Parshas Va’eschanan: Torah in the Exile:

Shema Yisrael is the clarion call for all the Jewish People for eternity. In this weeks parsha we read the very portion that contains the Shema. What is the great message hidden in the Shema? Why has Shema become the identifying factor of the Jewish People?

As I sit here in my hotel room in Bangkok, Thailand, knowing good and well that two books provided by the hotel gratis are sitting in my night table, there is no wonder that Shema must be reaffirmed. These two books are the New Testament, and the Teachings of Buddhism. Wherever one walks here in the Far East, there are miniature idols the likes of which Abraham sought to destroy several millennia ago, yet they are still going strong here in the Far East. It is uncanny to find a need to reaffirm the most basic tenants of Judaism, however when the falsity of pantheism and polytheism is staring in your face, Shema must be recited with an even greater intensity.

That is all fine and dandy for those of us who venture out into the hinterland. What relevance does the Shema contain for the typical Westerner who has primarily been exposed to purported monotheistic religions?

The Rabbis teach us that the first paragraph following the Shema declaration serves as an instruction to the extent of service required. “Thou must love G-d your G-d with all your heart, all your soul, and all of your being.” Loving G-d is no simple matter. It is a lifelong process. As the great Rabbi Akiba was being barbarically flayed with iron combs to death he declared, “My entire life I have sought to fulfill the obligation of loving G-d with my entire being, and now I finally have the opportunity!” Rabbi Akiba understood that the command of Shema was meant to be fulfilled until his dying moment. He appreciated the most basic level of Shema, yet he understood that contained in the most basic dictum of Shema was the obligation to be absolutely saturated with love for G-d.

The message of the Shema need not be taken to heart only when one comes face to face with an idol or a temple. The reality of our lives is that we all have some sort of idol or temple that holds us back from being totally overtaken with love for G-d. The god of capitalism is money. That god is so utterly present, that if people only worked so hard at amassing G-dliness as they worked to amass the dollar, the Messiah would have come already. Shema Yisrael reminds us of our true values. What values do we wish to transmit to our children? What do we want written on our tombstone? Rare is the individual whose overarching value that he wishes to leave being is his hunger for money.

Every one of us is cognizant of the Shema’s message; we simply must make more of an effort to make it real. One does not need to visit Thailand or India to find foreign gods that have obscured the way for our true values in life to shine forth. Let us look inside of the inner recess of our heart and soul to find the blocked up channels to achieving the level of Rabbi Akiba as he was being tortured to death. The message of Shema is to come closer to G-d by recognizing the obstacles in the way.

May we merit to destroy all of the personal idol worshiping that exists in our own lives, and may we all merit to witness the fulfillment of G-d being our G-d, and G-d becoming the only G-d recognized by all nations. Amen.