blogs/cantor-phil-baron

Parashat B'chukotai
27 Iyar, 5776

We've all had the experience of attending a party or event we didn't want to go to. Sometimes you feel obligated, sometimes someone schleps you along. You'd rather do something else. You might be surprised and enjoy yourself, but more likely you'll be grumpy, and spend the evening checking your watch.  Still, you've fulfilled your obligation by going, and (you keep telling yourself) it's good to do things for the sake of others.

But how much more fun it is, and how much more enriching, when you do something from the heart. This week's parasha encourages us to take this approach to God's instructions, and it does so with a subtle bit of word play.

Through my study with the Institute for Jewish Spirituality and my mentor there, Rabbi Jonathan Slater, I've been introduced to the thought and writings of many 18^th and 19^th- century Hassidic rabbis. Rabbi Slater's own book, “A Partner in Holiness”, focuses on the work and spiritual insights of R. Levi Yitzhak of Berdichev known as “Kedushat Levi”. The study of Levi Yitzhak's insights has caused me to take a different look at familiar texts and draw some new conclusions.

Consider the first verse of this week's reading. Here is the Etz Chayim translation (see page 747 in our red books for the Hebrew):

“If you follow My laws and faithfully observe My commandments…”

Now let's look at an alternate, more literal translation:

“If you walk in the way of My statutes and keep awareness of My commandments and do them…”

The first translation, though accurate, asks for obedience. Follow and observe. But with a small shift of interpretation, the verse suddenly takes on a spiritual charge. The Hebrew word, first translated as “follow”, is teileichu. But the word's root means “to walk or go.” So the second translation, “walk in the way” captures the intention and brings God's instruction directly into our lives. It requires something of us other than blind obedience. I walk with intention. I follow as a dog follows its master. When you “walk the walk” you do so with commitment and determination �" and free will.

Maimonides talks about giving in the same light. Giving selflessly and with a full heart is on a higher level than giving reluctantly. The same principle applies to prayer. When we are focused and pray with kavanah, or intention, our experience is deeper and more profound.

Maybe this is why the idea of being a “walker” is common in Hasidic literature. Here is Levi Yitzhak:

“When we perform a mitzvah honestly, without self-interest, then it may be well that we will be able to ascend to an even higher level. That is why the tzadik is called a ‘walker,' since he goes from level to level… So if you ‘walk in the way of My statutes,' that is, if you cleave to My statues, then you will become a ‘walker.'”

So the cleaving �" the intentionality of the act is essential to our experience and our spiritual development. 

The second variation in translation focuses on the Hebrew word “shamor.” It is alternately used to mean “observe,” “keep,” or “guard” and often refers to Shabbat observance. The Eitz Chayim translation chooses “observe” �" a more passive interpretation. But both “keep” and “guard” are active words, implying and awareness and engagement that demand something from the performer of mitzvot. 

So in this one verse of Torah, we have a pretty good prescription for how to act in the world. Yes, follow and observe God's laws and commandments. But if we can do them with awareness, making them a part of our daily lives, we can do them and speak of them when we lie down, when we rise up, and when we walk on the way. And I think this applies to most things we do in life.  Our intentionality �" how we direct our hearts �" is the difference between doing and achieving.