as well as a considerable number of “ism”s that I couldn’t even name as I’m not much of a sociologist or a philosopher.

Nechama Leibowitz would often tell her students to look for the “milah mancha” – the root word that appears several times within a section of text – to bring out a focus of that particular text, and to perhaps come up with a theme for a group of verses.

While I chose to utilize the entire parsha for this particular experiment, a little more broad than Morah Nechama’s typically-sized text, I found that over the course of the parsha, the root word שמע appears 9 times.

The first two appearances are in the opening of the parsha and at the closing verse of Chapter 8 – when Moshe begins saying “והיה עקב תשמעון” – if you listen to God, good things will happen; this thought is brought to its rational conclusion at the end of chapter 8 when, after describing some bad things which may happen, Moshe blames this reality on עֵ֚קֶב לֹ֣א תִשמעוּן בְּק֖וֹל יְקֹוָ֥ק אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם.

Chapter 9 begins with a call out to Israel to listen – which of course sounds exactly like שמע ישראל (same words are used, in fact) and for Bnei Yisrael to realize that their participation in the conquest of the land is highly dependent on their heeding this instruction – what to listen to, what to listen for, as we are developing ourselves as a people, as a nation, and as individuals under God.

You have HEARD, for example, about the huge nations in the land – do remember that your God will plow out a path before you.

Moshe describes how after the Golden Calf he was forced to return up the mountain for 40 days, during which time God “Heard me” and agreed not to destroy the nation. In contrast, a few verses later, in a slight tangent, Moshe notes how you – the Bnei Yisrael – did NOT listen to Hashem through some of the trials they faced in the wilderness.

He continues going back to the moments when he brought down the second tablets, how it came at the culmination of another 40 day period on the mountain. And how God “listened to me” and withdrew from His wrath he had intended to unleash upon the people at that time. This is the lead-in to the people hearing the most important instructions we find in our Parsha - (יב) וְעַתָּה֙ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל מָ֚ה יְקֹוָ֣ק אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ שֹׁאֵ֖ל מֵעִמָּ֑ךְ כִּ֣י אִם־לְ֠יִרְאָה אֶת־יְקֹוָ֨ק אֱלֹהֶ֜יךָ לָלֶ֤כֶת בְּכָל־דְּרָכָיו֙ וּלְאַהֲבָ֣ה אֹת֔וֹ וְלַֽעֲבֹד֙ אֶת־יְקֹוָ֣ק אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ בְּכָל־לְבָבְךָ֖ וּבְכָל־נַפְשֶֽׁךָ: (יג) לִשְׁמֹ֞ר אֶת־מִצְוֹ֤ת יְקֹוָק֙ וְאֶת־חֻקֹּתָ֔יו אֲשֶׁ֛ר אָנֹכִ֥י מְצַוְּךָ֖ הַיּ֑וֹם לְט֖וֹב לָֽךְ:

The last time we find the words שמע is very familiar to all of us. It is in the second paragraph of Shema, which appears in our parsha, which begins with the words והיה אם שמוע תשמעו, the double language excoriating the people to listen to God, heed His word, and be blessed to have rain and blessings in their proper place and time in and upon the Land.

Listening. It’s one of the first things we are taught to do as children. And one of the first things we are trained to remind ourselves of as Jews. Hear o Israel. How many Jews who know nothing or next-to-nothing about Judaism have nevertheless heard about the Shema? MANY.

When I worked at the National Jewish Outreach Program, I was put on the assignment of working with a fellow whose goal was to create a daily email which could be read in 30 seconds, which included a reminder just to say the first verse of Shema. He’s one of those ‘can’t sit still’ kind of successful people. Very definite undiagnosed ADD. “I just want people to say the Shema. Every day. At work, wherever. I don’t care. They should say Shema. We need that. The Jewish people need that. The world needs that.” This led to the establishment of Jewish Treats, the free daily email sent out by NJOP. 

I saw a video this week, of the conclusion of the process of conversion of Yevgeniya Batael Loroviya in Israel. She was born in Uzbekistan to a Jewish father, but her mother was not Jewish. Three years ago at the age of 19, she decided to move to Israel and start studying Judaism. She learned about her roots and her background, and little by little she progressed. Shortly after she arrived in Israel, she joined the Israel Police.

You want to know how to feel as a Jew? WATCH THIS VIDEO! See how emotionally a person can care about accepting עול מלכות שמים. Many of us take for granted what some incredible people dedicate years of blood, sweat and toil to achieve. So they can count themselves as part of the Jewish people.

The Dayan has her repeat after him, “I accept to observe all the mitzvoth of the Torah. And all the commandments of the Chachamim. And the important customs of Am Yisrael. I believe in Hashem Echad!”

She is already an emotional wreck (in a good way!) as he instructs her to close her eyes, put her hand over her eyes and recite the Shema. She needs no more prompting.

When was the last time anyone here cried when saying Shema? Maybe at the conclusion of Yom Kippur. Maybe. Every time we say it we are reaffirming our acceptance of our responsibility to perform mitzvos. Does anyone cry with emotion over how lucky we are?

את חטאי אני מזכיר היום. I have a confession. I don’t cry when I say Shema. But I cried when I watched her cry. Because she “gets” something that I don’t get.

On the one hand, all of us who have known this way our whole lives are the lucky ones. But on the other hand, as Shlomo Carlebach put it in his story about Shabbos Candles – which is too long to recount here – he challenges us to think if we can recall what it was like to pray for the first time. In many ways, those who came to Judaism or observance as adults, who made an intellectual and emotional DECISION and didn’t just grow up this way – have a leg up on the rest of us.

And so the question we all ought to think about is – what do we listen to? Moshe talks about listening to God. He talks about how God listened to his sincere prayer on behalf of the Jewish . And he contrasts this with how time and again the Jewish people did NOT listen to God. They failed many times through their wilderness travails.

We can’t afford to fail any more. We can’t afford to not listen, or, heaven forbid, to hear the wrong thing.

On Thursday, Daniel Lansky of Baltimore, a 40 year old husband, and father of 3 kids , lost his battle with cancer. We can surely all relate to the heartbreak his family is dealing with. One of my friends in Hollywood was friends with Daniel for close to 25 years.

He wrote on Facebook that after he learned of Daniel’s untimely and tragic passing he “spent a couple hours reading his blog and the many posts from his friends. I was amazed at what I read. Instead of being angry, he was upbeat and optimistic. Whether he was pleading for proper decorum in Shul (synagogue), practicing random acts of kindness, or reminding people to respect each other regardless of their differences, he did so humbly and courageously.”

From what Daniel wrote, my friend took the message that “Life is short. Too short for regrets, to hold grudges, to push off your dreams, to leave things unsaid. Tell your spouse, your kids, your family that you love them. Be kind. To everyone. Live life. Without regrets.”

Before I knew of his connection, I had already intended to print and put out Daniel’s last blog post, from June. It is on the table outside.

Daniel wrote how difficult it was to ask people to do things for him. Totally against his nature. And then he wrote this:

“but now is not the time for me to think of me. I have a wife, I have three little kids and I have cancer. We need your tefilos.
In a few days I will be having my first scans since I started treatment. Those scans will show what Hashem wants to be seen. No more – no less. So here I go – I am going to ask you for what I need from you.
SHUT YOUR PHONE OFF BEFORE ENTERING SHUL. PLEASE.
There is nothing – nothing – that can’t wait. Respect the Makom tefillah. Don’t put it on vibrate – don’t silence the ringer – simply turn it off.” (End quote) 

There is an old adage – “if you come to shul to talk, where will you go when you need to daven?”

And I think that now, NOW, is the time for us to challenge ourselves to HEAR THIS MESSAGE.

This is one of the real challenges of our generation. And those of us who have cellphones are all guilty in some form or another. I am absolutely talking to myself here. I probably don’t need to talk about the dangers of cell phone usage in the context of driving – I’m talking about when looking at the phone – not the same as talking on the phone using a headset or Bluetooth. So I’ll leave that alone for now – even though it needs attention.

But let’s just talk about it in the way Daniel Lansky put it, and in the way my friend from Hollywood put it. In just about every shul I’ve been to of late, a cell phone rings during davening. And in the event that the owner of the phone doesn’t know how to silence it quickly, it rings and rings. Or, perhaps worse, the person ANSWERS THE PHONE, or runs out of the shul to answer the phone.

I don’t completely agree with Daniel Lansky, במחילת כבודו, because there are sometimes life and death situations which come up – an expectant father, a child of an elderly or sickly parent, or others who must be available due to a medical situation. Perhaps in light of the EpiPen scandal going on, I’ll mention a parent of a child with severe allergies, who also is always on call. As are many doctors, of course.

And maybe spouses and children ought to know, “When so and so is in shul – don’t call.”

The distraction in shul is day in and day out. I’ll edit the adage, really because talking isn’t a big problem here in our shul, thank God: “If you’re coming to shul to check your phone, or only to let it disturb everyone when it rings, where will you go when you need to daven? Where will you go when you are looking for a distraction-free davening?”

What we need to hear in shul is the sound of the koach hatefillah. Heartfelt responses to kaddish, kedusha, chazaras hashatz, every bracha the chazzan says. And no distractions. As my friend put it, “life is too short” to lose focus in shul and to allow unimportant things distract us from what should be our most important moments of every day.

There is so much more that can be said about the cellphone, especially the smartphone. It is an amazing device. It has transformed the world. But it has also distanced people from one another. It has cut down the ability to communicate through talking and speech, and has created a generation of people who choose a tiny screen over spending time with their spouses, their children, their parents, their friends, or even with a book.

Moshe spoke about listening to God. He spoke about God listening to prayer. May we be successful in attuning our ears to heed God’s word. To not having to hear another ringer go off during davening – thank God for Shabbos – and to pay better attention to one another and not to a small machine.

Let us learn to value Shema Yisrael as Yevgeniya Batael Loroviya does. While our davening changes can sadly no longer help Daniel Lansky, may his legacy be that improved tefillah will help others who are in dire need of sincere tefillos. And may we be blessed to heed his last request, as a zechus for his neshama and as a merit to his grieving family, his young widow and his three children, orphaned of their incredible father.

And may we merit to truly hear and understand the significance of what we are saying every time we proudly declare Shema Yisrael Adonai Elohaynu Adonai Echad.