Rabbi Jonathan Shippel
Parsha of the Week
Summary
The concept of beautifying a mitzvah is in a commandment given from God. One chooses to honour it with enhancements or beautify it using the act of caretaking of special objects. God dictated 613 commandments when the Torah was accepted by the Moses and the Jewish people, 248 of which are positive and 365 are negative. The positive commandments are connected to the major sinews and blood vessels of the body while the negative commandments govern and restrict behavior such as refraining from harmful activities towards others. For beautifying a mitzvah to have an impact, as much effort as possible should be put into the commitment. Jewish ritual objects are made of silver because they tarnish, unlike gold. Silver tarnishes, unlike gold, and needs care and cleansing to see its shine on the Jewish holiday table.
This week’s Parsha is Eikev, which continues Moses’ exposition about the retelling of the Torah and the commandments to the Jewish people. He promises that if they fulfill God’s commandments, they will enter the land of Israel, described as the land “flowing with milk and honey.” Israel is defined as the transformational land of power because it heals its people, fulfilling dreams and promises. Milk and honey are sustaining, transformed substances of power and growth produced by animals and insects. Like the bee, Israel is a land that provides for its people.
In the Shema, the act of accepting the yoke of belief in God upon oneself is explored through the concept of integrating the teachings on a spiritual level and on an intellectual level. The key to passing the teachings on to the next generation is by modeling the behavior and living it in your daily life. Doing this consistently passes the message on a deeper level because it is known as behavior and action rather than abstractly as ideas. This is “walking the walk” in practicing a life connect to spiritual traditions, values, and actions. By teaching these commandments to children through deeper levels of communication at appointed times of ritual practice, it becomes easier to live them.
Rabbi Jonathan Shippel
Jonathan Shippel is a graduate of Columbia University and Ner Israel Rabbinical College in Maryland. After his studies, Jonathan returned to his city of birth, Cape Town, South Africa, where he founded a vibrant congregation, learning center, and day school. Today, Rabbi Shippel is the Rosh Yeshiva of the James Striar School for Undergraduate Jewish Studies at Yeshiva University. In 2010 he founded the Beis, a dynamic learning center, congregation, and community for Jews of all backgrounds and levels of engagement in New York City.