Yitro
Reflection by Or HaLev US Community Manger Carrie Watkins:
“This week’s parsha witnesses the Israelites receiving the Torah. The people respond to hearing the commandments with a curious benediction. In one voice, they say נעשה ונשמע, na’aseh v’nishma, 'we will do and we will listen!' (Exodus 24:7).
A Midrash is told in the Talmud, that when the Israelites chanted this line together, The Voice of God spoke aloud, `Who revealed this secret to my children? This is the language of ministering angels!` (Shabbat 88). In other words, who told humans this secret of the angels?
What exactly does na’aseh v’nishma mean, and what is so angelic secret about it?
In a complex and beautiful teaching, the early Chasidic Master the Meor Eynaim weaves together an answer to these questions, by reinterpreting each word. Na’aseh, we will do, he says means avodah, holy service, spiritual work. And nishma doesn’t just mean we will hear. It means to understand, like in the story of Joseph meeting his brothers, when he understands their language and they didn’t know, it says `ki shomea yosef,` `and Joseph understood` (Gen 42:23).
So, according to the Meor Eynaim, na’aseh v’nishma can actually be translated as something more like, `we will do the tough spiritual work, and then we will come to understanding.`
And what is the tough spiritual work? The Meor Eynaim flips the midrash on its head. When the heavenly voice says `Who revealed this secret to my children,` the Meor Eynaim, I can only imagine with a twinkle in his eye, shares that God wasn’t actually asking a question. God was making a statement. It is asking the question `Who?` that revealed the secret of the angels to the people of Israel. The people asked `Who are we?` And then engaged with the avodah of responding to that question by cultivating their own awareness. That cultivation is our avodah, our service. Through that, we can come to greater levels of understanding.
And what is this understanding? That is for each of us to discover.
May our mindfulness practice this week reveal a little more of our own who-ness, and may we each find moments of new understanding.”