SAN DIEGO — This week’s Torah portion in Deuteronomy (Parshah Vaetchanan) continues Moses’ plea with the Jewish people to obey God’s laws. Like parents encouraging their children to grow up to be the best they can be, Moses is trying to insure the same future for God’s children.
He repeats the punishment brought upon earlier generations for disobeying and distrusting God’s word. He tells them again of his sad fate caused by his lack of faith. Neither he, nor the adults whom God rescued from slavery in Egypt forty years ago would be allowed to enter the Promised Land. We see and feel Moses’ remorse as he tells the people to obey the words in the Torah. He repeats the Ten Commandments in this section, expanding on a few of them to further explain their importance.
There are some differences in this second version. The fifth commandment says to “keep” the Sabbath (Shabbat). The first time the Ten Commandments are introduced, (in Numbers, the third book of the Torah), the people are told to “remember” the Sabbath. Remembering something keeps it in our mind and heart. It is more of a spiritual feeling. Keeping something adds action. It is good, for example, to remember how much fun it is to spend with Grandparents. It is better to chat on the phone or Facetime with them and share those feelings.
This week’s Parshah also brings us one of the most important, most repeated prayers in Judaism: the Shema. Moses is imploring the people: SHEMA! Listen Israel! Not the country of Israel but the Jewish people. We are all descendants of our forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God gave Jacob a new name not once, but twice in the Torah. The first time was when Jacob wrestled with God’s messenger. The second came a bit later. Both times, the new name given was Israel. Therefore, we are the children of Israel, of Jacob. So Moses is telling the Jewish people: Listen, Israel. God is our God. God is one. The concept of one God is what separated the Jewish people from the nations surrounding them. Now, at the end of their journey, Moses wants to reinforce this idea, to insure they understand and accept it, follow God’s commandments and teach teir children to do the same.
What you can do: Read over the Shema and the Ten Commandments. Think about how you can keep them in your heart and also how you can follow them.
The Shema:
Listen, Israel. God is our God. God is one.
I am your God.
You will have no other gods beside Me. You will not make any image of me.
You will not use my name in vain (no swearing).
Remember Shabbat and keep it holy.
Honor your father and mother.
Do not kill.
Do not treat the ones you love badly.
Do not steal.
Do not lie.
Do not be jealous of what your friends have.
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