Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11 - Isaiah 40:1-26 - John 20:1-18

This week's edition of The Set Table contains:

Questions and Commentary on Shabbat Va'Etchannan
Chayyei Yeshua - A Devotional Commentary on the Besora Reading
In Summary
Looking Ahead

Questions & Commentary on Parashat Va'Etchannan

1. What can we learn from the centrality of the verb shin-mem-ayin in this week's parasha?

Benjamin Ehrenfeld

This week's parasha is a source for many liturgical texts within the Jewish tradition (i.e. Ve'ahavta (Deuteronomy 6:5-9), Ki HaShem Hu HaEloqim (Deuteronomy 4:39) from the Alenu, and Vezot HaTorah (Deuteronomy 4:44) from the Torah service, with the most obvious being the great, prayerful/theological/liturgical declaration, Shema Yisra'el, HaShem Eloqenu, HaShem Echad Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD alone" (Deuteronomy 6:4). Just as the Shema is central to the liturgical tradition of the Jewish people, the root form of this word, shin-mem-ayin, is particularly relevant and recurrent in the text of this parasha.

Shin-mem-ayin (the verb from which we get the word Shema) can be translated as: "To Hear" and "To Listen", and in some contexts, "To Heed" and "To Obey". This verb appears in seven verses in Parashat Va'etchannan:

But the LORD was wrathful with me on your account and would not listen (shama) to me.

Deuteronomy 3:6; NJPS

And now, O Israel, give heed (shema) to the laws and rules . . .

Deuteronomy 4:1; NJPS

Observe them faithfully, for that will be proof of your wisdom and discernment to other peoples, who on hearing (yishme‘un) of all these laws will say, ‘Surely that great nation is a wise and discerning people'.

Deuteronomy 4:6; NJPS

Hear (shema), O Israel, the laws and rules I proclaim to you this day!

Deuteronomy 5:1; NJPS

The LORD heard (vayyishma) the plea you made to me.

Deuteronomy 5:25; NJPS

Obey (veshamata), O Israel, willingly and faithfully that it may go well with you . . .

Deuteronomy 6:3; NJPS

Hear (shema), O Israel, the LORD is our God, the Lord alone.

Deuteronomy 6:4; NJPS

Each use of shin-mem-ayin is an illustration of an act of relating; whether between Moses and God, Israel and the nations, Israel and Torah, or Israel and God. The act of engaging in relationship known as shin-mem-ayin (a verb, something you do, an action) is one with a variety of consequences. The opportunity for Moses to enter the land of Israel was thwarted by God's refusal to listen to his request. Israel's listening, obeying, giving heed, to the words of God and Moses have direct bearing on their survival in the land and relationship with other nations. God heard them, so they must now hear him. Listening is not passive for our people. It is the faith that we are heard, our willingness to hear others and each other, and our hearing of God that make us who we are when we are at our very best. Only in our shin-mem-yin are we faithful to keep what we were commanded to care for, and, as Moses' sobering example in the beginning of the parasha shows us (Deuteronomy 3:23-28), only through God's shin-mem-ayin are we able to receive God's favor?.

In this second parasha in the book of Devarim ("Words"), we learn that words hold very little without their being heard, listened to, heeded, and obeyed. Our destiny(ies),  our relationships, and our words are all deeply bound in the act of shin-mem-ayin. May we merit to hear and to be heard.

2. What is the central tenet of this week's parasha, and what does it have to do with us?

Joshua Brumbach

This week's Torah portion is called Va'etchannan - "I pleaded." It is Moses pleading with the people to observe God's mitzvot and live as the holy community God has purposed Israel to be. Deuteronomy is an interesting book. It is actually a repetition of the entire Torah. The other peculiar aspect of the book is that it involves a different generation than the rest of the Torah.  This means that the whole reason Moses is pleading with the people at the beginning of this parasha is because it is the generation about to go into the Promised Land after wandering in the dessert for forty years. This is not the generation that left Egypt and was involved in the sin of the golden calf. Nor were they probably old enough to fully comprehend the impact of the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai. This was a new generation. 

This week's parasha is called Va'etchannan because Moses is pleading with this new generation not to be like the previous generation. Moses is pleading with them to be faithful to God's covenant, to observe the mitzvot and to be a holy people. He recounts the giving of the Torah and explains the purpose of God's Torah. Moses instructs the people that if they will be faithful to God, then God will be faithful to them and provide for them. 

Yet, what is so powerful and mysterious about this parasha is that it is also not about a different generation. That this current generation (and every generation to follow) is actually also the previous generation which left Egypt, wandered in the dessert, and stood at the foot of Mt. Sinai. 

For the LORD did not just make this covenant with our ancestors, but with us - with us who are alive today. The LORD spoke with you face to face from the fire on the mountain. 

Deuteronomy 5:3-4

This mystical idea is so central to the Jewish people that when we observe the commandments and festivals, we are not just remembering something that happened in the past - we are reliving that experience. Every holiday is a reliving of the events it commemorates. When we remove a Torah scroll from an ark, it is not just a Torah service; it is reliving the experience at Sinai - with the fire, thunder, and all. When we celebrate Sukkot, we are back in the dessert homeless, hungry, tired and cold. When we observe Pesach, we are actually being redeemed from Egypt. As this week's parasha also states:

Some day your child will ask you, ‘What is the meaning of the instructions, laws and rulings which HaShem our God has laid down for you?'  Then you will tell your child, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and HaShem brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand . . .'

Deuteronomy 6:20-21

Noam Levy

John 20:1-18 - The Heart of the Besora

This week's portion in the book of John is the most important part of the book. It is so crucial that without it the faith is meaningless. Between chapters 18-20, John records the death and resurrection of the Messiah as was predicted in the Tanakh. His point is to show his readers the importance of these two truths.

After the resurrection, Yeshua appeared to his followers on different occasions. The text indicates that there were different reactions when his followers saw him. Miriam was amazed, others were ecstatic and Thomas was doubtful. This shows that they had a partial understanding of what Yeshua taught them about his death and resurrection.

Miriam was the first of the Talmidim to see him. She was astonished and didn't recognize him; it was only after he called her name she realized that it was her Rabbi and not the gardener. John is using this instance to show that she had misunderstood his mission. It was essential for him to die and then rise from the dead.

There will always be a reaction when people are confronted with the reality of Yeshua's resurrection: some people are shocked, some are taken back and some doubt. The reason is because people have the wrong idea about God's eternal plan of redemption. Often the notion is whether the besora message fits one's own personal plan of redemption or not.

For most, the resurrection might be a nice story or a great act of altruism, but it has no relevance for them personally. The purpose of Yeshua's coming is totally missed! If the Talmidim, after spending 3 years with Mashiach, didn't fully comprehend his mission how much more people who are not Talmidim?

As Talmidim it is imperative that we understand that Mashiach came according to the Tanakh to die and rise again. Rav Shaul emphasized the same thought at the beginning of his letter to the Romans:

Paul, a servant of Messiah Yeshua, called to be an Apostle and set apart for the gospel he promised before hand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Yeshua the Messiah our Lord. Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and Apostleship to call people from among all Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.

Romans 1:1-6; NIV

Even though this is foreign to many people today, it is not foreign to the Tanakh (Luke 24:44-47)  

It is also important that as messengers of the besora we do our best to articulate the message in a way that people understand it (Colossians 4:4) In order to do this, we need to study the Tanakh and be sensitive to the people that we are talking to, just as John did by writing this besora to the people in his day (John 20:30-31).

NEXT WEEK'S READINGS - PARASHAT EQEV