Hear, O Israel | Rabbi Yossef Carmel | Beit Midrash

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Parashat Hashavua

קטגוריה משנית

Torah Portion and Tanach
Va'etchanan

Sefer Devarim uses the pair of words Shema Yisrael (Hear, O Israel) five times, one of them being the famous declaration that we say twice a day and so many Jews have uttered as the last words of their lives. The words Shema Yisrael were, among other distinctions, the words that Chief Rabbi Herzog used to locate Jewish children hidden in monasteries after WWII. It is therefore no surprise that the expression mipi hashemu’ah (see Sukka 28a, among many sources) is a reference to a tradition passed on from previous generations by leading scholars. There is no need here to expound upon the importance of traditions in Judaism.

Last time we highlighted two p’sukim that demonstrate the centrality of hearing even above seeing. One is Hashem’s assertion that at Sinai we "heard the sound of words" instead of seeing pictures (Devarim 4:12). The other is from Tehillim (40:7-8): "You formed ears for me … then I said, I come with a book written about me."

We continue along these lines with ideas from Rav David Cohen (the Nazir). He cites the Spanish philosophers who were influenced by Plato, who preferred the sense of seeing (aesthetics) over the sense of hearing. In contrast, the Jewish scholars of the Mussar Movement preferred hearing to seeing, "because the heard word is more clear and clean." The Nazir cites also Rabbeinu Yona of Gerona (several Rishonim lived in this Spanish city) in Shaarei Teshuva, who says that "the eye is very important, but the ear is more important. " Rabbeinu Bachyei (Kad Hakemach 7) writes similarly and connects it to the halacha that one who makes someone deaf must compensate the person’s full worth (Bava Kama 85a). See similar opinions in the Yaavetz (Avot 6:2) and the introduction of Orchot Tzaddikim.

The Nazir explains that what makes these senses special is that they help one acquire intellectual matters, which make a person complete. This is in line with the pasuk in Mishlei (20:12): "The ear hears and the eye sees, Hashem did both of these," mentioning the ear first. A similar phenomenon is found in Mishlei 15:31, and in Shir Hashirim 2:14, it says "…for your voice is sweet," and only afterward, "your appearance is pleasant."

We started our discussion with hearing the voice of the one G-d, and we finish our discussion with the sweet voice of Am Yisrael. We will continue with those themes next week.

As we have mentioned in the past, both from a biological and a linguistic perspective, the ear has a connection with balance. When extreme people do not listen to each other properly, dangerous situations develop. There is a need to find a balance between belief in Hashem and belief in the special qualities of the whole Jewish nation, as the Rabbis teach us: "All of Israel has a portion in the World to Come."

Va'etchanan

Parashat Hashavua