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Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Vaetchanan
Deuteronomy 3:23 - 7:11
By Shlomo Riskin
Efrat, Israel - Two of the most famous passages in the entire Bible which
refer to G-d are to be found in this week’s Biblical portion: “I am the
Lord your G-d who took you out of the land of Egypt, the house of
bondage,” the first of the Ten Commandments, and “Hear o’ Israel the
Lord our G-d the Lord is one,” the opening verse of the Shema, the
watchword of our faith. Neither of these verses express a frontal
commandment to believe in G-d, and nor is there any such verse of
commandment to believe anywhere in the Bible. Why not, and what is the
significance of what these particular verses do teach us about G-d?
I believe that the Bible neglects to specifically command Divine belief
because belief in G-d alone is not what really matters; witness all of the
fanatical wars which have been fought in name of G-d, and how Islamic
Fundamentalists brainwash and train their youth to blow themselves up
together with innocent citizens in the name of a god of Jihad! What good is
“pure monotheism” if Allah has been transformed into Satan?!
Notwithstanding whatever has been written heretofore, the great philosopher-
legalist Maimonides (1135 – 1204) does derive a commandment to believe in
G-d from the first of the Ten Commandments, “I am the Lord your G-d who
has taken you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage.” He begins
his magnum Mishneh Torah with the laws of the (Theological) Foundations of
the Torah (1,1-6): “The foundation of foundations and the pillar of
wisdoms is to know that there is a First Cause who produced everything that
exists … This cause is the Lord of the world and the master over the
entire earth… to know this (fundamental fact) is a positive commandment,
as it is written, ‘I am the Lord your G-d’ (Exodus 20:1, Deut 5:6).”
Apparently, Maimonides is taking this verse to be read, “I am (to be
accepted by you as) your Lord…” And Maimonides utilizes this very
foundation-stone of our Jewish faith to emphasize the universalist component
of Judaism. Since everything and every one in the universe was created by
the one G-d, the first Cause Creator who is responsible for every creation,
this great Sage concludes the Mishneh Torah with a picture of universal
harmony and peace under G-d: “…. And that which is written in
Isaiah (concerning the “end of the days”) how ‘The wolf will dwell
with the lamb, and the lion will graze with the kid’ (Isaiah 11:6) is
merely an allegory and analogy. The substantive meaning of this is that
Israel will dwell peacefully with the (heretofore) wicked nations of the
world…. and everyone will return to the true religion. There will be no
looting and no destruction, but humanity will eat only that which is
permissible in harmony as do the Israelites…’” (Laws of Kings 12,1).
Maimonides universalistic world view – based on the one G-d of all
humanity – is perhaps given clearest expression when he exhorts the
Israelites to treat their gentile slaves with special consideration and
concern: “The Israelite must be a compassionate human being who pursues
righteousness and neither lays a heavy yoke upon his servant nor causes him
pain; he rather gives him to eat and to drink from whatever food and drink
is in the household…. and speaks to him with kindness. He must listen to
(his servant’s) complaints, as it is written in Job, “If I despise the
fair judgments of my servants in their arguments with me, what will I do
when the Almighty will rise up (against me); what will I respond? Is it not
the same innards that made me which also made them, and were we all not
prepared by the same womb? (Job 31: 13-15)” (Laws of Servants, end
of ninth chapter ).
What is strange is why Maimonides derives belief in a universalist G-d of
humanity from a verse which seems so very particularistic , which specifies
how G-d took His chosen Israelites out of Egyptian bondage. Indeed, R.
Yehudah Ha Levei (1080-1145) the author of the famous philosophical treatise
Kuzari, derives from this very verse the unique relationship between G-d and
Israel, and the qualitatively different and exalted position Israel enjoys
within the world (Kuzari 1, 11 and 25).
I would argue that Maimonides chose this verse for two reasons: firstly,
because it precedes the negative commandment against idolatry, “You shall
have no other gods before Me,” so that it is only logical that this first
commandment deals with the positive command to accept G-d; secondly, because
Maimonides truly believes that the exodus from Egypt also provides a
universal teaching ! The great philosopher may well have taken his cue from
the fourth commandment of the Decalogue, the Sabbath commandment, which was
given both as a remembrance of the creation of the world (Exodus 20) as well
as a remembrance of the exodus from Egypt (Deuteronomy 5). What links these
two phenomena – the creation and the exodus? The exodus is the corollary
of the creation: If indeed G-d created every human in His Divine image, then
every human being must be free and no other human being dare violate
another’s person or property. The Divine Creation of humanity set the
stage for human freedom and human inviolability, the Divine creation
necessitated the destruction of “Pharoahnic” totalitarianism and
despotism as well as the formulation of a universal code of morality: thou
shalt not murder, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not commit adultery.
No wonder Maimonides insists that everyone must accept – even by coercion,
if necessary – the seven Noahide laws of morality (Mishneh Torah, Laws of
Kings 8,10), and defines the Messianic Age as a period in which the entire
world will live in peace and harmony. No wonder the major commentaries like
the Ramban and Ibn Ezra see the exodus as having established G-d as
the only Ruler of the Universe – as He demonstrated by deposing Pharoah,
the prototypical despot – and thereby claiming His right to legislate
morality for all. No wonder the Bible – in its prelude to the Decalogue
– assigns the Israelites the task of being a “Kingdom of Priest –
teachers and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6), which is defined by the
S’forno to mean “to teach the entire human species to all call out in
the name of G-d and to serve Him shoulder to shoulder …, since ‘from
Zion shall come forth the Torah’ (to the world) “ (Ad loc). And no
wonder the second version of the Decalogue in Deuteronomy, when it presents
the exodus as the reason for the Sabbath, explains that the purpose of this
second day “is in order for your Gentile man and maid servant to
rest lie you” (Deut 5:14).
This likewise explains the connection in our Biblical portion between the
Decalogue and the Shema. There is no more universal expression of our faith
than “Hear o’ Israel the Lord our G-d the Lord is One,” which means,
as explained by Rashi, that although the G-d of love (Hashem) and morality (Elohim)
is now only accepted by us, ultimately He will be accepted by everyone in
the world, by the whole of humanity which He created as one.
Even more: the numerical equivalent of Ehad (one) is 13, the numerical
equivalent of ahavah (love) is 13; our G-d who is One is love. And since the
numerical equivalent of J-H-V-H (the Ineffable Name) is 26, J-H-V-H is the
One G-d Love. Moreover, there is no greater expression of G-d’s love than
His having freed the Hebrew slaves from totalitarian domination. Hence part
of our twice-daily obligation to recite the Shema includes our mention of
the Exodus from Egypt.
Shabbat Shalom
Shlomo Riskin
Chancellor Ohr Torah Stone
Chief Rabbi - Efrat Israel
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