A TALE OF TWO SCENARIOS

THE TWO PORTIONS OF THE SHMA: SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES

A Jew’s most important prayer is the well-known Shma, which contains three paragraphs, the second of which is taken from this week’s parsha of Eikev.

When we contrast the first two paragraphs of the Shma we can see many similarities and many differences between them.

The most obvious similarity is their emphasis on loving G-d and observing His commandments, specifically three Mitzvos: Torah study, T’fillin and Mezuzah.

However, there are also significant differences between the two sections: the most glaring one is that the first paragraph speaks to the Jewish people in the singular while the second paragraph speaks to them in the plural.

Another conspicuous difference is that the first paragraph exhorts us to love G-d, “With all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might.” The words “with all your might” are omitted from the repetition.

THE ORDER OF THE THREE MITZVOS

However, even in the enumeration of the three Mitzvos there is an obvious inconsistency. The first paragraph lists the Mitzvos in the following order: a) Torah study (“You shall teach them diligently to your children…”); b) T’fillin (“Bind them as a sign upon your arm and let them be ornaments between your eyes”); and c) Mezuzah (“And write them on the doorpost of your house and upon your gates”).

When we survey the second paragraph of the Shma we find them in a different order: First T’fillin, then Torah study and finally, Mezuzah.

Commentators have wondered why the Torah changed the order to put T’fillin before Torah study? And how do we explain the other differences (i.e., singular versus plural, loving G-d with all your might and its omission).

We also want to understand why the Shma, in both of its sections, mentions only these three Mitzvos.

TWO AUDIENCES

One way of understanding the textual differences is to view them as G-d directing His message to us in different situations or in different time periods.

The Talmud (Brachos 35b) actually intimates the root of the differences between the two sections by focusing on another difference: the second portion speaks of how if we abide by G-d’s word, “… then I shall provide rain for your Land in its proper time, the early and the late rains, that you may gather in your grain, your wine and your oil…”

The Talmud asks, how do we reconcile our need to gather the produce with the prophetic prediction that G-d will provide for us? The Talmud’s surprising response is that this prediction anticipates the day when the Jewish people fulfill G-d’s will. The reference in the second paragraph of the Shma to the Jewish people gathering their own produce, conversely, alludes to times when they do not fulfill G-d’s will.

Chassidic thought explains that this is indeed the crux of the difference between the first section of the Shma and its second section. In the first section, it deals with situations in which we rise to the highest and maximal level of devotion to G-d, expressed by the words “with all your might.” It reflects a spiritually sophisticated period where there are no limits to our devotion to G-d.

In the second section, notwithstanding its mention of loving G-d, the words “with all your might” are absent, reflecting a minimal level of devotion. As a consequence of their, relatively speaking, non-compliance with G-d’s will, the Jewish people will have to exert themselves and gather in their own produce.

The Rebbe explains that the second paragraph reflects a period of exile in which only the minimum standards of devotion to G-d are maintained.

This premise is supported by Rashi’s comment on the words: “You shall place these words of Mine upon your heart and upon your soul” which precedes the commandment to put on T’fillin:

Even after you will go into exile be distinguished through Mitzvos; put on T’fillin, make Mezuzos so that they shall not be new to you when you will return.

DIFFERENCES EXPLAINED

This also explains why the first section addresses the Jewish people in the singular. In spiritually heightened times the Jewish people are unified both spiritually and physically, as opposed to the period of our exile, when we are fragmented. Indeed, even the wicked Haman acknowledged this exile phenomenon when he charged that the Jews are “scattered and dispersed among the nations.” He was speaking not only of their geographic separation but also of their internal divisions.

We can now attempt to understand why these three Mitzvos are singled out among all of the others in these two sections, albeit in a different order.

THE THREE MITZVOS: INSTRUMENTS OF THE BAIS HAMIKDASH

These three Mitzvos serve a dual function. One cannot compare the focus and effects of these three Mitzvos in times of exile to their focus and effects in times of spiritual advancement such as in the days of the Temple.

When the Bais HaMikdash stood and generated holiness throughout the world, a Jew was able to experience this holiness in his own life. This can be compared to the ubiquitous radio waves, which require one to have the requisite instruments to have access to them. Without a radio, for example, we cannot access the radio waves that are in our midst.

The instruments that enabled a Jew to experience the holiness generated through the Bais HaMikdash started with the brain’s absorption of the Divine intellect. The Bais HaMikdash, Tanya explains, is the brain of the universe. All of G-d’s most sublime energy enters the universe through the Holy of Holies in the Bais HaMikdash. To absorb this divine intellectual energy one’s mind had to be saturated with Divine knowledge.

From the human mind, the energy traveled to the heart and the rest of the body through the Arm T’fillin which are bound around the arm, near the heart, and the Head T’fillin with its straps flowing downward reaching the legs. This was our way of channeling the Divine energy that manifests itself in the head onward to the entire body. In this manner the Divine energy affected every aspect of our behavior controlled by the body.

Once the people received and internalized the Divine energy emerging from the Bais HaMikdash, they placed a Mezuzah on their doorposts, through which the energy extended itself into their homes and, through their homes, to their environment and the entire world.

THE THREE MITZVOS: CREATING OUR OWN SANCTUARY

In times of exile, when the Temple’s presence is hidden from us and its light is concealed, the necessity and focus of these three Mitzvos changes. Since we lack the physical structure of the Bais HaMikdash with its concomitant channeling of Divine light, we must create a Sanctuary in ourselves. In this context, these Mitzvos are no longer instruments to access the flow of energy from its Source. Instead, we have to create our own generators, our own personal Sanctuaries, to generate our own individual Divine light.

The first step to creating our personal generating capacity is performing the Mitzvah of T’fillin. The Zohar (I:129) states that T’fillin are a miniature Sanctuary in their own right and it is to them that the Torah refers when it dictates: “Make for Me a Sanctuary and I will dwell in them.” Our head and arm serve as the Cherubic figures perched atop the Ark and the T’fillin represent the Divine presence within the Ark.

Once we have created the Sanctuary, we shift focus to Torah study, concerning which our Sages state, “From the day the Temple was destroyed the only place G-d has in this world is the four cubits of Halacha (Torah law).”

While Torah study and T’fillin both serve the function of creating a dwelling place for G-d akin to the Temple, it is T’fillin that take precedence. The reason is found in a famous Midrashic comment recording a conversation between the Jewish people and G-d, occasioned by their exile-affected state of existence:

We want to study Torah day and night but we have no time. Says G-d to them: Observe the Mitzvah of T’fillin and I will regard it as if you have studied Torah day and night.

This exchange describes the state of Jewry in times of exile, when we are preoccupied with mundane activities for our sustenance. In times like these, T’fillin substitute for continuous Torah study and therefore are listed first.

 Once we have created the ideal Sanctuary in our own lives we extend the Divine energy we just generated beyond our own bodies to our homes and the entire world. The Mitzvah of Mezuzah enables us to transform our entire home into a Sanctuary, not just our mind and bodies. Through the aggregate power of all our Mezuzos we can transform the entire world into a Divine Sanctuary.

CONVERGENCE OF TWO DIRECTIONS

The element that changed from the first paragraph of the Shma to the second is the direction of the flow of Divine light. In the times of the Bais HaMikdash the light flowed from the Temple outward to the rest of the world through the instruments of Torah study, T’fillin and Mezuzah. In this period of exile we generate the light within ourselves through our T’fillin, Torah study and extend it outward through the Mezuzah.

The desired end result of our creation of miniature Sanctuaries and the holiness they engender is that they should so permeate the world that it will bring about the rebuilding of the Bais HaMikdash. When that happens, the Divine energy emanating outward from the Bais HaMikdash will merge with the Divine energy emanating from our own Sanctuaries. The fusion of these streams of energy, each with its own distinctive quality, will form a world where we will experience the highest and most internalized form of Divine revelation. This is the revelation of Moshiach.