A Thought on Parshas Va'eschanan

"...v'yodata ha'yom v'hash'eivosa el levav'echa..." "...and you shall know, this day, and take it to your heart..." (4:39) This verse is a familiar one. We recite it daily in the Aleinu prayer. It emphasizes that there is no other G-d than the One Above Who is the One below. The term "v'ha'sheivosa el levav'echa" - and you should take it to heart - has always intrigued me. The verse demands of us that we know clearly and well that HaShem is One. What is added by telling us that we should also take it to heart? Does it mean that I have to know it, and feel it too? Does it mean that I have to believe in the Unity of HaShem and somehow make that belief reflexive and second nature? None of the classic English translations shed light on the meaning of the clause. Rashi is mysteriously silent here. The Gan, however, wants us to understand the clause. We will notice that the word is levav'echa, instead of leibecha. The latter word is singular whereas the former - the one used in our verse - is plural. Literally, the clause would read "take it to your hearts." Now, perhaps because of that nuance, the Gan infers what Chazal often infer when the "heart" word is written in plural, namely, that it encompasses "the other part of our mind" which we know as the "yetzer ha'ra." In other words, the Torah preempts here the wayward thoughts that one is inclined to have, even upon realizing how great HaShem is, that our baser side would consider that there is no need to make a big deal about things just because of that theological premise. HaShem is here, HaShem is there, HaShem is truly everywhere, as the children's song goes, but the restless adult is very likely to say that he knows that to be true yet he still has an impulse to counter that this belief in G-d is "just" a universal reality, not a personal and subjective one that has to shape or interfere with private life. Sort of like a very bright Jewish thinker I know of who contends that he is "non-practicing Orthodox." The Gan says that what the Torah instructs here is to know that HaShem is One, and to recognize that this knowledge is a mechayav - it obligates us in accepting Him within ourselves as well. The next verse (40) teaches "follow His ways for your sake and for the sake of your descendants and for all times." The "knowledge" of HaShem is a major step but it is not a guarantee of anything at all if we do not fully internalize that knowledge. Living in accordance with that knowledge is the next step, leading to continuity, to ascendance, to generations, and to eternity. Next time I say Aleinu and get to that verse, I hope to emphasize this point: I know that HaShem is One Supreme, and I do want that knowledge to make a difference in my life. I want to know Him and believe in Him, and I want to make that knowledge my undisputed living truth. Good Shabbos Nachamu. D Fox