Last week’s Torah reading featured the actual Shema, but this week, the root of that word repeats over and over. In many different forms, we read this word, meaning, “hear,” “heed,” or “listen.” It means something different in many of its occurrences, but it always connotes a certain type of listening. It’s a listening that isn’t just hearing, but a type of listening we are supposed to cultivate towards God. It’s a listening, primarily, that leads to action.
It’s an interested word choice to use for the way we obey God or the way that we connect to the mitzvot. It’s like in this one word we are told a whole set of instructions: hear, internalize, reflect, comprehend, do. This connection between hearing and doing is a profound one, particularly for this time of year. Parashat Eikev always comes right before Elul, the month in which we are meant to prepare for Rosh Hashanah. We are meant to be reflective and introspective and take a deep dive into who we’ve been in the past year and who we want to be in the future.
That process isn’t an easy one, and certainly isn’t one that happens with the flip of a switch. In many ways, we go through a similar process: think about who we’ve been, process, internalize, then act. From this week’s reading, I’m reminded that listening to God is often about listening to the holiest parts of ourselves. They are the parts of ourselves that are connected to something bigger than us, the parts that deeply know the work we need to do in the year ahead. May Shabbat bring each of us the truest things we need to hear.
