One God, One People: Va’etchanan.22

 One God, One People: Va’etchanan.22

By Rabbi Boaz D. Heilman

August 9, 2022

This week’s portion is Va’etchanan (“And I pleaded,” Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11). In these chapters Moses continues his sermon to the Israelites, delivered as they are poised to enter the Promised Land. Moses recounts his failed plea to be allowed to enter the Land along with his people. God refuses, commanding Moses instead to prepare Joshua to take over. However, God does give Moses the opportunity to see the entire Promised Land from the Moab highlands. It's a grand vision both literally and metaphorically, encompassing all space and time.

As Moses delivers his final message to the People of Israel, he emphasizes the prohibition on worshipping any visual image of God, be it in human, animal or stellar form. Instead, we are instructed to follow God’s words, the commandments. Our physical shortcomings are surpassed by our almost limitless ability to imagine, wonder and understand.

In Va’etchanan we find a repetition of the Ten Commandments, which by itself would make this portion stand out. Further still, other verses and sections have entered our worship service. Some appear as part of the Torah reading ritual. Others—significantly the Sh’ma and V’ahavta—have become central to our morning and evening prayer services. 

Sh’ma Israel Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad—“Hear O Israel, Adonai is our God; Adonai is One”—has been called “The watchword of our faith.” In these six words we find both theology and commandment. The idea of God’s unity—monotheism—was probably known to Moses from his days yet as a youth in Egypt. It was there after all that the idea was first proposed by Akhenaten some 100 years earlier. Judaism, however, furthered the concept. Whereas in Akhenaten’s thought, the sun was that one god, Moses’s understanding went beyond this limited grasp. The supreme God of Moses and the Patriarchs was not limited by any physical representation; God’s unity encompasses the entire universe. Everything, all Creation, both visible and invisible, present, past and future, is an expression of God’s essence.

In this stunning vision, all is possible; yet nature must follow rules and boundaries. Existence is not random; it has a purpose. Israel, Moses teaches, was not chosen by God because it was the greatest among the nations in numbers, but rather for its understanding and acceptance of God’s Laws and Commandments. Choice, it follows, is essential to Chosenness. We choose, therefore we are chosen. 

The word sh’ma implies more than merely the physical act of hearing. It also means understanding. One of the most indispensable elements of our humanity is our almost limitless ability to learn and reason. In this portion of the Torah, even as the essentials of our faith are spelled out, we are given the freedom to understand and interpret the words, making it possible for each one of us to shape our own, unique, role in ongoing Creation. 

V’ahavta—the command form of the verb “to love”—is also imbued with the idea of freedom. We are commanded to love God. Yet we know that love isn’t an emotion we can control. Love happens. Love grows. Love is life itself. As we grow, we change. Going from one stage to another, from one place to another, we evolve. Our understanding of the world and how it works evolves with us. The more we know and understand, the greater our ability to change both ourselves and the world around us. Our strength is in our flexibility. 

The immeasurable truth that Deuteronomy teaches us is found in this portion: “You who hold fast to your God, Adonai, are all alive today” (Deut. 4:4). Our ongoing existence as a people is forever bound in our Covenant with God. We may be of different opinions; our backgrounds are many and our traditions diverse. Yet, like God, the People of Israel are forever one in faith, body and soul.

It’s a breathtaking and timeless vision of beauty and grandeur.

© 2022 by Boaz D. Heilman