FEBRUARY 8 • 2024 | 43
that they were on a spiritual as well
as a physical journey and they might
not know all the details of the law at
once. Nishma here means not “to hear”
but “to hearken, to obey, to respond
faithfully in deed.”
3. “We will obediently do” (Sforno).
On this view the words na’aseh and nish-
ma are a “hendiadys,” that is, a single
idea expressed by two words. The
Israelites were saying that they would do
what God asked of them, not because
they were looking to benefit but simply
because they wanted to do His will. He
had saved them from slavery, led and
fed them through the wilderness, and
they wanted to show their complete
loyalty to Him as their redeemer and
lawgiver.
4. “We will do and we will under-
stand” (Isaac Arama in Akeidat
Yitzchak). The word nishma can have
the sense of “understanding.” According
to this explanation, when the Israelites
put doing before understanding, they
were giving expression to a profound
philosophical truth. There are cer-
tain things we can only understand by
doing. We only understand leadership
by leading. We only understand music
by listening. Reading books about these
things is not enough. So it is with faith.
We can only truly understand Judaism
through living by its commands. You
cannot comprehend a faith from the
outside. Doing leads to understanding.
A CLOSER LOOK
Staying with this interpretation, we may
be able to hear another important idea
here. If you look carefully at the book
of Shemot, chapters 19 and 24, you will
see that the Israelites accepted the cove-
nant three times. But the three verses in
which these acceptances took place are
significantly different:
1. The people all responded together,
“We will do [na’aseh] everything the
Lord has said.” (Shemot 19:8)
2. When Moses went and told
the people all the Lord’s words and
laws, they responded with one voice,
“Everything the Lord has said we will do
[na’aseh].” (Shemot 24:3)
3. Then [Moses] took the Book of
the Covenant and read it to the people.
They responded, “We will do and hear
[na’aseh ve-nishma] everything the Lord
has said.” (Shemot 24:7)
Only the third of these contains the
entire phrase na’aseh ve-nishma. And
only the third has no statement about
the people’s unanimity. Notice how the
first two emphasize that the people were
as one: the people “responded together”
and “responded with one voice.”
This suggests that when it comes to
action (na’aseh) we must be united.
However, there can be more than one
path to understanding our faith (nish-
ma).
THINKING MORE DEEPLY
At the level of na’aseh, the Jewish deed,
we are one. To be sure, there are dif-
ferences. In every generation there are
disagreements between leading poskim,
halachic authorities. That is true in
every legal system. Poor is the Supreme
Court that leaves no space for dissenting
opinions. Ashkenazim and Sefardim dif-
fer too. Yet these differences are insig-
nificant in comparison with the agreed
fundamentals of halachah.
This is what has historically united the
Jewish people. Judaism is a legal system.
It is a code of behavior. It is a commu-
nity of deed. That is where we require
consensus. Hence, when it came to doing
— na’aseh — the Israelites spoke “togeth-
er” and “with one voice.” Despite the
differences between Hillel and Shammai,
Abaye and Rava, Rambam and Rosh, R.
Yosef Karo and R. Moshe Isserles, we are
bound together by the choreography of
the Jewish deed.
At the level of nishma, understand-
ing, however, we are not called on to be
one. Judaism has had its rationalists and
its mystics, its philosophers and poets,
scholars whose minds were firmly fixed
on earth and saints whose souls soared
to heaven. The Rabbis famously said
that at Sinai, every person received the
revelation in their own way:
“‘And all the people saw’ (see Shemot
20:15) — they saw the sounds of sounds
and the flames of flames. How many
sounds were there and how many flames
were there? Each heard according to their
own level of understanding what they
were experiencing.” (Mechilta 20:15b)
What unites Jews, what should unite
us, is action not reflection. We do the
same deeds, but we may understand
them differently. There can be agree-
ment on the na’aseh but not the nishma.
That is what Rambam meant when
he wrote in his Commentary to the
Mishnah, that “When there is a dis-
agreement between the Sages and it
does not concern an action, but only the
establishment of an opinion (sevarah),
it is not appropriate to make a halachic
ruling in favor of one side.”
This does not mean that Judaism
lacks strong beliefs. It has very import-
ant tenets. The simplest formulation
consists of three fundamental beliefs:
in creation, revelation and redemption.
Rambam’s 13 principles elaborate this
basic structure. These three beliefs also
form the pattern of Jewish prayer.
Creation means seeing the universe
as God’s work. Revelation means see-
ing Torah as God’s word. Redemption
means seeing history as God’s deed
and God’s call. But within these broad
parameters, we must each find our own
understanding, guided by the Sages of
the past, instructed by our teachers in
the present, and finding our own route
to the Divine Presence.
Heresy-hunting is not our happiest
activity. One terrible episode of Jewish
history is the treatment of Rambam,
who was accused of heresy during his
lifetime, and after his death many of
his books were confiscated and burned.
These were shameful events.
Judaism is a matter of creed as well as
deed. But we should allow people great
leeway in how they understand the faith
of our ancestors. “We will do and we
will understand” means: we will do in
the same way; we will understand in our
own way.
I believe that action unites us, leaving
us space to find our own way to faith.
The late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks served as the
chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of
the Commonwealth, 1991-2013. His teachings have
been made available to all at rabbisacks.org.
QUESTIONS TO PONDER
1. How can the Jewish people be
united in action?
2. Can you think of examples of different
paths to faith within Judaism?
PHOTO BY ANASTASIYA BADUN ON UNSPLASH