In Parashat Vaetchanan, Moses recounts the giving of the law at Mount Horeb, or Sinai. “The LORD spoke to you out of the fire; you heard the sound of words but perceived no shape—nothing but a voice” (Deuteronomy 4:12).
Elsewhere in the portion, Moses recalls how he pleaded with God to be allowed into the holy land. God denied his request, and as if to add salt to the wound, told Moses, “Go up to the summit of Pisgah and gaze about … Look at it well, for you shall not go across yonder Jordan” (Ibid 3:27).
Parashat Vaetchanan thus centers itself around two unique sensory experiences.
For the Israelites, an experience of hearing without seeing.
For Moses, an experience of seeing without touching.
The difference in the quality of these experiences (for the Israelites, all-encompassing immanence; for Moses, unbreachable distance) is evidence of how the organs of our senses shape our perception of reality, each in its unique way. Experientially, vision is a casting forward of the gaze. Looking upon a star in the sky, for instance, we do not feel that our eye has been touched by a drop of light from the heavens—though indeed this is what has occurred. Rather, we feel that our eyes have sailed out into the deep dark, encountering the star where it is.
Sound, on the other hand, feels as though it comes to us. For this reason, it is the thunder that frightens young children during a storm—not the bolt of lightning that lights up the horizon.
Our senses are not, then, unbiased reporters of reality as it is in itself. The world is created for us through the senses—it flashes into being upon our retinas, it is given voice in our ears, it acquires taste and scent in the throat and in the nostrils, and finds form and texture against our fingertips.
Imbued with primal creative power, our senses are thus a clear example of how we are created in the image of God.
After Moses tells of these two incidents, he moves onto a separate but deeply connected matter. He warns the Israelites in stark terms, perhaps the most stringent in the entire Torah, against making graven idols or even artistic representations of anything on earth. The fashioning of an image—something that resembles one of God’s creations, but which is devoid of subjectivity and soul—is portrayed here as a unique spiritual danger.
Idols are described as that which “cannot see or hear or eat or smell” (Ibid 4:28). In a portion that emphasizes the divinely creative power of the senses, idolatry is revealed as a sin of senselessness.
In a portion that emphasizes the divinely creative power of the senses, idolatry is revealed as a sin of senselessness.
Idols are senseless. And the danger they present to us is that we will become senseless as well. As we are warned in Psalm 115, “all who trust in them, shall become like them.”
Moses predicts that the Israelites will someday stray. They will chase after inert gods, idols of wood and metal. God, however, will remain close at hand, ready to receive them in repentance.
“If you search there for the LORD your God, you will find Him, if only you seek Him with all your heart and soul” (Ibid 4:29).
Herein lies the great paradox of this portion. Idols, insensate, can be perceived only through the senses. The living God, on the other hand, is best perceived through the organ of the heart.
Perhaps this is the hidden reason why the Israelites listened and didn’t look—why Moses looked but didn’t touch.
Deprived of one sense, the heart was awakened to that which cannot be perceived by the senses alone.
Matthew Schultz is the author of the essay collection “What Came Before” (2020). He is a rabbinical student at Hebrew College in Newton, Massachusetts.
Vaetchanan Unscrolled: A Sin of Senselessness
Matthew Schultz
In Parashat Vaetchanan, Moses recounts the giving of the law at Mount Horeb, or Sinai. “The LORD spoke to you out of the fire; you heard the sound of words but perceived no shape—nothing but a voice” (Deuteronomy 4:12).
Elsewhere in the portion, Moses recalls how he pleaded with God to be allowed into the holy land. God denied his request, and as if to add salt to the wound, told Moses, “Go up to the summit of Pisgah and gaze about … Look at it well, for you shall not go across yonder Jordan” (Ibid 3:27).
Parashat Vaetchanan thus centers itself around two unique sensory experiences.
For the Israelites, an experience of hearing without seeing.
For Moses, an experience of seeing without touching.
The difference in the quality of these experiences (for the Israelites, all-encompassing immanence; for Moses, unbreachable distance) is evidence of how the organs of our senses shape our perception of reality, each in its unique way. Experientially, vision is a casting forward of the gaze. Looking upon a star in the sky, for instance, we do not feel that our eye has been touched by a drop of light from the heavens—though indeed this is what has occurred. Rather, we feel that our eyes have sailed out into the deep dark, encountering the star where it is.
Sound, on the other hand, feels as though it comes to us. For this reason, it is the thunder that frightens young children during a storm—not the bolt of lightning that lights up the horizon.
Our senses are not, then, unbiased reporters of reality as it is in itself. The world is created for us through the senses—it flashes into being upon our retinas, it is given voice in our ears, it acquires taste and scent in the throat and in the nostrils, and finds form and texture against our fingertips.
Imbued with primal creative power, our senses are thus a clear example of how we are created in the image of God.
After Moses tells of these two incidents, he moves onto a separate but deeply connected matter. He warns the Israelites in stark terms, perhaps the most stringent in the entire Torah, against making graven idols or even artistic representations of anything on earth. The fashioning of an image—something that resembles one of God’s creations, but which is devoid of subjectivity and soul—is portrayed here as a unique spiritual danger.
Idols are described as that which “cannot see or hear or eat or smell” (Ibid 4:28). In a portion that emphasizes the divinely creative power of the senses, idolatry is revealed as a sin of senselessness.
Idols are senseless. And the danger they present to us is that we will become senseless as well. As we are warned in Psalm 115, “all who trust in them, shall become like them.”
Moses predicts that the Israelites will someday stray. They will chase after inert gods, idols of wood and metal. God, however, will remain close at hand, ready to receive them in repentance.
“If you search there for the LORD your God, you will find Him, if only you seek Him with all your heart and soul” (Ibid 4:29).
Herein lies the great paradox of this portion. Idols, insensate, can be perceived only through the senses. The living God, on the other hand, is best perceived through the organ of the heart.
Perhaps this is the hidden reason why the Israelites listened and didn’t look—why Moses looked but didn’t touch.
Deprived of one sense, the heart was awakened to that which cannot be perceived by the senses alone.
Matthew Schultz is the author of the essay collection “What Came Before” (2020). He is a rabbinical student at Hebrew College in Newton, Massachusetts.
Did you enjoy this article?
You'll love our roundtable.
Editor's Picks
Israel and the Internet Wars – A Professional Social Media Review
The Invisible Student: A Tale of Homelessness at UCLA and USC
What Ever Happened to the LA Times?
Who Are the Jews On Joe Biden’s Cabinet?
You’re Not a Bad Jewish Mom If Your Kid Wants Santa Claus to Come to Your House
No Labels: The Group Fighting for the Political Center
Latest Articles
Gaza Masquerade Parties Can’t Mask Ugliness
By Putting Feelings Before Truth, Universities Created a Time Bomb
Taste Buds with Deb Celebrates One Year, A Triple Chai of Eps
The Nazis at George Washington U.
Elisha Wiesel and the Elie Wiesel Foundation Host Disrupting Uyghur Genocide Conference
John Ondrasik, Jonah Platt Highlight AJC, ADL Press Briefing at UCLA Hillel
Culture
Chico Menashe: Asif: Culinary Institute of Israel, Cooking with Chutzpah and The Open Kitchen Project
Welcome Back, Carbs!
A Perfect Pair of Confits
‘The Enemy Beside Me’: Can the Truth of Lithuania Holocaust History Be Told in Lithuania to Lithuanians and By Lithuanians?
Shabbat Prayer for Our College Students and Ourselves
1,400 Yizkors
In their memory, we must declare: Am Yisrael Chai.
Being Good is Easier to Resist than Sweezy vs New Hampshire
A Bisl Torah – Souls Connected
It is each soul connected to each other that enables the dwelling of God.
All the Fish in the Sea – A poem for Parsha Acharei Mot
There are plenty of fish in the sea …
Hollywood
Spielberg Says Antisemitism Is “No Longer Lurking, But Standing Proud” Like 1930s Germany
Young Actress Juju Brener on Her “Hocus Pocus 2” Role
Behind the Scenes of “Jeopardy!” with Mayim Bialik
Podcasts
Chico Menashe: Asif: Culinary Institute of Israel, Cooking with Chutzpah and The Open Kitchen Project
Beth Lee: OMG Yummy, Exciting Flavors and Preserved Lemons
More news and opinions than at a
Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.