Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L
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The Shema Prayer
Today's Chumash portion begins with the Shema Prayer:
"Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our* God; the Lord is one**."
*Our - meaning he is the G-d of the Jews and not the other nations
**In the future, this G-d, our G-d, will be declared as the One G-d. (see Zephaniah 3:9 and Zechariah 14:9)"And you shall love* the Lord, your God, with all your heart** and with all your soul***, and with all your means****."
*Love - You should preform His commandments out of love which is incomparable to serving out of fear. For one who serves out of fear, if the burden of their master becomes too much, they will leave, however one who serves out of love will not.
**"Your heart" - The hebrew wording of "your heart" here is לְבָבְךָ which is written with two letters beis. This is an allusion to needing to serve G-d with both the good and evil inclination. Alternatively, it is a directive that one's heart should not be divided in regards to G-d, i.e. that one should not doubt that anything, whether good or bad, comes from G-d.
***"All your soul" - meaning even if He takes your soul. I.e. one should be willing to give up one's life for G-d.
****"All your means" - This is directed towards those who people value their possessions more than their bodies. Alternatively, it is a directive to serve G-d regardless of whatever G-d gives you whether it be in good or in punishment."And these words*, which I command you this day**, shall be upon your heart."
*"These words" - This is an elaboration upon how one is to love G-d as directed just before. It is through contemplating the words of Torah
**"This day" - meaning you should not think of these directives as being something old and extinct but rather news of the type that people rush to read."And you shall teach* them to your sons** and speak of them*** when you sit in your house, and when you walk on the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up****."
*"Teach them" - In Hebrew, the word here is וְשִׁנַּנְתָּם, which comes from the root שנן which also denotes sharpening. This is a poetic way of saying that these word should be so sharply engrained upon one's mouth that if a person asks you something regarding Torah, you will reply immediately.
**"Your sons" - This is an allusion to one's disciples. There are many other places where sons are a reference to one's disciples, including Devarim 14:1, Melachim II 2:3, Diverei HaYamim II 29:11 and Melachim II 2:12.
*** "Speak of them" - These words should be your main (and not merely accessory) topic of conversion.
**** "When you lie down and when you rise up" - Rashi clarifies that this is referring to the usual time of going to sleep and waking up, not regarding one who lies down in the middle of the day or wakes up in the middle of the night."And you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand*, and they shall be for ornaments between your eyes**."
*"Upon your hand" - this is an allusion to tefillin of the arm
**"Between your eyes" - This is an allusion to tefillin of the head. In Hebrew, word used here is טֹטָפֹת, which is an allusion to them containing four scriptural sections in them, since in the Kaspi language, טַט means "two" as does פַּת mean "two" in the Afriki language. Elsewhere (Shmos 13:16), Rashi also cites the grammarian Menachem ibn Saruk who teaches that the word טֹטָפֹת comes from the root of נטף which means "to speak""And you shall inscribe them upon the doorposts* of your house and upon your gates**."
*"Doorposts" - the word here in Hebrew is מְזֻזוֹת (i.e "mezuzos" but without the letter vav, to teach that only one mezuzah per door is needed
**"Gates" - this is to teach that the gates of the courtyards, provinces and cities all also require a mezuzah.
Moshe then goes on to relate to them that when G-d brings them to the land of Israel which He swore to our Forefathers (Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov), He will give them great and good cities they didn't build, houses full of good things they didn't fill, hewn out cisterns not hewn* out by them and vineyards and olive trees they didn't plant. They will eat and be satisfied.
*Side note: The land of Israel was a stony and rocky place, thus cisterns needed to be "hewn" there.
Moshe warns them not to forget G-d who took them out of Egypt where they were slaves.
Rather they are to fear and worship G-d. If they do so, they may swear by His name, since this means that they will be careful in regards to making an oath. This implies that one who does not fear and worship G-d should not swear by His name.
Moshe gives special caution to them not to stray after the gods of those people who are near to them as these will be the people they will witness in their false worship. This same warning applies in regards to the gods of people who are far from them too.
Moshe emphasizes to them that G-d is a zealous G-d and if they disobey these edicts, His anger will rage against them and destroy them off the face of the earth.
He warns them not to test G-d the way they did regarding water in Massah* (see Shmos 17:7).
*Side note: The word Massah means "test".
Moshe adjures them to keep the commandments, testimonies and statutes which G-d had commanded of them.
Moshe informs them that if they act over and above the letter of the law, they will receive the good land of Israel which was promised to their forefathers and drive out all of their enemies. Moshe makes a reference here to when G-d had alluded to driving out their enemies when he said that He would "confuse all the people" (see Shmos 23:27).
Moshe goes on to instruct them on how one should reply to their son if at some point in the future he asks about G-d's commandments. Moshe says that they should relate to their son how they were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt and how G-d took them out and brought about signs and wonders and the plagues upon the Egyptians as were witnessed by the Israelites. One is to relate to their son how G-d took the Israelites out of Egypt to give them the land of Israel which had been sworn to our forefathers. Regarding the commandments, one is to relate, these are in order to fear G-d for our eternal good and to keep us alive and that it is to our benefit to keep them.
Va'Eschanan, 6th Aliya