Parshat Nitzavim Vayelekh
by Rabbi Avi Billet
One of the more potent reminders of where the life of a Jew should be focused comes towards the end of the Nitzavim component of our double-parsha, when Moshe tells the people “This mitzvah that I command you is not beyond your understanding, it is not in the heavens… nor on the other side of the sea (for which we’d need to send someone there to get it and explain it to us)… the word is very close to you, for you to fulfill with your mouth and heart.” (30:11-14)
Our job is to fulfill the mitzvot of the Torah. “You are Israel, and you were created for this, and the soul of Israel is a partner to the soul of the Torah,” writes Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (Netziv).
Netziv explains that “In your mouth” means all you need to do is study, and “in your heart” means that it must be your heart’s desire to fulfill that which you learn. However, he notes that the Torah’s cantillation marks – the way the Torah is essentially punctuated – seem to present a different way of understanding. Were there to be a pause (Tipcha) on the word “b’fikha” (בפיך- “your mouth”) that would indicate that there are two ways to embrace the Torah, first with your mouth, then with your heart. But the punctuation indicates that the mouth and heart are to be used together! And so he concludes that there is a second message to be gleaned from this more precise reading, which is that what you do with your mouth (study) is meant to be done with such alacrity and zeal that what is learned enters the heart!
How much of what we do as Jews, activities that are specifically Jewish in their definition, are done based on what we have actually learned or studied? Or are we just copying what we have been trained to do, whether by our parents, our schools and teachers, or by our living and being part of the Jewish community? How often do we learn a halakha and apply it to our regular routine? Do we expand on our Jewish practices? Do we intensify anything we do? Do we daven with greater understanding, or with aiming to develop or deepen our relationship with the Almighty? When we say birkat Hamazon, or any blessings, do we simply recite them by rote or are we communicating our thanks and appreciation for the things we appreciate in life? When we make charitable contributions, whether to needy individuals or to organizations we support, do we do so begrudgingly, or do we see ourselves as messengers of God Who has instructed us to help the indigent, the needy, or those doing amazing things, whether saving lives in one form or another, or supporting the study of Torah and the perpetuation of what defines our uniqueness more than anything else (hint: the Torah)? What is our view of Rabbinic rulings and decrees? Do we embrace them, and the fences they often set up for us to prevent violating Torah laws? Or do we find them to be burdensome and unworthy of our attention?
King Solomon wrote “The sayings of the wise are like goads, and like flat headed nails well driven…” (Kohelet 12:11). Rashi describes the sayings of the wise as rabbinical decrees. Seforno explains that a flat headed nail can be dislodged to see and understand where, how and why it was driven in, and that the same applies to Rabbinic rulings, if one wants to understand the reasoning behind them. Our own intuition and logic may not always be sufficient to understand what the Rabbis had in mind. But where there is a decree there is a thought process, and that thought process should be studied, so we may better appreciate that which is our mesorah, our tradition, our heritage.
A second lesson the Netziv draws from this statement is in focusing on what is called “Teshuvah Me’ahava” – returning to God out of love. He asks, “How can a person love God? Love, by nature, comes from the equal feelings transposed from both parties, or through an intellectual bond between people.” His answer is striking, but very important to consider. We refer to God as a father – as Avinu Malkeinu – so we must consider our relationship with God to be like that of a father to a child. There is something natural about the parent/child loving relationship that we all understand, but we can’t necessarily explain rationally.
The verse (30:12) presents a thought we might consider, that the mitzvah is “in the heavens.” While the Torah then says we should realize that the Torah is in fact close to us, etziv says the suggestion of “the heavens” may cause us to contemplate the cosmos through which one can have a chance to achieve a love for the Almighty, Who gave us life and all the goodness we might glean out of our time on earth.
In fact, Maimonides writes that love for God is not automatically ingrained in a person. It comes from a philosophical thought process, a theological exploration, but mostly a study of wisdom.
Netziv continues his analysis of this verse saying that while finding love for the Almighty can be a difficult venture, the promise Moshe gives to the people is “it is close to you, for it is in your heart.” It is in your heart through the method called “Rinah” – song, joy, praise of the Holy One, as well as the joy of Torah. We know from the paragraph of Shema, which instructs us to love Hashem, that the way to love Hashem “with all your heart, all your soul, and all your might” is through “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. And you shall study/review them with your children and speak of them…” (Devarim 6:6-7)
The more we study, the more we learn, the more we read, the more we apply what we have learned to our day to day existence, the more we feel love for Hashem, which is of course a cardinal mitzvah! While there may be truth (in some contexts) to the sentiment that “familiarity breeds contempt,” the argument being presented by Netziv is that the more familiar we are with Hashem, the more we will come to love Him. And familiarity comes from a place of seeking to know and understand God better. The way to do that is not to have a simplistic relationship of “When good things happen to me, God is watching me; when bad things happen to me, God is upset with me.”
The believer, and the person looking to elevate one’s relationship with God says “God is always watching. Everything that happens is in God’s hands. I must do my part, my hishtadlus, and the rest is up to Him.” But the only way to truly live that way is not just through saying the right things, but through living a life of growth, of contemplation, of investigation, of introspection, seeking knowledge, seeking answers, seeking truth, seeking a relationship with God.
Netziv concludes that a person needs to have a craving and a desire to have such a relationship with the Master of the World. Anyone can sing songs all day, or even study Torah all day, and these activities can be meaningless in the scheme of building that connection, because the song or the Torah might be the means unto themselves. “I like music. I like the intellectual process.” But if the goal is to love God, then everything – song, study, cosmos, and everything else – is perceived through the lens aimed at learning to know God in order to love God.
With all we’ve been through in the last 6 months, it is time for us to move past pitying ourselves and our circumstance and taking the steps we must to engage our mouths and our hearts to bring God and His Torah even more into the fabric and essence of our very being.
With so much Torah available at our fingertips on our bookcases, over the Internet, and even through apps and websites we can access on our phones, as well as the many channels available to us through organizations, programs, and study partners, it is simply a question of how/when can I allocate time to this growth in my connection with God?
If we truly want it, then neither a high mountain or a wide sea can get in our way. After all, it’s in our mouth and heart. We just need to tap into its wealth and extract what will get us to embrace God and take on the challenge of growth for this coming year and the many to follow, with God’s help.
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