Devarim 26:16-19
Sforno
(Note: If you are able to, please pre-read the verses quoted above and the Sforno)
Choice vs. Compulsion
How are we raising our children? Are we compelling and inspiring them, or allowing them to experience the magic of the Mitzvotthemselves and then make their own choices? How are we living our own religious lives?
To generate passion and energy for our Avodah (spiritual practice) we need to make a mindful choice to live a life of Shemirat Motzvot(religious observance). While parents, teachers or rabbis can compel or inspire people to keep the Mitzvot to even a fanatical level, neither compulsion nor even inspiration can induce authentic passion in another person nor can it ignite someone else’s real human energy. Our choice to keep the mitzvoth cannot be the result of an external force, whether compulsive or inspirational, but must come from within us: it should be the outcome of our having experienced the power of a mitzvah to create in us a unique sense of wellbeing and fulfillment. This is the energy that has driven the Baa’al Teshuva movement, a movement of people who have made choices about their Torah commitments rather than having taken them as a given.
From Ordinance to Covenant
In our formative years as a nation, we progressed from being compelled and inspired to obey G-d’s will, to voluntarily choosing to do so. When did this change occur and how?
In Shelishi of our Parsha we find ourselves at a pivotal moment. In some ways this moment resembles their experience at Sinai while in other ways it is so different. “This day”, says Moshe, “Hashem your G-d wills you to action these natural laws (Chukim) and these socio-economic laws (Mishpattim); you shall protect them and put them into action with all your passion and with all your energy” (26:16). What is Moshe’s reference to “this day”? This was not the day that Hashem instructed the people to keep the Torah; this was the last day of Moshe’s life. The Torah had been given forty years earlier!
Yet there was a new “giving of the Torah” this day. The uniqueness of this moment and its difference from Sinai, explains the Sforno, lies in the understanding the difference between an ordinance and acovenant. An ordinance is authoritarian; it is compulsive and externally imposed. Its authority is derived from the power of the one ordaining. A covenant is created when two parties willingly contract for the purpose of mutual benefit. Sinai was an authoritarian ordinance. On this occasion, however, G-d and the Jewish People entered into a momentous and mutual covenant. At Sinai the people had known too little of the Torah and its power and benefits to have entered into a covenant. They had been too subdued by 210 years of slavery and had had very little option but to accept G-d’s Sinaic ordinances. Not so on Moshe’s last day of life. After forty years of studying the Torah’s meaning and experiencing its truth[1], the Jewish nation could mindfully enter into a two-sided commitment to G-d, a covenant. They could understand the rich benefits of keeping the Torah, and commit to it not by external compulsion or motivation, but by an internal desire and choice to pursue a life of higher purpose, sanctity and spiritual meaning. This choice was made from an experience of the ecstasy of shemirat mitzvot, not from a blind acceptance of dogma.
Passion and energy: the outcomes of choice
It was this new voluntary acceptance of shemirat mitzvot that introduced the possibility for passion and energy: “…you shall protect them (the chukim and mishpattim) and put them into action with all your passion and with all your energy”. Until now we had been told to love Hashem with all our passion and energy, but we had not previously been told to enact the Mitzvot with passion and energy. Having experienced the active presence of G-d in Egypt and subsequently, it had become reasonable for us to feel passionately about Him. But we had not yet experienced the effect of the Mitzvoton our beings over a period of time, and so we could not yet be expected to observe them with passion. That had changed as a result of 40 years of experiencing the impact on the quality of their lives of living Torah. By entering this covenant, explains the Sforno, you have acknowledged from your own experience that Hashem is the source of all the forces and energies that influence your life. As such nothing will impact your wellbeing as much as your aligning yourself with His Will.
“We shall rejoice in the words of your Torah”
This is the meaning of the second Berachah (blessing) of Ma’ariv(the evening prayer) every night: “You have taught us Torah,mitzvoth, chukim and mishpattim”. Taught us, not compelled us. You have taught us their value. That is why “we shall rejoice in the words of your Torah”, because we have experienced the correlation between keeping your Mitzvot, and “the good life”. We feel whole during the moments of practicing the Mitzvot, whole and connected to the Divine, our souls feel alive, our hearts sing with joy. You, Hashem, have given us this delightful Torah because you have loved us with an enormous love. This is the meaning of the Blessing of “Ahavat Olam”.
Returning to our own daily lives, can we say Ahavat Olam with integrity? Do we really feel that that we have grasped the value of themitzvot to us and that we observe them out of joy and not out of a sense of compulsion? Are we educating our children that way? Or are we still in the pre-Ki Tavoh phase of Kofeh aliehem har kegiggit(a metaphor for compulsion)?
How are we raising our children? Are we compelling and inspiring them, or allowing them to experience the magic of the Mitzvotthemselves and then make their own choices? How are we living our own religious lives? If we could only give our children and ourselves a taste of the deep spiritual satisfaction that each Mitzvah is designed to provide, we would not need to worry so much about our children leaving the derech (abandoning their religious way of life), or about our own lack of energy and passion for Torah. Accessing this experience of magic in the mitzvot for ourselves each day and teaching it to our children, should be our educational challenge for the coming year.
EXERCISE:
Choose one Mitzvah to work on this week. It could be one piece of Tefilah, one berachah, saying the Shema, putting on Tefilin, lighting Shabbat candles or any other mitzvah.
When the time comes for doing that mitzvah, set aside more than enough time to do the mitzvah slowly, mindfully and with some moments of preparation. Take a few moments right out of your routine, and insulate those moments. Make sure that you will not be disturbed by cellphones, pagers, children or spouses! Relax yourself with some slow, deep breathing. Prepare yourself to do that mitzvah not as an action that needs to be checked off your daily list of activities, but as something to experience and savor. Slow down. Perform the Mitzvah with intention and mindfulness, savor it, try to feel its quality. While doing so just check in with how you are feeling and what you are feeling. Experience the sensations in various parts of your body and your emotional feelings. Do not place values on the way you feel, nor have any expectations about what you will or ought to feel. Everyone is different, and you may feel nothing at all, just notice that. Then gently finish the mitzvah, take another few breaths and return to your routine. Note down a few remarks about how you felt in a journal. Repeat each day, and at the end of the week read through all of your notes and try to see a pattern or a movement. Notice whether that time insulated for your mitzvah, grew in value and in meaning through the week, and whether you are yet building an attachment to that time and that practice.
[1] Avodah Zarah 5b; and Rashi, Devarim 29:6
