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.
