Parsha Va’etchanan

This week’s Parsha contains perhaps the most famous and important idea in all of Torah. The Shema has many important ideas in it, but none more important than the imperative to teach our children the ways of our people. In this sentence we learns that although a person might think that the mitzvah of learning Torah takes precedence over that of teaching others, the opposite is in fact true. We learn from the emphasis on teaching children the proper approach we should have when we begin to learn Torah.

When Jews do mitzvah’s we create a change in the physical world, we elevate physical objects and seemingly mundane tasks and make them holy buy using those objects in the performance of mitzvoth and in our service to gd. The practical performance of the mitzvah is therefore more important than the intentions of the person doing the deed. The action itself brings spiritual illumination into the world.

In contrast to this Torah learning’s purpose is to refine and elevate the individual. When a person engages in the act of studying Torah their intellect becomes united with the gdly wisdom contained within and that wisdom affects the individual. Aiding and helping us to be more gdly people whose thoughts and actions are holy. Therefore learning Torah is in essence a process of humbling oneself and nullifying oneself with the goal of approaching gd with an open heart and mind.

Before we learn Torah we must subjugate our own ego and ask ourselves what does the Torah want from me? Our Sages say that without this prerequisite, Torah learning can be like a poisonous drug. Without asking this question we can actually damage ourselves.

I’d like to thank, Chabad.org and the Lubavitcher Rebbe zt”l for this insight, Shabbat Shalom.