Today's Torah portion begins with some of the most famous lines of the entire Torah. "See, this day I set before you blessing and curse: blessing, if you obey the Commandments of the Lord, your God, that I enjoin upon you this day; and curse, if you do not obey the Commandments of the Lord, your God."
The ability of each Jew to choose good or evil, involvement or indifference, piety or skepticism, is the cornerstone of the Torah and of Rabbinic Judaism. Without the presumption of the human ability to choose between obedience or rebellion, the whole notion of 'mitzvot' (commandments) makes no sense.
Judaism presupposes that we have the power to say "No" to God. A crucial component of our power to choose (which is not the same thing as saying that either choice is equally commendable) also involves the notion of reciprocity. Our choice implicates God.
The Rabbis of Midrash Devarim Rabbah pick up on that notion and used the web of 'midrash' to expand on it. They noted that the very end of last week's 'parashah' initiates the theme that this week's portion sustains. Just prior to our 'parashah,' the Torah records the instruction to "keep (shamor tishm'run) all this commandment that I command you."
The Rabbis note that the Hebrew verb 'shamor,' to keep or guard, is the same verb used to designate someone who safeguards the property of another, a bailee. They know that the Torah uses language with great precision, and that if God gives this command using 'shamor,' it must be to signify that the Torah, which is God's property, has been handed over to us for safe-keeping. We are the guardians of God's Torah.
If this is to be an even exchange, in which we guard something of God's and God guards something of ours, then what, they wonder, is God keeping on our behalf? Bar Kappara notes that, "The soul and the Torah are both compared to a lamp in the Bible. The soul, as it is written, "The soul of man is the lamp of the Lord," and the Torah, as it is written, "For the commandment is a lamp and the Torah is light."
Having established a parity between Torah and the human soul, since the Bible compares both of them to a lamp, Bar Kappara now makes the equation explicit. "God said to humanity, 'My light is in your hand, and your light is in mine. 'My light is in your hand,' refers to the Torah. 'Your light is in mine,' refers to the soul. 'If you guard My light, I will guard your light.' "
We can freely choose how well we want to tend to God's Torah. We can be faithful and reliable guardians, scrupulously cultivating the 'mitzvot' and molding our lives along the sacred paths of piety trod by our ancestors. Or we can allow our laziness, our shortcomings and our busyness to distract us from our true mission in life.
But God also has a choice. Just as God's Torah is in our hands, so our souls are in God's. What this 'midrash' suggests is that our choice will determine God's. If we are laudable in guarding God's lamp, the Torah, then God will respond with equal diligence in keeping our lamp, the soul. The reciprocity of response is in our hands. The 'midrash' highlights what pervades this week's Torah portion: a passion for the ancient love relationship between God and the Jewish people, coupled with a lofty sense of responsibility and seriousness of purpose.
We, the Jews, dictate the tone and degree of our commitment to God, and God becomes the passive partner in allowing us to establish the parameters of the relationship. The choice is ours: passion or indifference, eternal truths or passing fancies, a life liberated by holiness or squandered on the glitter of the present. The choice is yours. And God is waiting.
Shabbat Shalom!