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“This day,
G-d, commands you to perform these statutes and the laws (of
the Torah), and you shall observe and perform them with all
your heart and with all your soul (Deuteronomy 21:16).”
Moses
proclaimed this statement at the end of the fortieth year in
the desert as the Jewish Nation was about to enter Israel.
The
Medrash Tanchuma (Kee Tavo 1) asks, “This day”? The Torah
was given forty years earlier at Mount Sinai, just seven
weeks after leaving Egypt.
The
Tanchuma answers, “This day - On each day the Torah should
be cherished, as if you received it today on Mount Sinai.”
An individual should perform the commandments of the Torah
with the utmost love, as if he had just received the Torah.
Is this
realistic? The Torah was received three thousand three
hundred twenty years and a hundred and three days ago this
shabbat (9/20/08). How is possible to cherish its laws and
perform them as if we had just received the Torah today?
Rabeinu
BeChaya says that understanding the Torah was given on Mount
Sinai by G-d himself in front of three million people gives
a person the ability to cherish the Torah as if it was just
given to him no matter how much time has lapsed and the
external circumstances.
Just as
the Torah is the blueprint to the world and the key to a
fulfilling life, its laws are fresh and relevant to our
every day life. Once a person recognizes that such a gift is
directly from G-d to him, he can learn to cherish its laws
as if they were given today.
Shabbat
Shalom
Last
Year's Dvar Torah can be found at
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