Parashat Va'etchanan: Deuteronomy
3:23 - 7:11; Isaiah 40:1-40:26.

F

ew portions, if any, are as
familiar to us as this week's. As
Moses begs for entrance into
the Promised Land and is denied, he
recognizes this as a final opportunity
to give our ancestors the essence of
our faith.
So immediately following God
telling him a definitive no, Moses
reiterates our most important and
sacred laws, specifically the Ten
Commandments. However,
the portion doesn't end
there. Following the com-
mandments, we move
right into words found
in every worship service,
words that later become •
our prayers, the Shema
and the V'ahavta.
While ifs upon these
very laws and creedal
Rabbi M
statements our faith has
Mosko
been constructed, what I
find most telling is what can be found
between these two sections stuck in
the middle of this parshah. Over and
over, Moses implores the Israelites to
observe the laws he has shared. We
read, "You shall be careful to do as
Adonai your God has commanded
you."
Again we are reminded to follow
each of the laws, to practice them
when we enter the Promised Land.
"Do not turn aside to the right or the
left." The obvious insistence, looked at
through the traditional lens, teaches
us that we are not to change these
words, these laws given by God.
But then after the watchword of our
faith, the Shema, is spoken, another
phrase appears that seems redundant.
"Be sure to keep the commandments
that God has given you."Yes, we have
heard that before. Yet we then read,
"Do what is right and good in the
sight of Adonai ..."
Initially, we might be inclined to
gloss over these two words thinking
they are building upon each other. We
might see them merely being placed
together for emphasis. Do what is
right and good. It seemingly makes
sense. But there is more.

The ancient rabbis argued that right
and good are not synonyms. Rather,
"good" is an extension of that which is
"right." In the 11th century, the great
commentator Rashi saw tremendous
value in this phrase here.
He taught that these two words
together represented a new command
not implied in any other mitzvah —
because that which is right and good
implies a compromise beyond the
letter of the law. In other
words, sometimes we must
go beyond the law, beyond
what is legally required of us
in order to do what is good.
Quite clearly, our tradi-
tion was telling us that
there are times when the
law is not enough. But even
more, sometimes the law is
too much. If doing what is
good remains our priority,
as it must, then the values
we uphold most tightly will remain
strong. However, if doing what is right
becomes our mission first and fore-
most, we may very well lose sight of
who we are and the inherent reason
that motivated the law in the first
place.
Our Judaism has evolved organically
over the centuries. In order to remain
relevant and contemporary, this reality
has been essential. It is a positive with
which our ancestors blessed us — the
ability to adapt and understand our
faith in the context of when and where
we live.
And through all the years, at its
core, our religion has been guided by
the importance in striving to be good.
As our world combats extremism on
all sides, this lesson, this reality is
something each of us could embrace a
little more clearly. Without a doubt, it
sure could help our world.
Our faith should continue to be not
just our reality, but an example to oth-
ers or as Isaiah reminded us, "a light
unto the nations" wherever we find
ourselves. El

Michael Moskowitz is a rabbi at Temple

Shir Shalom in West Bloomfield.

ttj

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