When All We Ever Wanted Was To Learn And Love And Grow ( Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia - "Days Between")

Fiftieth anniversaries are usually considered a pretty big deal. It is a time to look back and see how far the journey has been. It is a time to look back and see younger version, perhaps a more innocent, more naïve, and more foolish version of oneself. It is a time to look back and see those younger versions of ourselves when the world was full of possibility as opposed to a world full realizations and self awareness. Fiftieth wedding anniversaries are considered amazing accomplishments and the embodiment of commitment, devotion and love between two people. This summer is the fiftieth anniversary of the Summer of Love, a name given to the baby boomers that spent 1967 making a pilgrimage out west to California and specifically to my wife’s hometown of San Francisco. I can’t help but notice the irony of that Summer of Love fifty years later during this week.  One of the most influential musicians during the Summer of Love, Jerry Garcia,  would have been 75 this week and the anniversary of his death, his Yartzeit is next week. This was the week the Jewish People commemorated Tisha B’ Av, the destruction of the 1^st and 2^nd Holy Temples, as well as a myriad of other tragedies including the Spanish Inquisition.  I don’t recall every hearing about anything in Judaism that suggests anything like “The Summer of Love”. Instead, the Talmudic Rabbis remind us that the reason for the destruction of the 2^nd Temple was because of Sinat Chinam – Pure Hatred. Yet within their attempt to make sense of the national tragedy, these same Sages remind us that the Messiah was born on Tisha B’Av. From the pure hate that led to a national tragedy comes the possibility of goodness, holiness, and Pure Love.

This morning we read from Parsha V’Etchanan. V’Etchanan is always the Parsha that immediately follows Tisha B’Av.  The Parsha itself portrays B’nai Yisroel sitting intently and listening to Moshe's first discourse on the Law. Moshe re-iterates the covenant, the punishment of exile and the constant possibility of return. Moshe re-iterates the experience of revelation at Sinai as well as a re-statement of the Aseret Dibrot, the Ten Commandments. Moshe teaches this new generation that they heard the revelation, they witnessed the fire. And the fact that they sit on the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River is a testament to that fact. Moshe reminds this new generation that this Torah is perfect, one can interpret but we cannot add or subtract words. Instead we must struggle and make sense of every aspect of Torah. Moshe then introduces the lone piece of dogma in the entire Torah: Shema Yisroel Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad Hear O Israel the Lord is God the Lord is One. The Parsha concludes with Moshe strongly reminding B’nai Yisroel that as part of the Covenant it must reclaim the land. Once in the land, B’nai Yisroel is obligated to separate themselves from the other indigenous tribes and uphold the obligations of the covenant that God made with their ancestors.

Central to Moshe’s message is the transcendent power of the God’s Covenant at Mt. Horeb. The covenant was made with their ancestors, it is made now with this generation and it will be renewed with each and every generation. How often does Moshe use words like Sham listen; Shamor guard, keep (as in take care of something)? Then Moshe tells this generation V’Ahavta et Adoshem Elokecha – Love the Lord your God.  Moshe clarifies that this is accomplished through deed, B’Chol Levavcha U’Vechol Nafshecha U’vechol Meodecha – With all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your possessions. With every fiber of their being; by being completely committed to the relationship will they be able to enjoy the blessing from it.  Moshe understood that Love will be the key for this covenant to survive. When B’nai Yisroel loves God, it will listen cherish and keep all the means of expressing that love towards God. Moshe also reminds them what will happen when love wanes and they cease listening, cherishing, keeping and observing.

For Moshe, love was not just an emotion it was a source of energy. It was a constructive force.  Moshe also understood that Love was something that needed to be acted upon. Love was not for the passive.  The Aggadah that tells of Rabbi Akivah’s death, reciting these words while being tortured and ultimately dying are but the ultimate expression of love. What parent wouldn’t choose his/her own life in exchange for his/her child? Love isn’t a seasonal short term fleeting emotion such as just a summer. Rather, Love is every day, love is hard work, and love is commitment. Because Love is all those things, love transcends time.  So while ChaZaL,the Talmudic Sages, can say that the destruction of the 2^nd Temple was due to pure hatred; ChaZaL can also teach that from the fleeting, short term destructive nature of hatred comes love and its transcendent, constructive force of goodness, of holiness and of a future that focuses upon the possible.  Just as Moshe taught that love is transcendent and perhaps the most powerful force that can emanate from the soul; in this fiftieth anniversary of the Summer of Love, maybe our task as parents should be the same. Maybe Judaism never had a "Summer of Love" because we say "V'Ahavta et Adoshem Elokecha.... " twice a day to remind us that every day one should strive to love.

Peace,

Rav Yitz