Teach to Love
Steven Kepnes
Colgate University
Devarim - Deuteronomy
Chapter 6: 1-11
1 Now this is the commandment-- the laws and the
rules-- which The LORD your God commanded, to teach
you, that you might do them in the land that you
are about to cross over to, to possess--
2 So that you might fear The LORD your God, to keep
all His statutes and His commandments, which I
command you--you, your child, and your grandchild--
all the days of your life; so that your days may be
lengthened.
3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and beware to do it;
that it may be well with you, and that you may
increase mightily, as The LORD, the G-d of your
fathers, hath promised you--a land flowing with
milk and honey.
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord Our God, The Lord Is
One.
5 And you shall love The LORD your God with all
your heart, and with all your soul, and with all
your might.
6 And these words, which I command you this day,
shall be upon your heart;
7 And you shall teach them diligently to your
children, and shall talk of them when you sit in
your house, and when you walk by the way, and when
you lie down, and when you rise up.
8 And you shall bind them for a sign upon your
hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your
eyes.
9 And you shall write them upon the doorposts of
your house, and upon your gates...
10 And it shall be, when the Lord your God shall
bring thee into the land which He swore unto thy
fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to
give you--great and goodly cities, which you did
not build,
11 and houses full of all good things, which you
did not fill, and cisterns hewn out, which you did
not hew, vineyards and olive-trees, which you did
not plant, and you shall eat and be satisfied.
One of the challenges of learning and teaching
scripture is to hear it anew and teach it so that it
can be received anew. Both teacher and learner need
to break open presuppositions about the meaning of
the scriptures that have been built up by repetitive
hearings in houses of prayer and by a variety of
"scientific" approaches to this texts. Franz
Rosenzweig and Martin Buber saw this as a major
challenge in their attempt to translate the Hebrew
Bible into German.� They came up with a peculiar
German that was consciously laced with Hebraisms in
the hope that readers could "place themselves anew
before the renewed book."[1] The Society of
Scriptural Reasoning affords us another type of
opportunity for new hearing, new learning and
teaching, as we see and hear our scriptures through
the eyes and ears of others for whom our own texts
are truly new. The act of teaching and learning the
Torah as Jews, along with Muslims and Christians,
necessarily places the texts in a different light.�
Learning the well-known text along-side and with
others, the meaning of a verse of Torah suddenly is
no longer so clear. New questions and problems arise,
one alternatively becomes embarrassed and proud, and
thus the text that formerly was so familiar, is again
foreign and opaque. Like all real symbols, the
meaning of scripture then becomes as Peter Ochs
following C.S. Peirce has described it,
"indeterminate" and � "vague." �� And we as
scriptural reasoners come together as a new �
"interpretant," an interpretive community that is
called to renegotiate what the text might mean for
the present context.[2]� Since we are reading
scripture, we want to retain some sense that the text
has a normative priority for us.� Given this
priority, which is at once moral and spiritual, we
must address the question of how we can use the text
in our lives. How can the text be a source of healing
for us as Jews, Christians, and Muslims?� And how can
it bring hope to our conflict-ridden world?
For this, our first SSR session in the regular
program of the AAR, I have assigned myself the task
of rereading one of the most well known texts for
Jews. � Deuteronomy 6 includes the Shema, �
"Hear O Israel" (6:4) prayer that has been called the
"doxology of Judaism." This prayer, which is a
statement of God's oneness, is said twice a day in
communal worship.� It is recited before going to
sleep and its words are to be the last that are
uttered before death.� The words of the Shema are
written on parchment and placed in the
tefillin or phylacteries that are worn in
morning prayer. The words are also placed in small
boxes, mezzuzot, so that they can be attached
to the doorpost of every Jewish home as a signifying
marker--here lives a Jew. The verses that follow the
Shema, the v'ahavtah, which demand love of
God, are almost as well known as the Shema as they
are said immediately following the Shema and are also
placed in the tefillin and mezuzah.��
Given the ubiquity of the Shema and the
v'ahavtah in Judaism, I have chosen them as a
test case to see if and how the SSR might allow me
and our other Jewish participants to find new meaning
and new applications for the words today.� I also
hope to see how the words resonate in the ears of
Christian and Muslim participants in our SR
session.�� Beyond this, the Shema and the
v'ahavtah specifically address our theme of
teaching and learning scripture and thus they pick up
on themes that were introduced by Mike Higton in his
discussion of the Gospel of Mark and Vincent Cornell
in his discussion of the Qur'an.���
For my analysis I will follow our general
procedure in SSR. This means that we start with a
presentation of the "pshat" or plain sense of
the text. I will then attempt to open a space for the
second level of interpretation in which we form a
hermeneutical community and discuss, collectively,
the meanings of the text for us. � There are, of
course, many ways to discuss the pshat.� We
could employ philological analysis, historical
criticism, form criticism, or traditional exegesis.��
What I try to do however, is to map out the implicit
form of reasoning that I find in the text itself with
an eye to its place in what George Lindbeck has
called the "cultural-linguistic system" of
Judaism.[3] This will involve me in
a largely "intratextual analysis" of the text of the
Shema and v'ahavtah, first in the context of
Deuteronomy 6 in which it appears in the Torah and
then in the context of Jewish liturgy where the text
is regularly recited.� Throughout this analysis, I
will pause and, through the use of capital letters,
set off a second order of comments and questions for
us as the SR community of interpreters.� Here I will
attempt to raise questions and open spaces which I
hope we, as a collective group, will explore for our
practice of group study. ��
An Intratextual Analysis of the Shema and
V'Ahavtah with Suggestions for Scriptural
Reasoners
Deuteronomy 6 is about a series of "crossings
over," a series of transformations. � Following our
theme of learning and teaching the chapter maps a
movement from ignorance to knowledge, from knowing to
doing, from learning to teaching. Deuteronomy 6 is
about a kind of knowing that is placed on and within
the mind, body and soul, so that the teaching not
only becomes a form of life but that life itself
becomes a kind of sign or teaching or witness.�
Deuteronomy 6 is about a special kind of knowing that
is also a kind of joy. This joy extends life and
spirit and therefore brings concrete bodily rewards.
Deuteronomy 6 is about God. It includes a scriptural
theology through which God appears as feared
commander, as teacher, as lover, as beloved, as
parent, but also as utterly transcendent and unique.
So in this piece of scripture God too is dynamic and
consistently transformed and this is the clue to our
own transformation.
In this first line of Deuteronomy 6 we have the
major themes of the chapter. �
Now this is the commandment�the laws and the
rules�which The LORD your God commanded, to teach
you, that you might do them in the land that you
are about to cross over to, to possess.
There is a bit of unclarity about the meaning of
"the commandment," ha-mitsvah. � Given in the
singular, it is perhaps a metonymic expression for
all mitsvot, all the "laws and rules;" but it could
also refer to the central commandment of the chapter,
which comes in line 5�"You shall love the Lord your
God..." It is interesting and important too, that the
commandment comes first and then the teaching. This
seems to say that whether Israel; has understood or
not, Israel is first commanded.� Thus, Israel
responds when it first receives the Torah in Exodus
"naaseh v nishmah," we will do [first] and
[then] understand (Ex 24:3).
We have taken this as one of the procedural
methods of Scriptural Reasoning. We start by doing
Scriptural Reasoning and move toward understanding
what we did as we recollect, reflect upon, and
organize what already happened. The issue of sequence
is addressed further in the verse, so let us now
attend to it.
The sequence is: command, teach, do, cross over,
possess.�� I am particularly interested in the
relation of teaching and doing because this relation
seems to me to be the central directive of scriptural
pedagogy. � Scripture sits at the nexus of teaching
and action and its task is to bring to two together.
Like wisdom sitting daily at the gates (Proverbs 8:35
), scripture cries out to both the mind and body: you
must come together around and through me.� But why
does scripture cry out and command this? Why does it
repeat the message to bring wisdom and action
together incessantly? It must be because learning to
do [lilmod laasot] what is good is not
easy.
[As Paul says, "For I do not do the good that I
want" - Romans 7:19.]
It is indeed, the hardest "crossing over" or
transformation that Israel is called to do.�� But the
verse assures that it is worth it because the reward
is real and concrete. � When learning and doing come
together the reward is a crossing over to the
promised land. And this reward is not a fleeting
thing but a concrete reality that can be
possessed!
But reading Deuteronomy 6:1 with Muslims and
Christians today leads me to pause over the meaning
of th ereward of "The Land" and the meaning of
"possessing it." This reference is clearly one of
many biblical warrants that Jews look to establish
their claim to the land of Israel. Yet it is
interesting how the claim is couched in relation to
the doing of mitzvot and to fear of God. Also
beginning with verse 6:3 a dynamic arises where the
land becomes idealized as "flowing with milk and
honey." This theme is pushed in 6:10-11 so that the
land is not earned as a reward for doing mitzvot or
as the result of the human work of building, but
becomes a pure gift which Israel receives despite the
fact that she did no work, no building, hewing,
planting, etc.! Is this the grace that Paul will make
so much of? Is there a parallel in the
Qur'an?
But to return my pshat reading...let us look at
verse 6: 2. Here, it seems that the sequence:
command, teach, do, crossover, possess, is now
interpreted toward a theological meaning. Thus the
text seems to say you must learn to do the
commandment... "So that you might fear the LORD your
God." ��� Verse 2 calls Israel back to the beginning
of the process; what it is that God as teacher is
teaching. And it is restated well in Proverbs. "Fear
of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom (1:7)"��
We might well pause now to consider what the
meaning of "fear of God" is, especially since our
modern interpreters so quickly want to dispense with
the term by transforming it into awe or respect or
reverence (see Jewish Publication Society Tanakh
translation).
A plain sense reading of the consequences of "fear
of the Lord" seems to be that it leads to a
broadening and intensification of the sequence in
verse one.� Thus, Israel must "Beware,"
sh,mor, or, be careful to do it.� And the
reward is children and grandchildren, a lengthening
of days, (v 2) and a "mighty increase" both in
descendents of the people Israel and the land now
described as "flowing with milk and honey."
Hear therefore, O Israel, and beware to do it; that
it may be well with you, and that you may increase
mightily, as The LORD, the God of your fathers,
hath promised you--a land flowing with milk and
honey.
There is much that could be said about the
admittedly difficult term "fear of God" but picking
up on the Proverbs image of wisdom who sits at the
gate, I would suggest that the "Fear of the God" is a
passage that must be traversed and a teaching that
must be learned. For only from here can we begin the
next even more difficult task and that is to approach
the realization of the Lord's oneness and to come to
the gate of� "love of God."
So now we are here at verse 4, perhaps the central
verse of all of Torah. � The verse referred to in
Judaism by its first word: "Shema" or Hear!" We
already had this word in verse three, so the
repetition of the term tolls out like a bell. As if
to startle and shake Israel up, the scripture calls
out "HEAR!" "Hear O Israel" For the problem is that
Israel hears but does not really listen.
Hear O Israel, The Lord Our God, The Lord Is One.
This is the fundamental statement of Torah. It
declares first that the Lord is "our" God, thereby
bringing God closer to the people Israel and then
declaring God's oneness. The Rabbi's understand the
oneness of God to mean not only one in the numerical
sense, but more importantly, in the sense that the
Lord is unique, set apart, alone, unlike anything
else. And this thereby establishes again God's
distance from humans.� But from this distance the one
God commands what seemingly cannot be commanded,
love. Fear, respect, reverence can be commanded, but
love? And the type of love that God demands is not
simple but unconditional, total. ��
And you shall love The LORD your God with all your
heart, and with all your�soul, and with all your
might.
Here, the unique one makes himself vulnerable.
v'ahavtah: Love me! Here, the utterly
transcendent one asks us for what is most intimate
and personal. � The infinite distance collapses to be
replaced by an infinite demand for what is most
close. The unique one makes his aloneness a
detriment; emptiness, a loneliness that requires and
demands that the finite and mortal ones, fill it with
the only claim humans have to infiniteness, their
ability to love.� But God's infinite demand for our
love leaves us with a great question and a greater
challenge. How? How do we love you?� Here scripture
moves in to provide an answer.
And these words, which I command you this day,
shall be upon your heart; And you shall teach them
diligently unto your children, and shall talk of
them when you sit in your house, and when you walk
by the way, and when you lie down, and when you
rise up.
Place the words of the Shema and v'ahavtah
in that spot between your mind and heart (for the
Hebrew word "lev" is equally mind and heart)
and think with your mind and heart about the words.
Let them be there constantly, tolling within you like
the beating of your heart. Become a teacher of these
words.
Here, we have a crossing over from God as teacher
in verse 1 to humans as teachers. And scripture seems
to be saying what we, as teachers, know-- that we
only really come to know a thing when we teach it!
Before teaching it, knowing is abstract, as we teach
it, we come to know it more deeply.
But whom are humans told to teach the words of the
Lord's oneness and love of God to? "Teach these words
to your children." Knowledge of the love of God is a
certain kind of knowledge, a knowledge that needs to
be taught with and through love.
Mike Higton suggests that the giving of this
knowledge requires the relationship of discipleship.
This seems to be a logical extension of the
parent-child relationship. But Scripture seems to
both include disciples and students and yet go well
beyond them to everyone we meet "on our way."
... And you shall talk of them [the words "The Lord
is One...Love God"] when you sit in your house,
when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and
when you rise up.
Let us pause here to consider this commandment.
Let us reflect on how difficult it is. Here, Torah
asks humans to speak of the Lord's oneness and love
of God at virtually all times. Here, Torah multiplies
the notion of Mitzvah as fulfilling a positive
commandment [eating Matzah] or refraining from doing
a negative commandment [not eating leaven bread[ to a
vague and infinite requirement to repeat [shinantem]
words of the Lord's oneness and love of God
continually. Like many of the parables that Mike
points us to and the very meaning of the presence of
Jesus on earth, the meaning of the command to "talk
of the words" is hard to assign. I could quote Mike
directly here. "It does not consist in any kind of
learning as accumulation. It does not consist in any
kind of learning as acquisition of a skill..." Is
fulfilling this commandment gained by teachign of the
words of Scripture in general? Isn't all Scripture
finally boiled down to "The Lord is One, Love
God?"
Without trying to compromise the infinite demand
of the commandment, it will behoove us to look at
what the Rabbis do with the commandment. Like any
social group when faced with a vague rule, the Rabbis
interpret and shape the rule so that it is useful and
productive for their society. Thus, the commandment
to speak of and teach the words of the Shema and the
v'ahavtah are interpreted liturgically. And
Israel then recites/ sings these words twice a day,
at night (when you lie down) and in the morning (when
you rise up). And the commandment "you shall bind
them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for
frontlets between your eyes" also is interpreted
liturgically or ritually.� For the words of the Shema
and the v'ahavtah are written on parchment and
placed in the Tefillin or Phylacteries and worn on
the arm, hand, and head of the worshippers as they
say the words in morning prayers. Finally, placing
the words in small containers, mezzuzot, and
affixing them to doors of buildings and city gates
fulfill the command "you shall write them upon the
door-posts of your house, and upon your gates". In
this way communal space in which the words "The Lord
is One...Love God" are continually uttered are marked
out and doors and gates become themselves beacons and
signs of the Lord's oneness and the love of God.
The liturgical rendering of the command to say and
teach the Shema and v'ahavtah at once tames
and renders humanly useful the infinite commandment.�
In the confines of the community and the set apart
sacred space of worship, the statement of the Lord's
oneness and the love of God can take flight in the
communal chant. � The liturgical moment allows for
concentration and reflection on the words. The
architecture, the garments of prayer, the ambiance of
serenity and seriousness, help to keep away
distractions and allow for focus. The liturgical
recitation of the words brings them into the mind and
heart of the worshipper. The beauty of the melodies
and eros of the communal singing brings the
Shekhinah, the presence of God, close and
opens up a path for love of God. Wearing the Tefillin
places the words on the body so that the body becomes
itself a marker, a sign of the Shema and a display of
the v'ahavtah: The Lord is One...You shall
love God....
Having uttered the words in liturgy, have been
marked by the words on her body, the worshipper now
walks out through the door that is marked by the
words "The Lord is One, Love God" into the space
whose gates are also marked by the words. � Walking
about in this space according to the way to walk
given by the halakhah becomes a matter of
doing the commandment to love. The words of scripture
are thus both inside and outside, the person and the
world are transformed through signs of God that are
everywhere.
The Lord is One; Love God...The Lord is One, Love
God. The Lord is One, Love God... "And you shall
eat and be satisfied." (6:11).
What is the meaning of these words to us as
Scriptural Reasoners? Are these words appropriate
only to the liturgical context? Are the words of the
Lord's Oneness and Love of God appropriate to the
world outside of our own religious communities?
Knowing the destructive history of missionizing and
holy wars, can we speak these words in the public
sphere without destroying the openness and freedoms
that modernity has sought to win? Isn't it
modernity's gift of the open public square that
allows for SR's open dialogue to occur in the first
place?
Can we see our own SR interpretive process as a
kind of liturgical practice that transforms us and
has transformative implications for our own religious
and academic communities? Is there a way to bring the
words of Scriptural Reasoning outside of our own
tents of meeting into the larger world? And what
abotu the AAR, or professional organization for the
academic study of religion, what place do words of
scriptural reasoning have here?
ENDNOTES
[1] Martin Buber and Franz
Rosenzweig, Scripture and Translation,
Lawrence Rosenwald and Everett Fox Trans and Eds.
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994) 7.
[2] Peter Ochs, Peirce,
Pragmatism and the Logic of Scripture
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998).
[3] George Lindbeck, The
Nature of Doctrine (Philadelphia: Westminster
Press, 1984).
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