Sometimes it’s the parts of the Torah that we are most familiar with that we tend to overlook. I don’t think there’s one part of the Torah that is most important, but there is certainly one part that is the most familiar to many Jews. This week’s parsha, Va’etchanan, features the Shema. The first paragraph of the Shema commands us to love our God with all our heart, our soul, and our might, and it continues by saying, “these words I command you today shall be upon your heart.” (Deut. 6:6)
I’ve often grappled with what it means to feel these words upon our hearts, but I’ve not usually paid attention to why the Torah says that these words are commanded today. Wouldn’t the verse mean the same thing if it didn’t have the word today? Rashi teaches that today means that we shouldn’t view our connection to Torah as antiquated, such that no one pays attention to it, but as if each day these words are written, today. Each day, placed upon our hearts. Each day, they can excite us and inspire us and mean something new to us. Every day they are given that day.
We aren’t the same person that we were yesterday or that we will be tomorrow. So today means something. And the commandments that will touch our hearts, in the language of the Shema, might be different today than they were before.
I love the idea that each day we can find something different that speaks to our hearts. I love that every day is a different connection. It feels so appropriate to think about this at the beginning of the school year. All the kids are back in school, and it’s a reminder that every day is one where the words are commanded to us in a new way. Every new school year, with every new teacher and new classroom, every single day is an opportunity for us to feel the words being placed on our hearts.
The words are in my heart, in my soul, in my might, today. Not the same as yesterday. And perhaps tomorrow, it will mean something different, a new today.
