A guest post by Rabbi Aaron Fink (my father), Dean of Ateres Bais Yaakov on Monsey NY. Part of a weekly Dvar Torah (Torah “Thought”) series.
An Eye on One’s Heart
With the conclusion of the parsha Moshe finishes his soliloquy, beseeching Klal Yisrael to stay the course of Yiras Hashem and Shmiras Hamitzvos. After 40 years of leadership, the prose of Haazinu and indeed all of Sefer Devarim was to be his epitaph and our eternal inspiration.
The Torah tells us that after Moshe Rabbeinu concluded his message he framed his final instructions by saying, “simu livavchem l’chol hadivarim asher anochi mei’id bachem hayom asher titzavum es bineichem lishmor la’asos es kol divrei Hatorah hazos” — And Moshe concluded his words and said, “now place them on your heart… that you should transmit them to your children.”
In defining the structure needed for effectively conveying our Mesorah to our children, Moshe did not merely say to heed his voice and follow his directions. Rather, he said to take the message to heart. Why?
Rashi explains that Moshe Rabbeinu was expressing a powerful message for Chinuch Habanim, educating our children. Tzarich adam sheyihiyu einav v’aznav v’libo michuvanim l’divrei Torah! Yes, to transmit our heritage one must have his eyes, ears and heart tuned in to the powerful lessons of Torah.
Lip service alone won’t do. A Torah lifestyle has to be seen as relevant in all aspects of our lives. Yiras Shamayim has to be heard as the natural sound of our daily Avodah. Indeed, our dveikus b’Hashem has to be so palpable that it can be felt, heart-to-heart in our home and on the job. Our children will then sense and absorb this multi-modal lesson and live it as well.
So how does one get there? Upon closer examination Rashi leaves us with an even more profound message. In commenting on the posuk and the need to “simu livavhchem” to engage your heart in avodas Hashem, Rashi presents a vital sequence. First he tells us sheyhyu einav—that your eyes must be focused on your relationship with Hashem and His Torah. Without training our outlook, refining our vision and conditioning our perspective to a Torah point of a view we will never get our heart into to it.
Our avoda starts with our eyes. With seeing ourselves and the Ribbono Shel Olam as relevant, personal meaningful and loving. We can then “hear” what he wants from us and we can feel with a full heart our deep closeness to Him and His closeness to us. After all, if we only knew how much Hashem Yisborach loved us, we would never do anything wrong.
Moshe Rabbeinu’s paradigm for Chinuch is as relevant today as it was the first time he spoke these words. When it comes to our yiddishkeit It is not enough to know. We must have heart. To get there we must develop our outlook. Indeed, it is vital for children to see and hear the living words of Torah in our lives.
In so doing we will be zoche to a g’mar chasimah tova, lanu ul’chol Yisrael.
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