Greetings All!!
I hope you’ll forgive me for taking a break from newsletters this summer. But I’m back now, for today (Monday) begins The Month of Preparation (Elul) for The Annual Review (Rosh Hashanah) on September 7. It’s once again time to wake ourselves up, in spite of a good month of lazy summer remaining, and get back to work on improving ourselves with God and His ways.
Torah Tidbit
Deuteronomy 4:1-11:25 (Parashas Vayeschanan and Eikev)
After reviewing their experiences since leaving Egypt, Moses delivers a heartfelt personal appeal to every Israelite to be vigilant for their own benefit:
“Only beware for yourself and greatly beware for your soul, lest you forget the things you have beheld and lest you remove them from your heart…”
“But you shall greatly beware for your souls, for you did not see any likeness on the day Hashem spoke to you at Horeb…”
“Beware for yourselves lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God…”
“…beware for yourself lest you forget Hashem…”
“Beware lest you forget Hashem, your God…”
“Beware for yourselves, lest your heart be seduced and you turn astray and serve gods of others…”
(Ibid 4:9, 4:15, 4:23, 6:2, 8:11, 11:16)
Walking the Walk
The Hebrew word for beware (“shemar”) is the same word used elsewhere for guarding something, such as “…if the Lord will not guard (shemar) the city, in vain is the watchman vigilant (shomer).” Why is the watchman watching? He is protecting the city’s possessions from being taken and the overthrow of the city’s ways of governing itself and its society’s modes of conduct. In other words, he is protecting the city’s wealth and its ways of living.
So it is with Israel – they have an incredible wealth of knowledge and first-hand experience as to God and His instructions for living life to its fullest. This wealth in turn dictates and guides how they are to govern themselves and behave as individuals and a society. No nation can overcome them if they protect and practice these ways of living; if not, their natural degeneracy creates a power vacuum that draws in conquering nations. Moses repeatedly stresses both the great wealth they have acquired and the need for active vigilance to retain and grow it.
We too have acquired a good amount of knowledge and experience through our study and application of God’s ways for us gentiles – the Noahide path. During this month of preparation take the time to look back over the past few years at what you have learned and acquired in mind, heart and soul. From Bloomenstiel’s lessons to Lapin’s prosperity to Brody’s emuna – value it, thank God for it, be inspired by it, renew your commitment to it. Then brainstorm with God about a simple way you can implement – and maintain – a change in how you receive and respond to a persistent annoyance in your life.
And Regarding Wealth…
“It would be thought a hard government that should tax its people one tenth part of their time, to be employed in its service. But idleness taxes many of us much more, if we reckon all that is spent in absolute sloth, or doing of nothing, with that which is spent in idle employments or amusements, that amount to nothing. Sloth,by bringing on diseases, absolutely shortens life. ‘Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than labor wears, while the used key is always bright’, as Poor Richard says. But ‘dost thou love life, then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of’, as Poor Richard says.”
– Benjamin Franklin, from “The Way to Wealth”, a narrative compiling many maxims on wealth from his “Poor Richard’s” Almanacs
Have a great week!
Neil