Va’Etchanan For Chanting
Plaut P.
Source Sheet by Yair Robinson
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(א) וְזֹ֣את הַמִּצְוָ֗ה הַֽחֻקִּים֙ וְהַמִּשְׁפָּטִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר צִוָּ֛ה יהוה אֱלֹהֵיכֶ֖ם לְלַמֵּ֣ד אֶתְכֶ֑ם לַעֲשׂ֣וֹת בָּאָ֔רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר אַתֶּ֛ם עֹבְרִ֥ים שָׁ֖מָּה לְרִשְׁתָּֽהּ׃ (ב) לְמַ֨עַן תִּירָ֜א אֶת־יהוה אֱלֹהֶ֗יךָ לִ֠שְׁמֹ֠ר אֶת־כׇּל־חֻקֹּתָ֣יו וּמִצְוֺתָיו֮ אֲשֶׁ֣ר אָנֹכִ֣י מְצַוֶּ֒ךָ֒ אַתָּה֙ וּבִנְךָ֣ וּבֶן־בִּנְךָ֔ כֹּ֖ל יְמֵ֣י חַיֶּ֑יךָ וּלְמַ֖עַן יַאֲרִכֻ֥ן יָמֶֽיךָ׃ (ג) וְשָׁמַעְתָּ֤ יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ וְשָׁמַרְתָּ֣ לַעֲשׂ֔וֹת אֲשֶׁר֙ יִיטַ֣ב לְךָ֔ וַאֲשֶׁ֥ר תִּרְבּ֖וּן מְאֹ֑ד כַּאֲשֶׁר֩ דִּבֶּ֨ר יהוה אֱלֹהֵ֤י אֲבֹתֶ֙יךָ֙ לָ֔ךְ אֶ֛רֶץ זָבַ֥ת חָלָ֖ב וּדְבָֽשׁ׃ {פ}(ד) שְׁמַ֖ע יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל יהוה אֱלֹהֵ֖ינוּ יהוה ׀ אֶחָֽד׃ (ה) וְאָ֣הַבְתָּ֔ אֵ֖ת יהוה אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ בְּכׇל־לְבָבְךָ֥ וּבְכׇל־נַפְשְׁךָ֖ וּבְכׇל־מְאֹדֶֽךָ׃ |
(1) And this is the Instruction—the laws and the rules—that your God יהוה has commanded [me] to impart to you, to be observed in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, (2) so that you, your children, and your children’s children may revere your God יהוה and follow, as long as you live, all the divine laws and commandments that I enjoin upon you, to the end that you may long endure. (3) Obey, O Israel, willingly and faithfully, that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly [in] a land flowing with milk and honey, as יהוה, the God of your ancestors, spoke to you. (4) Hear, O Israel! יהוה is our God, יהוה alone. (5) You shall love your God יהוה with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. |
If you walk down the right street (or the wrong street, depending on your perspective) in Jerusalem or New York or any major city, there’s a strong likelihood that there’s going to be someone there with a small table who will ask if you (as long as you’re Jewish and a man) would like to wrap Tefillin as recite the full shema, which we have here in Deuteronomy 6.
You don’t see Tefillin in Reform settings so much, though it does crop up occasionally. The commandment to bind it as a sign upon your hand and “let it be for frontlets between thine eyes”, as the Union Prayerbook used to say, has long been understood in our tradition as a metaphor, though the command to place the mezuzah on our doorposts is rarely controversial. But in the more traditional world, this is a literal mitzvah, to wear boxes with words in them, the words of the shema, on our heads and arms every day save Shabbat and holidays.
The reasons to observe this tradition vary. For some, it is a reminder of our sacred obligations, and the ethical tasks before us. For others, it is a way of elevating ourselves spiritually before we go about our day. For others, no reason is needed: it is a mitzvah, time-bound and positive, and therefore we must fulfill it. And for others, it should be cast aside as a reminder of our more primitive past, an obstacle to fulfilling our highest duties, or even a ritual rooted too deeply in male chauvinism to redeem.
My teacher Michael Marmur talks about really wrestling with this mitzvah: there are days where he reaches for his Tefillin needing to bind these words to himself, literally, and days where it just doesn’t feel right. And I think that’s most of us. We usually live in-between, not hedging so much as rooting ourselves in the nuance, a precious commodity we seem to have less and less of every day.
When we say the words of the shema, or shma and v’ahavta, as we often call them, we are reminding ourselves to heed God, obey the mitzvot and teach them to our children. We are also reminding ourselves to listen for the holiness we encounter in others, to be curious, and pass those values to our children as well. It is only when we choose to be open and curious that we can truly say that we love God and one another. And that is worth inscribing on our hearts and our gates.