Parshat Mishpatim

There is a story in the Talmud of a perspective convert who goes to the great Rabbi Shammai and says, “teach me all of the torah on one foot (meaning in one moment).”  Immediately, Shammai kicks him out.  So he goes across the street to the other great Rabbi, Hillel, and asks him the same thing.  Hillel agrees, he says, “do unto your fellow as you would have done unto you, the rest is commentary now go and study.”  For the great Torah sage, Hillel, correct behavior is only half of the lesson of Judaism, the other half is that you need to study.

At the end of this week’s parsha there is a very famous and important passage.  It says, that Moses took the book of the covenant and read it out loud to the nation, and the nation responded: “Naaseh ViNishmah” – “all that God has said, we will do and we will listen.”  What an unusual  statement.  Usually, we LISTEN to a proposal, think about it, and then we decide whether or not we will do it. In this week’s parsha, the Jewish people first said they will do, and then only afterwards did they say they will listen.

The midrash explains that this is what made the Jewish people worthy of receiving the torah.  God went to all of the other nations of the world and asked them if they would like the torah.  All the other nations replied, what does the torah contain?  After hearing ideas distasteful to them, they each rejected the divine gift of the torah.  But the Jewish people merited to receive the torah from God because they first said (Naaseh), we will do, and then they said (vinishma) we will listen to what is contained in the Torah.

On the surface this story seems to be compelling us towards blind faith.  That we should blind ourselves to what is contained in the torah and just DO, even if we have no idea what we’re doing!!!  If this were the lesson of the midrash it would only be necessary for the Jews to have responded we will DO (naaseh).  But the real lesson comes from their whole response, we will do AND we will listen (ViNishma).

The addition of vinishma teaches us an important model of religious life.  It is not sufficient to just do religious things, in order to fully receive the torah in the way the Jewish people did after Sinai, we must also listen to what the torah is teaching us.  Listening means that we must learn about the religious acts that we do, not just the details about how to perform mitzvoth, but the reasons why we have each of the mitzvoth.  We must think about how these acts give meaning to our lives.  By taking this lesson of vinishma to heart, ultimately, our religious life will influence our Jewish identity.

This declaration, Naaseh ViNishma, we will do and we will listen is a lesson on how to educate towards religious practice.  The doing needs to come before the learning.  Let’s use art to illustrate this point.  You can describe to someone a beautiful work of art, describe the theory behind the piece, show them the techniques used in creating the artwork, and explain to them how the lighting and color makes it a masterpiece.  But, unless they have seen that work of art for themselves they will not appreciate its beauty.  In contrast, if after having seen a work of art, experienced its beauty first hand, and learnt about the technique and theory which made that work of art a masterpiece, then the appreciation of that work of art will be enhanced far greater than it could have been before.

The same can be said for religious experience.  Studying about religion, while a worthwhile endeavor, might not be a sufficient in itself as a way to enrich one’s personal religious experience.  In order for a religious life to be fully appreciated, it must be experienced.  Once someone has familiarized themselves with the religious experience study will enhance that practice.

This is why we teach children at an early age to do mitzvoth.  Even before they are capable of understanding the meaning of a mitzvah we encourage them to do.  Our hope is that doing the acts will lead them to wonder why they do it, and this inquiry will lead to their own unique personal connection to the mitzvah.

Another aspect of this unusual statement, Naaseh vinishmah, is that it describes how your religious choices can influence your religious perspective.  The things you do or don’t do can directly influence your questions and doubts.  Your overall religious perspective, the questions we ask, the challenges and doubts we struggle with about our religion are often, directly influenced by whether or not we are practicing.  Naaseh Vinishmah is telling us that our learning, our soul searching, our questions, and our doubts should exist, that learning is an integral part of the equation.  The statement says we will do and we will listen.  The torah is directing us to do the learning, search our souls, and have questions.  But the questions which stem from a place of observance are fundamentally different than those from a place of non-observance.

There is a story which is told about a group of young Jews during the Enlightenment.  They are questioning the value of religion, and they feel that religion is a thing of the past which no longer has any relevance.  But in the spirit of intellectual honesty they want to give Judaism one last chance.  So they write down a list of their questions and issues and they decide that one of the young men from the group will go to learn in a yeshiva and try to find out if Judaism can answer their questions.  After some time the group reconvenes, and they ask their friend who had just spent considerable time immersed in Jewish life and Jewish learning if he has found the answers for their questions..

He describes how great his experience has been, how he has learnt so much and that he is so happy, but no word about any “answers.”  So they ask him again, “what about our questions did you find the answers to our questions!?!?”  He responds, “no, but I no longer have those same questions.”  When his religious perspective shifted so did his questions.  The torah wants our questions, but it wants them to be from a place of commitment to a Jewish way of life.  Choosing to commit to a Jewish way of life will shape your perspective differently than questioning from the outside.

The message which comes from the entire statement of Naaseh Vinishma is a vital component of Jewish life.  Action is the body of Jewish life, without action there can be no Jewish experience.  Study needs to go hand in hand with our Jewish experiences, because study is the spirit of Jewish life.