(יב) וְעַתָּה֙ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל מָ֚ה יי אֱלֹקֶ֔יךָ שֹׁאֵ֖ל מֵעִמָּ֑ךְ כִּ֣י אִם־לְ֠יִרְאָה אֶת־יי אֱלֹקֶ֜יךָ לָלֶ֤כֶת בְּכָל־דְּרָכָיו֙ וּלְאַהֲבָ֣ה אֹת֔וֹ וְלַֽעֲבֹד֙ אֶת־יי אֱלֹקֶ֔יךָ בְּכָל־לְבָבְךָ֖ וּבְכָל־נַפְשֶֽׁךָ׃ (יג) לִשְׁמֹ֞ר אֶת־מִצְוֺ֤ת יי וְאֶת־חֻקֹּתָ֔יו אֲשֶׁ֛ר אָנֹכִ֥י מְצַוְּךָ֖ הַיּ֑וֹם לְט֖וֹב לָֽךְ׃
(12) And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God demand of you? Only this: to revere the LORD your God, to walk only in His paths, to love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and soul, (13) keeping the LORD’s commandments and laws, which I enjoin upon you today, for your good.
(יב) ועתה ישראל. אף על פי שעשיתם כל זאת, עודנו רחמיו וחבתו עליכם, ומכל מה שחטאתם לפניו אינו שואל מכם כי אם ליראה וגו' :
(12) ועתה ישראל AND NOW, O ISRAEL, [WHAT DOTH THE LORD THY GOD ASK OF THEE] — Although you did all this, yet His mercy and His love are extended over you, and in spite of all that you sinned against Him, He asks nothing of you EXCEPT TO FEAR [THE LORD YOUR GOD, etc.].
(יב) ועתה ישראל מה וגו' כי אם ליראה וגו'. כוונת הכתוב היא על זה הדרך לפי שיש ב' הדרגות שחפץ יי מישראל עשות והם זו למעלה מזו. א' היא היראה, למעלה ממנה האהבה, ואמר להם שאינו מבקש מהם כי אם היראה, וטעם הדבר היא לפי שהיראה תסובב אתכם ללכת בכל דרכיו כי הירא לא יחדל מיראתו אפילו באחת מאלף שעליו לעשות...
AND NOW, O ISRAEL, [WHAT DOTH THE LORD THY GOD ASK OF THEE]...the meaning of the verse is that their are two modes of service, one greater than the other. The first, is called 'fear', the second, greater mode, 'love'. The rationale {for placing 'fear' prior to 'love' and 'only' requesting fear} is that fear acts to motivate and inspire service, irrespective of the demands placed on the one who serves...
Hanina said: Everything is in the hands of heaven except the fear of heaven as it says, “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear” (Deuteronomy 10:12). From here are we to conclude that fear is a small thing? Yes; for Moses our teacher it was a small thing. This is comparable to a man who was asked for a big vessel and who has it. To him it seems like a small thing, but if he is asked for a small vessel and he does not have it, it seems like a big thing.
Normal Mysticism
Scholar Max Kadushin wrote a dense, rich work called The Rabbinic Mind. In it he coins a wonderful name for the religious outlook of our sages: He called them "normal mystics." A normal mystic does not have hallucinatory visions of celestial glories. A normal mystic does not spend days and nights in ascetic pursuits, conjuring up some other, arcane realm of existence. A normal mystic is not a cave dweller practicing secret rituals. He is normal. Still the tag "mystic" remains. For a normal mystic is one who better sees, or feels, the shaping and guiding hand of Divinity in all things. No event, whether personal, political, or natural, is outside the realm of divine providential concern. The normal mystic is, in the phrase often used to describe the philosopher Spinoza, God intoxicated-drunk with the Divine. An awareness of God seeps into all the activities of human life until this unseen Presence is taken as the true foundation of being, more real than what we glibly dub reality. To see God in the everyday is the legacy of the Rabbis. Normal mysticism does not escape this world; it elevates it.
David J. Wolpe. Floating Takes Faith: Ancient Wisdom For A Modern World (Kindle Locations 246-252).
תניא היה רבי מאיר אומר חייב אדם לברך מאה ברכות בכל יום שנאמר (דברים י, יב) ועתה ישראל מה יי אלהיך שואל מעמך רב חייא בריה דרב אויא בשבתא וביומי טבי טרח וממלי להו באיספרמקי ומגדי
It was taught: R. Meir used to say, A man is bound to say one hundred blessings daily, as it is written, And now, Israel, what (mah) does the God require (literally, 'ask' of you? On Sabbaths and on Festivals. R. Hiyya the son of R. Awia endeavoured to make up this number by the use of spices
and delicacies.
Tony Kushner, Angels in America: Perestroika, Act 5, Scene 5
Prior: But still. Still
Bless me anyway.
I want more life. I can't help myself. I do.
I've lived through such terrible times, and there are people who live through much much worse, but...You see them living anyway.
When they're more spirit than body, more sores than skin, when they're burned and in agony, when flies lay eggs in the corners of the eyes of their children, they live. Death usually has to take life away. I don't know if that's just the animal. I don't know if it's not braver to die. But I recognize the habit. The addiction to being alive. We live past hope. If I can find hope anywhere, that's it, that's the best I can do. It's so much not enough, so inadequate, but...bless me anyway.
I want more life.
Rabbi Marcia Prager, The Path of Blessing, pg.12
When we look at small children, we see their sense of wonder, their openness to the miraculous. But we notice, as we grow habituated to the world and its daily pressures, that own moments of ecstatic delight diminish. When we allow all the daily miracles to be passed by, our openness to the abundance of divine blessing withers. We realize we have traded away our own aliveness and we long to find our way back. How strongly we need to counteract those daily life pressures.
This is the path of blessing.