A Thought on Parshas Ra'eh

"...u'Bo tid'ba'kun..." "...and you shall cling to Him..." (13:5) Verses instructing us to cling to HaShem appear in a number of places in the Torah. The notion of "clinging" to HaShem, Who has no form, no limits, no substance, and no single location, is a challenging one in our theology. It seems to run contrary to some of our most essential principles, such as G-d having neither dimension nor matter. How can a person be commanded, then, to cling to Him? It is for this reason that Chazal provide us with a means of understanding the scope of the concept. They explain to us that since it is entirely impossible to actually cling to Him, we fulfill the verse by clinging to those who serve Him. We help support Torah scholars, we interact with them, and we associate with them and with their families. This is regarded as a way of clinging to "HaShem". ibn Shu'aib reviews a number of other interpretations. He cites the Ramban, who understood the verse to mean that we can actually cling to HaShem with our minds. If our thoughts are on His teachings, and on pondering His Presence in our lives "every moment, every hour, every occasion", then He will seem 'attached' to us. This can be manifest as our viewing every life experience as an intimate encounter with His Divine Presence, so that nothing seems to us like chance or happenstance. The Ramban emphasizes that this too is a way of clinging "to HaShem." ibn Shu'aib then cites the Rambam, who has written that the concept here is to apply oneself constantly to the quest of knowing and understanding HaShem's majesty and might throughout the entire universe. Knowledge of HaShem is a way of "clinging", too. He then notes the view of ibn Ezra who suggests that clinging is not a mental process nor a behavioral process. Rather, we cannot cling to HaShem at all, so the Torah is not commanding us to attempt any facsimile of doing so. Rather, the verse means that if in fact we spend our lives learning and fulfilling the Torah and its mitzvos, then as mundane life ends, our souls will ascend into the realm of pure spirit, and will live on after mortal death within the "Tzror HaChaim" - the supernal source of all life.The verse is not commanding us to do anything. It is forecasting the consequence of living by His word.The eternity of the spirit will be the means through which we shall, ultimately, cling "to" HaShem. ibn Shu'aib then cites Rabbeinu Chananel who views the clinging not as a commandment to act or to think in a particular way, but as a promise from HaShem that there is an afterlife. The process is that by our being focused on following the Word of HaShem, we draw Divine personal hashgacha - monitoring of our lives - which in turn leads to ultimate hashgacha - the reality of a world to come. When we will merit reward in the ultimate as a result of living our lives with ultimate devotion, we will then cling to HaShem forever. Good Shabbos. Rosh Chodesh Elul Sameach. D Fox