Parasha Va’etchanan
“And you shall teach them to your sons and speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk on the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up.” (Deuteronomy 6:7) That’s quite a lot of teaching and speaking, isn’t it?
And yet for those who are diligent in Torah study, this focus on learning is at the foundation, the center, of Jewish life.
Perhaps, in part, this is anchored in another teaching in this week’s Torah reading in which we are told to use our abilities to be interpreters and observers of Torah, “And Moses called all Israel and said to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances which I speak in your ears this day, and learn them, and observe [them] to do them.’”(Deuteronomy 5:1)
Indeed, as Deuteronomy is often referred to as “Mishneh Torah,” this suggests a continuous reiterating of what the previous four books in the Torah already told to us. This hints to me that we are to be constant students of Torah to understand it’s richness to our fullest abilities. Our teacher, Moses, was himself the archetypal student of Hashem.
And as a student, what can we learn from Moses’ approach to learning? It’s been said that to be Jewish is to ask questions. The Talmud urges our questioning, our doubts. Moses, the model student, continually sought clarification, amplification, illumination and meaning. He learned, learned and relearned until his comprehension was whole and thorough. He wasn’t being a nuisance, an annoying student, a kvetch. No, he was diligently seeking to grasp, fully, the words of Hashem. So we learn, ask, questions, raise honest doubts and search deeply for answers in our Torah study.
But wait, there’s more. Rabbi Yisroel Salanter the giant of Mussar (ethical teachings), dissected another teaching from this parasha, “And you shall know this day and consider it in your heart, that the Lord He is God in heaven above, and upon the earth below; there is none else.”(Deuteronomy 4:39) He points out that “knowing” and “considering it in your heart” are different. We can “know” something cerebrally, but acting on it, “considering it in your heart,” is sometimes quite different, another distant step in the process of living a full life as a Jew.
And that’s the ultimate challenge Moses puts forward to us to “teach them to your sons and speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk on the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up.” We can “know” something, having learned it, but the test is to act on it throughout our lives, when we sit in our homes, walk on the way, lie down and rise up. Are you learning with deep spiritual conviction to not just learn, but to do, to integrate the two with body, mind and soul?
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Michael Mantell, Ph.D., prepares a weekly d’var Torah for Young Israel of San Diego, where he and his family worship. He may be contacted via michael.mantell@sdjewishworld.com