דבר תורה נצבים - וילך

דבר תורה נצבים - וילך

 In this week’s Parsha, Moshe explains to Bnei Yisrael that the Mitzvot are not far away from us, that they are not as far as the heavens. Rather, they are very nearby to us - He says that they are in our mouth and in our heart, and we should observe them.

כִּֽי־קָר֥וֹב אֵלֶ֛יךָ הַדָּבָ֖ר מְאֹ֑ד בְּפִ֥יךָ וּבִֽלְבָבְךָ֖ לַעֲשֹׂתֽוֹ׃ דברים ל:יד

Why does he use these 3 words to describe how close the mitzvot are to us?

Rabbeinu Bachya comments that the pasuk mentions these 3 things because they are things that all of our Mitzvot encompass - our mouth, our heart and our actions.  There are some mitzvot that we do with our mouths - for example, learning Torah, saying Berachot and being polite to other people. There are other mitzvot that we do with our hearts, such as Tefila, which is called the worship of the heart, and fearing and loving Hashem come from the heart too.  In addition, there are other mitzvot that we do through actions. We visit the sick, we give Tzedekah and we blow the shofar.  Rabbeinu Bachya points out that these three words of our pasuk match up to the Mishna in Pirkei Avot 1:2.

שִׁמְעוֹן הַצַּדִּיק הָיָה מִשְּׁיָרֵי כְנֶסֶת הַגְּדוֹלָה. הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר,

 עַל שְׁלשָׁה דְבָרִים הָעוֹלָם עוֹמֵד, עַל הַתּוֹרָה וְעַל הָעֲבוֹדָה וְעַל גְּמִילוּת חֲסָדִים: אבות א:ב

There are three items on which the world stands - the Torah, the Avoda  (work), and Chessed.

When comparing this to what Moshe said, Torah is parallel to the Mouth, Avoda to the Heart, and Chasadim to our actions. These are the 3 pillars that the world stands on. These are the three things that Moshe said we need in order to complete all of the Mitzvot.

We need be careful how we use our mouth and speak about others. When we ride the bus every day, make sure that we are speaking nicely to people, and that everyone feels included by the words we use. We also should commit to doing more mitzvot that require our actions and use those actions to be kind and help others. During recess, make an extra effort to play with people that you don’t normally play with. Finally, as Rabbeinu Bachaya points out, the most important type of Mitzvah is one that is done with our hearts, the ones that touch on our emotions. We need to use our hearts when forgiving people, loving Torah and having a kind and warm heart for everyone. 

As we approach Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur we should consider to look at how we use our words, our actions, and our hearts. Having these three concrete aspects of what we do on a daily basis, can help us have a clearer way to prepare for the Yamim Noraim. 

Shabbat Shalom and Shana Tova,

Rabbi Steven Penn

**Question for further discussion - If Rabbeinu Bachaya feels that the “heart (וּבִֽלְבָבְךָ֖) is the most important then why is it the middle, and not first or last?