Sh'ma Yisrael -- Back to Square One
This week's Parsha, VaEtchanan, is the source of the Sh'ma, which we say in our davening at least twice daily...along with the Amida, it is the centerpiece. When we say it, we are supposed to concentrate on what it means, as well as on the fact that by saying it we are accepting upon ourselves Ol Malchut Shamayim, the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven.
So what exactly does this little phrase mean? The words seem simple enough "Listen Israel, Hashem is our God, Hashem is One." But there are many, many interpretations as to what it is actually saying to us.
I would like to share one that I heard from Rav Shlomo Riskin at one of his Motzaei Shabbat T'shuva drashot in Yerushalaim. (I may have heard it earlier in my life, but this is the time that it stuck.):
"Listen Yisrael, right now Hashem is OUR God, but someday Hashem will be One for the entire world."
Our task in the world is to MAKE Hashem One for the entire world. (Like the end of Aleinu, quoting Zechariah 14:9 "...On THAT DAY Hashem will be one and His name One.") It won't happen until we make it so! That is the charge that Moshe gave us in the Sh'ma. We have the Torah as our tool, and we must become a true Or LaGoyim to bring it about.
We are not doing that job very well. But worse, I think we have fallen back and are now failing at the FIRST part, "Listen Yisrael." Israel isn't listening to Hashem!
I'm not talking about the non-religious. I'm talking about the large number of frum Jews who keep the mitzvot for themselves, but could care less about anyone outside of their communities. Treif they won't eat, Shabbat they won't break, but anyone different from them they won't care about. Or more likely they look down on them. Not just non-dati Jews or non-Jews, but any dati group that has a different level of observance.
Many years ago in New York, before he made Aliya, Rav Riskin spoke of "Kitzur Shulchan Aruch Jews." They carry around a checklist, he said, of the behaviors that they think you should have. If you match up with the checklist, you're acceptable, and if not you are to be looked down on. They think, he said, that they have God in their back pocket!
People who think they are in control of Hashem, instead of the other way around, aren't listening. And if they are not listening, then Hashem isn't even One for the Jewish people. In that case, how are we supposed to make His Name One for the entire world? So the entire Sh'ma is cast aside and forgotten, no matter how loudly they shout it in shul.
We need to go back to the beginning. Forget our own arrogant judgementalism (remember, I'm talking to myself here as well...I know what I sound like) and join with the rest of Yisrael in listening. That will make Hashem One for us again; then we can go on to make His Name One for the universe.
So what exactly does this little phrase mean? The words seem simple enough "Listen Israel, Hashem is our God, Hashem is One." But there are many, many interpretations as to what it is actually saying to us.
I would like to share one that I heard from Rav Shlomo Riskin at one of his Motzaei Shabbat T'shuva drashot in Yerushalaim. (I may have heard it earlier in my life, but this is the time that it stuck.):
"Listen Yisrael, right now Hashem is OUR God, but someday Hashem will be One for the entire world."
Our task in the world is to MAKE Hashem One for the entire world. (Like the end of Aleinu, quoting Zechariah 14:9 "...On THAT DAY Hashem will be one and His name One.") It won't happen until we make it so! That is the charge that Moshe gave us in the Sh'ma. We have the Torah as our tool, and we must become a true Or LaGoyim to bring it about.
We are not doing that job very well. But worse, I think we have fallen back and are now failing at the FIRST part, "Listen Yisrael." Israel isn't listening to Hashem!
I'm not talking about the non-religious. I'm talking about the large number of frum Jews who keep the mitzvot for themselves, but could care less about anyone outside of their communities. Treif they won't eat, Shabbat they won't break, but anyone different from them they won't care about. Or more likely they look down on them. Not just non-dati Jews or non-Jews, but any dati group that has a different level of observance.
Many years ago in New York, before he made Aliya, Rav Riskin spoke of "Kitzur Shulchan Aruch Jews." They carry around a checklist, he said, of the behaviors that they think you should have. If you match up with the checklist, you're acceptable, and if not you are to be looked down on. They think, he said, that they have God in their back pocket!
People who think they are in control of Hashem, instead of the other way around, aren't listening. And if they are not listening, then Hashem isn't even One for the Jewish people. In that case, how are we supposed to make His Name One for the entire world? So the entire Sh'ma is cast aside and forgotten, no matter how loudly they shout it in shul.
We need to go back to the beginning. Forget our own arrogant judgementalism (remember, I'm talking to myself here as well...I know what I sound like) and join with the rest of Yisrael in listening. That will make Hashem One for us again; then we can go on to make His Name One for the universe.
posted by meturgeman | 1:08 AM
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