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Torah Thought
THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME
AUGUST 13, 2020
A Fire In Your Belly By Rabbi Zvi Teichman
שמור- Safeguard ושמעת- and listen..., Moshe exhorts the people.
warrant our children being blessed with goodness?
The order seems incorrect. Shouldn’t one first hear specifically what it is that they must preserve and then afterward protect it?
Rashi teaches that ‘safeguarding’ here refers to absorbing the laws — לשמרה בבטנך, to guard it in your ‘belly’.
... — למען ייטבin order that it be well with you and your children after you forever...
Wouldn’t the mind be a better repository for the preservation of knowledge, rather than one’s innards?
Clearly the verse is revealing that in the merit of carefully preserving and adhering to the words of G-d, one will be assured children worthy of G-d’s benevolence.
The beloved grandson of the saintly Baal Shem Tov, Reb Moshe Chaim Ephraim of Sudlikov, in his seminal work, Degel Machaneh Ephraim, suggests that the word used for preserving, שמור, has an alternative meaning that is being implied here.
Yet the very next words in the verse seem to offer an alternate reason.
Doing what is good and right, we are being instructed, is the guarantee for our children being well. But didn’t it previously just state that it was the safeguarding of Hashem’s words that
Often this word intimates waiting with enthused anticipation. When Yaakov heard about the dreams of Yosef and how it stirred resentment within his brothers, the Torah reports that Yaakov - שמר- was waiting and looking forward in expectation to the day when the dreams would be fulfilled. )(רש"י בראשית לז יא The Maggid of Sudlikov teaches
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... since you will be doing that which is — — הטוב והישרgood and right, in the eyes of Hashem, your Lord. )(דברים יב כח
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that when the word of G-d is so treasured that one waits with bated breath to grab at every morsel of inspiration, it is assured that it will be heeded and preserved. Perhaps the idea of the Torah being ‘guarded in one’s belly’ refers to an eagerness to absorb the will of G-d, that is as intense as the hunger one experiences when craving for food. Es geit em in boich arein! One’s ‘innards’ figuratively turn over with anticipated excitement. There is a fire in the belly! The Torah is not simply promising the reward of one’s children’s welfare in merit of this allegiance. It is the natural consequence. If one lives one’s life visibly eager and physically moved when imbibing the enthused message of Torah, the Torah then becomes naturally fused within him and thus finds expression in the progeny that are a projection of one’s spiritual DNA. The last verse that refers to the doing of that which is ‘good and right’, the Ramban explains, alludes to going — — לפנים משורת הדיןbeyond the call of duty in one’s observance, expanding one’s performance of mitzvos that are not governed by black and white halacha, yet is clearly a fulfillment of the broader ‘will’ of Hashem. The Torah here is not offering a new reason for one’s children’s success, but rather displaying evidence to the fact that this individual is clearly one who pines and yearns to hear the ‘voice of G-d’, as is apparent in one’s eagerness to implement His will in matters that go beyond the exact detail of the laws. (Based on an essay in the sefer, די באר, authored by Rav Dovid Yitzchok Mann) The Maggid quotes from his holy grandfather, the famous teaching regarding the statement in Avos that reveals there is a Bas Kol, a heavenly voice, that emanates every day from Mount Sinai, proclaiming: “Woe to them, to the people, because of the insult to the Torah!” (6 2)
What purpose, the great Baal Shem Tov queries, is there to a voice going out that no one can hear? In truth, he says, these soundwaves are sensed by our souls, it is often these forces that arouse a sudden urge to repent within our hearts, that often propels people towards genuine Teshuva, repentance. But, too often it wanes as quickly as it arrives. Those, however, who live with a sense of ''שמור, eager anticipation, are assured ושמעת, to hear loud and clear the heavenly voice that warmly invites us back into His embrace. Talented writer of HaModia fame, and old family friend, Reb Mordechai Schiller, retells a touching story he heard from his son. My son Meir told me something he witnessed one Rosh Hashanah in the Mirrer Yeshiva in Yerushalayim. After the davening, a bachur who was deaf walked over to the baal toke’a. Meir said, “He walked with shtoltz” — a sense of confidence and determination. Then he asked to please blow the shofar again. And, as the baal toke’a got the shofar in place, the deaf bachur leaned over and put his ear right into the opening of the shofar — to catch the sounds. We blow the Shofar from the onset of Elul. The Tur says this corresponds to Moshe’s ascent on the first of Elul, upon Mount Sinai to receive the Second Luchos, accompanied by the sound of the Shofar. It is the heavenly voice from Mount Sinai that never ceased that we seek to hear once again. It is there waiting for us to earnestly yearn to hear it. What area of our observance stirs up our passion with a ‘fire burning in our belly’? If we hunger for His closeness, then even our erstwhile ‘deaf’ ears will joyously hear the resounding call of our loving Father in Heaven beckoning us to return home.
