תָּמִים תִּֽהְיֶה עִ֖ם יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ׃
שִׁוִּיתִי יְהוָה לְנֶגְדִּי תָמִיד:
וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ:
בְּכָל-דְּרָכֶיךָ דָעֵהוּ;
הַצְנֵעַ לֶכֶת, עִם-אֱלֹהֶיךָ
תשובה
Five biblical verses convey the essence of Judaism:
"You must be wholehearted with the Eternal your God" (Deut18:13).
"I have set the Eternal always before me" (Psalms 16:8).
"You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Lev 19:18).
"In all your ways acknowledge [God]" (Prov 3:6).
"To walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8)
In Hebrew, the opening letters of these verses form the word תשובה, teshuva, repentance.
- Chasidic Anthology, p.390, n. 5,
IN The Torah: A Modern Commentary, edited by Gunther Plaut. Union of American Hebrew Congregations, 1981
(now Union of Reform Judaism)
There’s a beautiful chasidic teaching that says there are five most important mitzvot in the entire Jewish tradition, and the first is actually from this week’s portion:
Tamim tihiyeh. Be wholehearted with God. (Deuteronomy 18:13)
Shiviti Adonai. Always place God before you. (Psalms 16:8)
V’ahavta l’reiecha kamocha. Love your neighbor as yourself. (Leviticus 19:18)
B’chol drachecha da’eihu. Wherever you go recognize God. (Proverbs 3:6)
Hatzneia lechet im Elohecha. Walk humbly with God. (Micah 6:8)
Together these five teachings constitute a gestalt, in the form of an acrostic. The first letter of each of those teachings — Tov, Shin, Vav, Vet, Heh — spell the Hebrew word, teshuvah, the Jewish concept of Return or Repentance.
This week we begin the month of Elul, the month in which we practice behaviors urging us to return to our holiest selves.
Our Torah portion calls out: “The human being is the tree of the field!”
Are we helping or hurting? Are we using words lovingly or harshly? Are we helping ourselves grow or cutting ourselves down?
Midrash Rabbah teaches that every blade of grass has its own angel, nudging it from heaven and whispering to it, “Grow, grow.”
Welcome to the month of Elul: A season in which we, like blades of grass — like the tree of the field — return again, moving toward creation, as our tradition whispers to us: Grow.
Full commentary, "Grow, Grow," by Rabbi Matthew V. Soffer at My Jewish Learning
תמים תהיה, whole-hearted to the extent that you will not even try and gain information about future events except through an authentic prophet.
פעם אחת הייתי מהלך בדרך מצאני אדם אחד ובא אצלי בדרך (עסק) מצות והיה בו מקרא ולא היה בו משנה ואמר לי רבי מקרא נתן לנו מהר סיני משנה לא נתן לנו מהר סיני ואמרתי לו בני מקרא ומשנה שניהם מפי הגבורה נאמרו. ומה בין מקרא למשנה אלא משלו משל למה"ד למלך ב"ו שהיה לו שני עבדים והיה אוהבן אהבה גדולה ונתן לזה קב חטין ולזה קב חטין ולכ"א מהן נתן ג"כ אגודה של פשתן הפקח שבהן נטל את הפשתן וארג מפה יפה ונטל את החטין ועשאן סולת ובררה וטחנה ולשה ואפאה וסדרה על השלחן ופרס עליה מפה יפה והניחו עד שבא המלך והטפש שבהן לא עשה כלום. לימים בא המלך לתוך ביתו ואמר להם לשני עבדיו בני הביאו לי מה שנתתי לכם אחד מהן הוציא את הפת של סולת על השולחן ומפה היפה פרוסה עליו ואחד מהן הוציא את החטין בקופה ואגודה של פשתן עליהם אוי לה לאותה בושה ואוי לה לאותה חרפה איזה מהן חביב יותר הוי אומר זה שהוציא פת על השלחן ומפה יפה פרוסה עליו.
One time I was walking on the way. A man found me, and went with me on the way of mitzvot, and he had mikra (ie: written law) but no mishnah (ie: oral law). And he said to me, "Rabbi, mikra was given to us from Mount Sinai. Mishnah was not given to us from Mount Sinai." And I said to him, "My son, mikra and mishnah were both of them said from the mouth of God." And what is the difference between mikra and mishnah? Rather he told him a parable: To what is this matter similar? To a human king (lit: a king of flesh and blood) who had two servants, and he loved them with a great love. And he gave to one a kab (a measure) of wheat and to the other kab of wheat. And he also gave to each one of them a bundle of flax. The wise one of them took the flax and wove a beautiful cloth, and took the wheat and made it into fine flour, and sifted it, and ground it, and kneaded it, and baked it, and set it on the table, and spread the beautiful cloth over it, and left it there until the king should come. And the fool of them did nothing. After some time the king came into his house, and said to them, to his two servants, "My sons, bring to me what I gave you." One of them brought out the bread of fine flour, on the table, with the beautiful cloth spread over it. And the other of them brought out the wheat in a pile and the bundle of flax upon it. Woe for that shame! Woe for that disgrace! Which one is more favored? You must admit it is the one who brought out the bread on the table with the beautiful cloth spread over it.
And I further said...
"...Rather, when the Holy One Blessed Be He gave the Torah to Israel, it was only given to them as wheat from which to bring forth fine flour, and as flax from which to weave a garment..."