“I was friends with one of the crew members on TWA Flight 800. I had called her because she was on my mind. It had been a while since we’d talked and I missed seeing her. I left her a message on her voice mail to call me. A few days went by and I became increasingly irritated that I had not heard back. My husband said just call again or say what you want to say on her answering machine. I knew she was probably busy and was just waiting for some free time to call me back. Even knowing this, I became increasingly angry. I held back my love. I closed my heart to her. The next day her plane crashed. I deeply regret that I did not give my love freely. I was playing a game with love.”

The woman was measuring her love by the moment, by one action,and then closing her heart. We must try to see love in the big picture, not in detail. A detail such as a single phone call can be a distraction from real love.

David Kessler – Life Lessons Page 43.

“And these matters that I command you today shall be upon your heart.” (Deuteronomy 6:6) ‘You should always look to these matters as if they are new, fresh and exciting – as if the Torah were given today – not like a stale, outmoded dogma.’ (Rashi)

Although each individual action matters in a relationship, some more than others, we cannot measure our love for God by one moment or action, nor can we measure God’s love for us by the moment or single action. Perhaps the “Today” in the verse, especially when considered together with the “Alls” of the previous verse; “All your heart, all your soul, all your resources,” means that we look at the entire day, not moment by moment.

Just as with every relationship, there will be moments during the day when our love for God falters. There will be actions that do not reflect attachment. There will be moments during the day when we do not feel God’s love. We will suffer experiences that lead us to question whether God loves us. We strive to live days of love. We want to be able to recite the Shema before going to sleep with a sense that this was a day of love.We measure the day by its “All.” We want to go to sleep feeling, “This was a good day with God.”

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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

“Then Moses set aside three cities on the bank of the Jordan toward the rising sun, for a murderer to flee there, who will have killed his fellow without knowledge, but who was not an enemy of his from yesterday and before yesterday.” (Deuteronomy 4:41-42)

Three cities were necessary for two and a half tribes, and only three for the nine and a half tribes on the other side of the Jordan. Moses knew that the separation from the Land across the Jordan would foster a more violent society.

And yet, we find that the two and a half tribes made a special effort to maintain their connection, as we learn from Joshua, Chapter 22:

9 And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed from the children of Israel out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go unto the land of Gilead, to the land of their possession, whereof they were possessed, according to the commandment of the LORD by the hand of Moses. 10 And when they came unto the region about the Jordan, that is in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan, a great altar to look upon.

11 And the children of Israel heard say: ‘Behold, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar in the forefront of the land of Canaan, in the region about the Jordan, on the side that pertaineth to the children of Israel.’ 12 And when the children of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh, to go up against them to war. {P}

13 And the children of Israel sent unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest; 14 and with him ten princes, one prince of a fathers’ house for each of the tribes of Israel; and they were every one of them head of their fathers’ houses among the thousands of Israel. 15 And they came unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, unto the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them, saying: 16 ‘Thus saith the whole congregation of the LORD: What treachery is this that ye have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following the LORD, in that ye have builded you an altar, to rebel this day against the LORD? 17 Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves unto this day, although there came a plague upon the congregation of the LORD, 18 that ye must turn away this day from following the LORD? and it will be, seeing ye rebel to-day against the LORD, that to-morrow He will be wroth with the whole congregation of Israel. 19 Howbeit, if the land of your possession be unclean, then pass ye over unto the land of the possession of the LORD, wherein the LORD’S tabernacle dwelleth, and take possession among us; but rebel not against the LORD, nor rebel against us, in building you an altar besides the altar of the LORD our God. 20 Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass concerning the devoted thing, and wrath fell upon all the congregation of Israel? and that man perished not alone in his iniquity.’ {S}

21 Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered, and spoke unto the heads of the thousands of Israel: 22 ‘God, God, the LORD, God, God, the LORD, He knoweth, and Israel he shall know; if it be in rebellion, or if in treachery against the LORD–save Thou us not this day– 23 that we have built us an altar to turn away from following the LORD; or if to offer thereon burnt-offering or meal-offering, or if to offer sacrifices of peace-offerings thereon, let the LORD Himself require it; 24 and if we have not rather out of anxiety about a matter done this, saying: In time to come your children might speak unto our children, saying: What have ye to do with the LORD, the God of Israel? 25 for the LORD hath made the Jordan a border between us and you, ye children of Reuben and children of Gad; ye have no portion in the LORD; so might your children make our children cease from fearing the LORD. 26 Therefore we said: Let us now prepare to build us an altar, not for burnt-offering, nor for sacrifice; 27 but it shall be a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we may do the service of the LORD before Him with our burnt-offerings, and with our sacrifices, and with our peace-offerings; that your children may not say to our children in time to come: Ye have no portion in the LORD. 28 Therefore said we: It shall be, when they so say to us or to our generations in time to come, that we shall say: Behold the pattern of the altar of the LORD, which our fathers made, not for burnt-offering, nor for sacrifice; but it is a witness between us and you. 29 Far be it from us that we should rebel against the LORD, and turn away this day from following the LORD, to build an altar for burnt-offering, for meal-offering, or for sacrifice, besides the altar of the LORD our God that is before His tabernacle.’ {P}

Unfortunately, all their efforts came to naught. Reuben, Gad, and half of Menashe, were the first tribes to be exiled and lose their connection to the Land and the nation. The separation that began when they chose to settle on the East bank of the Jordan, soon developed into a chasm. Their society did become more violent. The more violent society also had far more unintentional murders.

How interesting that Moshe chose a Mitzvah of separation, the Cities of Refuge, in which a murderer is separated from society, to point out the risks that Reuben and Gad were taking by choosing to settle on the other side of the Jordan! It is even more interesting that we take pride in being called, “Ivrim,” People from the other side, as in “Avraham HaIvri.”

The unintentional murderer is accepted with open arms into a nurturing community that will care for all his needs, physical, emotional and spiritual. He is not separated from others to live in his own world, but to relearn how to live as part of a healthy community. He is separated into a world of togetherness.

The two and a half tribes separated themselves from the people who were already ‘Ivrim,’ separate. They focused their efforts on remembering Jerusalem, not on building a community of togetherness with the other tribes, or even between themselves.

A connection with Jerusalem absent a connection with the people of Jerusalem, will soon disappear.

Whenever we make an effort to be ‘Ivrim,’ to separate, we must expend an even greater effort to unify with others who make a similar choice. We cannot afford a separtion beyond a separation. We begin to define ourselves by being different, and we end up standing alone.

Their altar was not the answer. It didn’t work. They should have paid attention to Moshe’s warnings.

Do we?

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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

Anne Fadiman recently published a collection of essays entitled Rereadings: Seventeen writers revisit books they love. Ms. Fadiman invited famous writers to reread books that were important to them when they were young. Most of the essayists had not read the assigned books in many years, and were often enchanted all over again by a long absent friend.

I often return to Sefarim – Holy Books that played an important role in my development. There are some books on prayer that literally lifted my prayers to a new level. There are books on law that I was unable to put down when I first read them. I often bought numerous copies of these books to share with my children, students and friends. I taught some of them from beginning to end.

I recently returned to one of these books for what Ms. Fadiman would call a rereading. I could not believe that it was the same book I loved so much. I found myself disagreeing with practically every idea in the book. I was so shocked by the experience that I tried the same experiment with numerous other books, most, not all, with the same result. The rereadings were a disaster. I felt that was losing some important friends, even embarrassed that I had ever loved these books so much.

I changed. My thought and philosophy have developed, and I can still acknowledge the important role that many of these books played in my development.

I can read the weekly portion and Haftarah year after year and find myself re-enchanted each and every time. Each reading feels like the first. I read the same words every year and still feel as if I am reading them for the first time.

I can read the words of the Siddur – Prayer Book every single day and find myself enchanted all over again each and every time.

The re-enchantment comes from both the texts and me. The texts alone cannot offer constant re-enchantment without a reader who is willing to be enchanted all over again. I may be willing to be re-enchanted but if the text does not possess that magic power, I will experience disappointment.

Perhaps this is the call of Shema: Hear as if you never heard before. Allow yourself to be re-enchanted. “Na’aseh V’nishma” – We will do and we will hear – we will do in order to nurture the ability to be re-enchanted by what we hear all over again.

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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

Simone Weil speaks in Waiting For God as a kind of readiness. The opening sound of the Shema is “Shhhhh” – be quiet – listen – be ready to hear – become someone who is waiting for God.

The great Russian poet Anna Akhmatova wrote in her diary: “X asked me whether it was difficult or easy to write poetry. I answered that when somebody dictates it to you, it’s quite easy, but that when there is nobody dictating – it’s simply impossible.” When we are silent, ready, and listening: We will hear the poetry of the Shema guide us.

The Transition From Ahavat Olam to Shema

Dante wrote: “I am one who, when Love breathes me in, takes heed, and as he dictates it within me, I follow along writing it down.” (Purgatorio 24.52-4) When we connect with God’s eternal and vast love for us in the blessing immediately preceding the Shema, we can better hear the Shema’s lessons.

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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

In reviewing this week’s Torah reading, a competent editor might have asked Moses what he really needs it all for. Much of the speechifying, the recounting of what has already been counted, seems excessive in a book so concise in its delivery of stories and laws. Do we really need to hear the Ten Commandments a second time?

True, there are some juicy novellae this week for the philosophically inclined: God’s unity, in what would become the famous Shema prayer; reward and punishment; the perfection of the Torah; and more all make their appearance.

But the core of the reading is in the repetition of the Ten Commandments. Scholars and commentators have always scoured this week’s version of the Decalogue for all the minor textual variations from the one appearing in Exodus 20, in the reading known as Yitro. The ninth commandment, we discover, talks about the “vain” witness rather than the false witness; the tenth commandment’s prohibition on coveting presents a slightly different list of things not to be coveted; and the fourth commandment offers a new rationale for keeping the Sabbath, recalling the exodus from Egypt rather than the creation of the universe.

However, the most important difference is not in the text, but in the context. The first time the Ten Commandments appears, it is in the story of the revelation at Sinai. This time, it’s in Moses’ retelling of that story. And there’s the rub.

This is, after all, the Torah, in which nothing is supposed to be extraneous. So we have to conclude that according to the Bible, the retelling of a story is no less important than the original event itself. As if to prove the point, Moses prefaces this week’s recitation of the Ten Commandments with the following:

Only take heed to yourself, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. But teach them to your sons, and your sons’ sons—the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb . . .

As if that’s not enough, just before the Ten Commandments themselves, he adds this:

The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. The Lord talked with you face to face in the mountain out of the midst of the fire . . .

This is remarkable, because most of the hundreds of thousands who stood listening to Moses’ speech hadn’t actually been at Sinai. Clearly there is something more profound at work. In a crucial sense, this is the beginning of Judaism.

On some level, Judaism is not about the events of Mount Sinai, but their recollection and eternal rediscovery through texts and memorial ritual, creating a living community of remembrance. It is not the encounter with the One God so much as the teaching about that encounter to subsequent generations. It is not hearing God in the fire, wondering whether one will survive it, as much as the retelling of the story of the fire. For what happened in Yitro happened once, while what happens in Va’ethanan happens every day of our lives.

Today, the most popular claims against Judaism are about the “unlikelihood” of the “hypothesis” of a single, caring God who intervenes in history. Under the influence of Christianity, which from its origins was much more about beliefs, argumentation and proof, a great many writers and thinkers put Judaism to an intellectual test. Where Judaism is found wanting, it is on the battlefield of rational discourse.

Yet nothing in human experience is as irrational as experience itself. The crises we endure, the people we meet, the wisdom we earn have little to do with theories or beliefs. Our modes of commitment, love, caution, and sacrifice are a lot less about philosophy and a lot more about what we ourselves, “all of us here alive this day,” have seen, felt, and done.

For this reason, Judaism is primarily about collective experience, and any attempt to describe it solely in terms of faith, belief, or ideas inevitably distorts its essence. Not that Judaism has no core principles, but to the faithful Jew, each such principle owes its force not so much to its self-evident truth or its philosophical superiority (nor even its revelation per se, since who among us has experienced revelation?) as to its place in our collective memory.

And so, we have our strangely repetitive text. A philosophical truth need be expressed only once. A memory must be repeated—not just from generation to generation, but from day to day, “as you sit in your house, as your go on your way, as you lie down and as you rise up.”

David Hazony is author of The Ten Commandments: How Our Most Ancient Moral Text Can Renew Modern Life, recently published by Scribner.

What is the last commandment in the Ten Commandments about? “You shall not covet” . Does this mean you can’t think about what someone else has and that you would like it? But then thought would be a crime. And a question has been raised as to what is the sin of coveting? If nothing is done about getting what you’re thinking of getting, what exactly is the prohibition talking about?

When we think of covet, we think of an inordinate desire to have something. And someone who thinks this way may become obsessed with the object of desire. There are times when people can drive themselves into a frenzy by this type of thought.

The sages have taught us that all the commandments in the Torah are addressed in the 10 Commandments.Thus in the first nine, the commandments cover relationships between people and G-d and between people and people. So what does the 10th Commandment refer to?

I think this commandment is talking about someone who covets to the point of obsession. And being obsessed can make someone sick, i.e. they lay awake at night in desperation because they do not have the thing they want. And this can affect both their mental and physical health. So this commandment really talks about the relationship between you and yourself.

Other commandments that talk about this personal relationship are the commandments to guard yourself (take care of your health) and love your neighbor as yourself. This commandment assumes self love.

So the transgression referred to in the Tenth Commandment is the transgression of not taking care of you.

There are three types of commandments: One is between you and G-d, one is between you and other people, and one is between you and yourself.

Be good to yourself today.

There is a way of loving not attached to what is loved.

Observe how water is with

The ground, always moving toward the ocean, though the ground tries to hold the water’s foot

and not let it go. This is how we are with wine and beautiful food, wealth and power,

or just a dry piece of bread: we want and we get drunk with

wanting, then the headache

and bitterness afterward. Those prove that the attachment took

hold and held you back. Now you

proudly refuse help. “My love is pure. I have an intuitive

union with God. I don’t need

anyone to show me how to be free!” This is not the case.

A love with no object

is a true love. All else, shadow without substance.

(The Ecstatic Poetry of Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks)

There is an important change in the verse in the second paragraph of Shema, found in this week’s portion, from a verse in the first paragraph: “You shall teach them thoroughly to your children and you shall speak of them.” (Deuteronomy 6:7) In this week’s portion the Torah teaches: “You shall teach them to your children to discuss them.” (11:19)

Only a heart overflowing with love for Torah can teach it so that our children and students will discuss the Torah’s words on their own.

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Tens of people gathered to pray for the young mother of three who was mortally ill. The tears flowed. Everyone cried to God to save the family from tragedy.

They prayed for thirty minutes and left. No one was smiling. It seemed to the rabbi that no one believed their prayers even mattered.

They gathered again on the next day when they heard that the young woman’s situation was much worse. All were ready to pray with cries and tears. They waited for the rabbi to begin the emergency prayer session.

Rather than rise to face the Ark and lead the prayers, the rabbi stood up to face the congregation:

“Is there anyone here who believes that our prayers of yesterday helped?”

People were shocked, even horrified that a rabbi could ask such a question, especially in such a desperate situation, but no one raised a hand to say he believed that the prayers were effective.

“Is there anyone here who left yesterday believing that God had listened?”

A few hesitant hands that went half way up, then down. No hand was raised in confidence.

“Let’s try a different approach,” said the rabbi, “any suggestions?”

One person stood up to say, “I would like to argue her case before God! She is so young. She has three babies! God, this isn’t fair!”

Someone shouted out, “I’ll tell God that I won’t stop pestering Him until He responds!”

A woman shyly stood up to say, “You love me. Please, do it for me.”

“No,” said the woman next to her, “You love her. You love her children. Do it for them!”

“You can do it like this,” said another as she snapped her fingers. “What’s the big deal?”

A quiet man rose to whisper, “You guys can’t argue with God. He knows best. I would say, ‘Look, God, You know best, but I’m begging You to use the Nike approach; Just Do It!”

“Hey! Rabbi! Didn’t you say that we can pray with joy and confidence; ‘You are the Healer and we are confident that You will Heal her’?”

They spent thirty minutes describing how they would pray. There was no time left to pray. Everyone had to get to work. “We spent so much time discussing how to pray that we have no time left,” a woman moaned.

The rabbi said, “What do you think we were just doing? We just had one of the greatest prayer sessions in history!”

Everyone left inspired. They were hopeful. Each had a sense that his prayers were heard.

These are the ten (or, thirteen) forms of prayer listed in the Midrash on this week’s portion.

There are many forms of prayer. Why use only one approach? Why stick with the same approach if we feel that our prayers are not working?

Talking about prayer, and strategizing how to pray are also forms of prayer, just as it was for the people in the story.

By the way; The woman had a miraculous recovery. Just saying…

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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

Some years ago, I knew a young boy who was eager to spread love and find life, even though he was at the end of his. He had had cancer for six of his nine years. In the hospital, I took one look at him and knew he was finished fighting. He had just had it. He had accepted the reality of his death. I stopped by to say good-bye the day he was going home. To my surprise, he asked me to go home with him. When I tried to sneak a peak at my watch, he assured me that it would not take long.

And so we drove into his driveway and parked. He told his father to take down his bicycle, which had been hanging in the garage, unused, for three years. His biggest dream was to ride around the block once – he had never been able to do that. He asked his father to put the training wheels on his bicycle. That takes a lot of courage for a little boy to do: it’s humiliating to be seen with training wheels when your peers are popping wheelies and performing tricks with their bikes. With tears in his eyes, the father did so.

Then the boy looked at me and said, “Your job is to hold my mom back.”

You know how moms are, they want to protect you all the time. She wanted to hold him up all the way around the block, but that would cheat him out of his great victory. His mother understood. She knew that one of the last things she could do for her son was to refrain, out of love, from hovering over him as he undertook his last, great challenge.

We waited as he rode off. It seemed like an eternity. Then he came around the corner, barely able to balance. But he rode up to us beaming.

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross – Life Lessons

“You shall teach them thoroughly to your children and you shall speak of them while you sit in your home, while you walk on the way…”

There are times in my life when the ‘way’ I must walk is overwhelming and frightening. I wish that God would hold me up as I walk.

The story of this young boy taught me that whether walking or riding a bike, the next step is a challenge I must meet on my own, taking the Torah’s teachings with me. Each step is a statement that I use these teachings to live and move forward, facing the future with courage.

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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.