Yeshiva
Beit Midrash
- Sections
- Chemdat Yamim
- Parashat Hashavua
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- D'varim
- Va'etchanan
We will look at an interesting phenomenon that emerges from this Torah section. "Hear, O Israel (Shema Yisrael), the statutes and laws that I am saying in your ears today …" (Devarim 5:1). The Torah then (ibid. 4) describes the people’s level: "Face to face Hashem spoke with you at the mountain from the midst of the fire." This was literally awe-inspiring, as the pasuk says: "For you were afraid due to the fire" (ibid. 5).
In the section that follows the repetition of the Ten Commandments, the Torah describes the discussion surrounding Bnei Yisrael’s concern about continuing to hear "Hashem’s voice" (ibid. 20-25). The section ends off: "You, Israel, shall hear and guard to fulfill so that it be good for you …" (ibid. 6:3). Directly following this are the beloved words that every Jew says twice a day from the time of his youth: "Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem echad" (ibid. 4).
The level of encountering Hashem "face to face" (Shemot 33:11) is the greatest level of closeness to the divine imaginable. Every individual Jew should strive for such closeness even though he will not succeed in reaching it. Even Moshe – who "spoke to Hashem face to face" (Shemot 33:11) on an ongoing basis – when he asked, "Show me Your glory" (ibid. 18), he was turned down, as it says: "You will not be able to see My face, for man is unable to see Me and live" (ibid. 20). Despite this fact, David did "seek Hashem’s face" (Tehillim 27:8).
If this is a goal that cannot be realized, what is the practical solution? "Hear, O Israel (Shema Yisrael), the statutes and laws." If we rise to the challenge, then we can take the power of the experience of Sinai and successfully convert it into a serious ongoing relationship of "Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem echad."
We have merited completing the three weeks of mourning for the Temple to arrive at the seven weeks of consolation, during which we read haftarot about the great liberation. The Temple was destroyed due to baseless hatred, which is often caused by a failure to listen seriously to the words of another Jew. If we will be more attentive to our brothers’ voices, even if we do not always agree with them, we will merit the shining countenance of Hashem, and maybe we will approach the level of "face to face" with Him.
Rabbis in Midrash
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Hosha'ana Rabba FLYDUBAI & HOSHANA RABBA- ANI VAHU HOSHIA NA- I & HIM SAVE US
"Ani vaHu Hoshia Na", "I and Him, Save Us". We don't just pray to Him, but we also pray to and for ourselves that we should emulate and educate our children to have that instinctive altruism with which He created the world. President Trump seemed amused about Yaniv Hayon, our PLUMBER who confidently worked with G-d like Superman (he learned from a pilot on a TV show!) to save 174 lives on the Dubai hijacking, but we in Israel are totally accustomed already 78 years to our plumbers, teachers, garbage-men, rabbis, farmers & doctors being Hashem's shlichim! This is what Zionism is about.
Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part I
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
