shamor v'zachor

Last Saturday saw the return of Shabbat Torah study and morning services at my temple and I was so happy to have them back that I actually arrived before my rabbi. Oops. We didn't end up having services at all, however, since only 2 people other than the rabbi and intern showed up (August Saturdays is a new thing for this congregation). But, we decided that instead of just ending our Torah study at 10:30 and going home, we'd continue on and use it as our prayer. It was great. We were looking at a number of things in the portion, including what my rabbi feels is the proof text for fundamentalism (granted, he does not support fundamentalism, but pointed out this is where he thinks he it came from):

Deuteronomy 4:2 Do not add to the word that I am commanding you, and do not subtract from it. You must keep all the commandments of God your Lord, which I am instructing you.
Lo tosifu al-hadavar asher anochi metsaveh etchem velo tigre'u mimenu lishmor et-mitsvot Adonay Eloheychem asher anochi metsaveh etchem.

So, that pretty much says it, right? "Do this, do only this, do not do more, do not do less." However, didn't the rabbis of the Talmud add more and find ways to subract (or not do) without saying flat out don't do it? Isn't that one of the huge things in observant circles? Building a fence around the Torah, around the mitzvot, essentially adding on all of these little things to make sure we don't do that first thing? I mean, nearly all of kashrut is an addition to that one commandment of not boiling a kid in its mother's milk.

I'm not saying that the fences are wrong, necessarily. But, I think that there should be an awareness that Judaism began reforming itself almost immediately and will continue. There needs to be an awareness that there is plenty even the most strident ultra-Orthodox do that is not in the Torah.

So, that's something to chew on in the future. We also talked about the part of the V'ahavta in this portion that commands you to love God with all of your heart and to write these commandments on your door and bind them as a sign upon your hand and be symbols between your eyes. A number of questions came up about this:

1. How can you command someone to love?
2. Did people ever tattoo these commandments on their foreheads? Ignoring the prohibition on tattoos, this is an interesting question.
3. Is the binding literal? Obviously some take it that way with the use of tefillin (which are not biblical and came about later); but should we take it to mean that we should go forward and act with the commandments always on our minds and evident in all of our actions?

I found this discussion fascinating, especially about whether we can be commanded to love. My thought is that we aren't necessarily commanded to love. The line is "you shall love Adonai your God with all your heart..." (emphasis mine). Shall is a lot different than "must" or "I command that you love Adonai your God...." I think that when we follow the commandments to the best of our abilities, when we act righteously and walk with God, when we use our entire being to praise God and be good Jews the outcome of that is that we love God. We are not commanded to love God, not directly at least. But, every mitzvah that we fulfill is part of a relationship of love with God.

I know there are plenty of people who say that doing mitzvot is not about love, but rather about just doing it, fulfilling an obligation. But I always come back to the fact that obligation fulfilled is nothing without meaning.

And finally, we spoke about the reiteration of the 10 commandments (interestingly enough stated in the Hebrew as the 10 words). Specifically the command to observe the Sabbath. In the Exodus version of the decalogue we are told to "remember" and in Deutoronomy we are told to "observe." If you are under the belief that nothing in the Torah is extraneous then this can cause some problems. So, the rabbis decided that both words were uttered together on top of the mountain so that the Israelites heard them both but we get them in the two different versions. This is referenced in L'cha Dodi in the 2nd verse:

Shamor v'zachor b'dibor echad...
Observe and remember in one word...

I love knowing this about the song. It really opens things up for me and I've been thinking about it a lot since last Saturday. Because, to indulge in a little bit of midrash here, I think that back in Exodus the Israelites weren't ready for the command to "observe" Shabbat; they could barely keep from falling back into idol worship. So when the word was uttered they heard "remember." But, when Moses repeats the commandment in Deuteronomy they are just about to head into the promised land. They have endured 40 years wandering in the desert, 40 years of manna and then so much meat it came out of their noses and the older generation doubting God and being forbidden to see the promised land. They have matured and are ready at this point to become, truly, the people that God has chosen. So, at this moment they hear "observe." Because at this moment they are ready to do just that.