בית יעקב פרשת ראה

 

אחרי ה׳ אלקיכם תלכו ואתו תיראו ואת מצותיו תשמרו ובקלו תשמעו ואתו תעבדו ובו תדבקון. בזה הפסוק יבואר כל דינו של אדם. כמבואר במסכח (שבת ל״א א) .על פסוק והיה אמונת עתיך.

Moshe Rabenu explains the challenge of a Jew who is faced by a prophet who tells the him to serve idols. Moshe Rabenu is Mechazik (encouarages) the Jews, "Follow after Hashem your G-d, and you shall be in awe of him, do his Mitzvos, and listen to his voice, serve Him and attach yourself to Him." The בית יעקב explains that the encouragement of this Pasuk hints to potential of man. The Gemara explains that each person is asked six questions at the end of his life if he accomplished his potential. Each one of these questions is hinted to in the Pasuk. The questions are "Did you do business ethically? Did you set aside time to learn? Did you try to bring children into the world? Did you yearn for Geulah and Moshiach? Did you involve yourself in deep understandings of wisdom? Did you understand one thing from another?."

 

 

 אחרי ה׳ אלהיכם תלכו הוא נגד נשאת ונתת באמונה. כי אחרי מורה בשעה שהקב״ה נסתר מאד מהאדם. כמו שנתבאר על פסוק לכתך אחרי במדבר. ובשעה שהאדם נפנה מדברי תורה אז גם כן צריך להיות הקב"ה נגדו ולילך אחר מדותיו

"You will follow after Hashem," is the question of "did you do business fairly?" The word "after" describes a mode of Hashem's interaction where Hashem is hidden from man, and man's response to follow after Him despite it. This is like Yermiyahu's description of the Jewish people's following after Hashem into the wilderness without plans of sustenance. When a person closes the sefer for the day and goes to work, then they need to chase after Hashem in the physical world and follow his ways.

. ואתו תיראו הוא נגד קבעת עתים לתורה. כי יראה מורה על קביעות מורא בלב אדם .

"And be in awe of Him," is the question "Did you set aside time for torah study?"  The בית יעקב says that real awe means that the experience should be set into your heart and not to allow it to be something which happened to you but as time passes from the experience, its impact upon you wanes. Therefore we enjoined to take steps to preserve our inspiration.

 ואת מצותיו תשמרו הוא נגד עסקת בפריה ורביה. כי כשיבוא כל מדות האדם למעשה וליותר בהולדת נפש שם צריך ליותר שמירה.

"Guard his Mitzvos" is corresponds to "did you engage in having children?"  While a person's attributes are fundamental to their personality, they don't impact into this world until they find their expression in the Mitzvos that a person does. This process of translation requires that we be careful that our ideals translate into our actions. The same applies with giving birth to and raising children.

 

ובקלו תשמעו הוא נגד צפיתה לישועה. כי דיבור היינו כשיצא מפורש. אבל קול מורה על פנימית הנסתר . ולזה רק ציפוי וקיווי.

Listen to his voice, is the question did you await Moshiach and Geula? What's the difference between Hashem's speech and his voice? Speech is straight out and particular, it means the words which are begin said. However, voice is a much more nuanced and understated.  Hearing it then requires that a person long to hear and listen much more carefully. You can say the same phrase and depending on the voice derive alternative messages. Therefore, the person must long to hear the message of Mashiach, and it's a message which requires that we listen carefully.

 

 ואתו תעבדו הוא נגד פלפלתה בחכמה. כי כשאדם סובר ומבקש לידע טעם ההלכה נקרא משמש תלמידי חכמים, וכשירצה להתבונן בטעמי ההנהגה שהעולם מתנהג נקרא שמשמש השי״ת.כי כל מה שהאדם מתבונן בזה יותר יקשה לו וכדאיתא במדרש תנחומא(יתרו ס״ז) משה אמר הצור תמים פעלו וגו׳. אלו אמרו אדם אחר היו אומרים מנין היא יודע. אלא למשה נאה לומר דבר זה כוי׳. לפי שלמשה היה יושר קשה מכל העולם כי הוא הבין יותר

 

"Serve him," is the question of "did you delve into wisdom." When a person thinks and wants to know the reasoning for the Halacha, he is called a person who serves Torah scholars. When they want to know the way the world works, they are called serving Hashem. The more a person thinks about how Hashem runs the world, the harder it is to understand. Moshe Rabenu said "Hashem is the rock whose ways are perfect." If anyone else said it, we would say, "how do you know?"  But because it's Moshe Rabenu, it is fitting and proper that He could say something like this, as He had descended to the depths of understanding how to serve Hashem, and understanding the way the world works. To Moshe understanding the world was even harder because he knew more.

. ובו תדבקון הוא נגד הבנתה דבר מתוך דבר . שהאדם יהיה דבוק בהשי״ת. ויבין את השינויים מה שהשי״ת מחדש בכל יום תמיד מעשה בראשית במה

יעסוק עתה.

"And you shall cling to Him"  is the question of "did you understand one thing from another?" When a person looks at the world and realizes how Hashem is everything, then everything he sees brings him to the awareness of how Hashem renews everything all the time every day. There is no other choice but to connect to Hashem, what else will they dwell on?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Practical Advice

In the time most laden with contradictions, a prophet says to serve idols; Moshe Rabenu tells us that we can become great. This sefer, sefer Devorim, the ultimate Mussar Sefer, reminds us of the potential which we have and what we can achieve. We know we can achieve this, as this what we will be asked at the end of our lives, by the Malach who taught us Torah  in utero. This means that we always have this potential for greatness. We were born with it. Moshe Rabenu tells us in this most challenging of times, who we can be because it's who we are.