Doing Our Thing
“And Hashem will rejoice in you as He rejoiced in your fathers” Like our fathers? Them who followed Hashem into the desolate desert? Who heard Hashem face to face, and walked through the Yam Suf with Him? Can we really compare to them?
Hashem says ‘No matter. Keep your Mitzvos and I will be as happy over you I was happy over your parents’.
We have our job to do. We have only the powers that we were born with. We have not the powers of those who followed Hashem into the desert, nor do we have their parents, upbringing or inspiration. We are not expected to produce as they did, we need only to do our job.
Filling our quota, be it big or small, makes Hashem happy. He was pleased with our forefathers, and He will be happy with us. Don’t look at the stature of our forefathers or their achievements, rather that they completed their tasks. In this we can emulate and measure up to them.
Just do yours!
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Sweet As A Penalty
Moshe gathered the Jews to make an agreement with them: ‘To make us His nation, and that He will be our G-d’. Wasn’t that already done by Sinai? What’s the new agreement about?
For an agreement to last, it needs consequences for when things are not done. These consequences are productive; they drive the agreement. So Yes, Hashem had announced at Sinai that He will be ours, and we will be His. But what will make that happen? The curses in last week’s parshah cement that agreement. Moshe negotiated them into an agreement where Klal Yisroel accepted these penalties as guarantee of their relationship.
Penalties drive treaties. Appreciate them!
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Kids In Shul
Why bring small children to Hakhel, ask Chazal? Answer; ‘To grant reward to their bringers’. This seems to be a ‘catch 22’ situation: if there is value in their attendance, what’s the question? And if there is none, would their bringers be rewarded for doing something useless??
We suggested that there is no value in children coming. But parents who bring their children make a statement: this is important! Their bringers will be rewarded even if the kid gains nothing.
That’s why we bring kids to Shul (so long as they don’t make a ruckus!) because this declares that Shul is meaningful.
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Its The Journey, Not The Destination
This parsha instructs us to write the Torah. We each need to write a sefer Torah. If need be, one can fulfill his obligation by buying it, but not by inheriting it. If the mitzvah is having a Torah, why isn’t inheriting enough? And if its the writing, how does buying figure in?
Aside from actual learning, there is a mitzvah to PROCURE Torah. The gaining of Torah is not only a prerequisite to knowledge, it is also a mitzvah on its own. And here too: we need to PROCURE a Torah. Inheriting is not our doing, so it does not count. But buying is, and certainly writing one is.
The gemarah tells of Rav Idi who would travel three months to yeshiva and three months back, staying for only one day. He was dubbed ‘Bar bei rav d’chad yoma’. Perhaps he was merely doing all he could. But perhaps too he knew there is value in the travel even if he only spent one day in yeshiva, because he was involved in procuring Torah.
Sometimes learning isn’t a productive as one hopes. No matter. The hunt is an end-goal too, not merely a means. You did good.
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Wanting to Want
The Torah promises that Hashem will clean our hearts… to love Him with all our heart and soul…
To love him? Isn’t that our job? The implication is that loving Hashem is something He can help with. Sometimes a person is limited in his loving and needs help. Hashem can assist. So we need to pray for it. We can say it straight to Him “Hashem, I really don’t care much for You, nowadays. But You know what? I really wish I did. Can You perchance help me ?”
And iy”H, He will, He will!
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Returning Home Easy Way
“This thing is not far from you, nor difficult, rather it is very close; in your mouth and heart to do”
The Ramban explains this as referring to Teshuva. And the message: Its easy as pie!
Really? Is repentance that simple?
Rav Saadia Gaon writes in Emunos V’deos says that if a person confessed his sin and sincerely wished to never do it again, although the Yetzer Harah got him to sin again, his teshuva was accepted and all that he did beforehand was erased. Even if this happens again and again, it does not matter; the teshuva is good and all the sin is erased. With one provision: that he be completely sincere at the time of the teshuva.
So it IS easy. It really is!
Not only is teshuva easy, but the Torah wants us to think so too. We need to cultivate an eager approach to teshuva, knowing that it is so easy yet so profitable!
(Of course, there is lots to do to reconcile with Hashem. We are only talking about the lowest bedrock level of teshuva. The Torah’s message is that we need to know its easy. Don’t complicate it, or it will seem insurmountable. Keep it doable!)
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Accepting On Behalf Of Others?
The Torah discusses that the agreement with Hashem was not merely for that generation, but for all future generations too. The Akeidas Yitzchak and Abarbenel ask how can a parent can accept a binding commitment on behalf of their children? Why can’t those future generations refuse the bris?
One suggestion is that the bris was never a personal affair. Rather, it was between Hashem and the Jews, as a people. Just as a treaty between nations is binding upon their children, so was this treaty with Hashem.
This is symbolized by bringing the infants to the event, for although they do not have any personal input, having them there represents that the total main is in treaty here. It appears that the hakhel event, too, was related to this treaty, and it reminded everyone of it and reaffirmed the treaty. And that’s why for hakhel, too, were the children required to be there!
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Please Choose Life
At the end if the parsha Moshe told the people “I have placed before you life and death, choose life!” Does this need to be stated? Isn’t life the obvious choice?
Perhaps Moshe wanted to send a message here: Hashem is not a disinterested party, simply offering you two options to choose from. Rather, he is vitally interested and concerned with your success. And, I think, implicit herein, is that he is on your side – He will help you.
We should think of this on Rosh Hashana, when coming before Hashem in judgement, that He is our judge, but also our father and protector. He is a friendly judge. Just do your own part!
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Storing The Curses
The Torah tells us that when we repent, all those curses promised us will instead go to our enemies. Why need they go anywhere?
At the end of the parshah Moshe told the Jews “life and death have been placed before you; please choose life.” Perhaps this should be understood literally: there is happiness and pain in the world. Its already there, embedded into the universe. Its only a question of who gets what. Will you get the pain, or will your enemies?
Life and death are before you, not as a figure of speech, but as a statement of fact – there have been already prepared poison and potion. Which one will you have, sir?