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To Know Hashem
This week's Parsha is Vaeschanon, Deuteronomy 3:23 - 7:11. The primary and recurring focus of the Parsha is, "Those who cleave to Hashem are alive today." The concept of attaching oneself to Hashem is explained in later verses, "You were shown to know, that Hashem is G'd, there is none other than Him." "You shall know this day and put it to your heart, that in the heaven above and the earth below, there is no other."
The concept of knowledge - daas, means attachment. The first instance of daas in the Bible is, "Adam knew Eve," and they had Cain and Able. Daas is that faculty that links the intellect to the emotions, making them real. When we know something, it is absolute fact. Two plus two equals four. We know this as fact. We experience it as true. The result of knowing G'd is to love G'd.
Why was Moses so emphatic to remind us that there is none other than Hashem? The Jewish people had spent 40 years in the desert. Their nutrition, shelter, clothing, navigation system and infrastructure were directly from Hashem. Moshe warned the Children of Israel that being religious in a religious environment is no big deal (My Bubby used to say, "It's no big deal to be religious in synagogue). They were about to embark into the world. They would no longer be encased in the womb-like environment of the desert. They would have to toil just to be able to eat. They would have to sweat and suffer. Their days would not be directed exclusively to spiritual pursuits.
Moshe then told them, "Hashem is Elokim, G'd." The world around us, with all its trials and tribulations is nothing more than condensed G'dliness. One might believe that their toil has made them prosper. In reality, everything in the world, good, bad and not understood, is all the product of Divine will.
One of the many tenets of the Baal Shem Tov was that everything a person sees or hears must be used to improve their service to the Creator. This is possible because whatever a person sees or hears is nothing more than G'dliness. After all, what is Nature? Nature is those occurrences that can be determined before they happen. Candle lighting in Detroit on July 23 was always and will always be 8:43 PM EDT. The fact that sunset can be predicted makes it no less a miracle. We have just become complacent.
The word Vaeschanon means, "I pleaded." Our sages tell us that Moshe gave the Almighty 515 (numerical value of Vaeschanon) reasons to be allowed to enter the holy land. Hashem responded, "no," 515 times. Was the act of striking a rock instead of speaking to it such a heinous crime that Moshe deserved to die? In a way, yes. The Jewish people complained for lack of water after three days in the desert. Moshe was instructed to strike a rock and cause water to flow. He did so and was congratulated. When the rock dried up 40 years later, Moshe was instructed to speak to the rock. He spoke to the wrong rock and hit the right rock. What people saw was the same miracle twice, a rock was hit and water flowed. This therefore, caused the Jewish people to think that the nature of this rock was to produce water after it was struck. Instead of recognizing a tremendous miracle, the people pooh-poohed what had occurred. They said even the first striking was natural.
Therefore, Moshe admonished the people that when they go into the world and toil and sweat, their existence is no less miraculous. They must "Know this day and put it to their hearts... that there is nothing else," only miracles.
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