“Moshe Rabbeinu told the Jewish people,
“Today HASHEM has commanded you to fulfill all of the statues and laws. .
.” — Devarim 26:16
Rashi is troubled by Moshe’s use of the word
today, implying that HASHEM first commanded the Jews to do the
mitzvahs that day when in reality, HASHEM gave the Jewish people the
mitzvahs almost 40 years earlier.
Rashi answers this question by explaining that
Moshe was telling them that, “Every day, in your eyes, it should be as if
you were commanded in them today.” In other words, there
should be an excitement with which we do the mitzvahs, a freshness
and new energy, as if this was the first time that we are hearing about
them.
How can the Torah expect it to still be new?
This Rashi is difficult to understand because
we know that for every experience, there is a first time. The first time may
be the best time, but there is only one first time. When something is new,
it is original, exciting, and fresh, but that newness quickly fades; the
excitement wanes. The value of the experience isn’t any less, but that
certain crisp newness is gone. That is a reality of life. So how can the
Torah expect the Jewish people to look at old mitzvahs as if they
were given that day, when it just isn’t so? And how can the Torah expect me
today, thousands of years after the mitzvahs were given, to view each
mitzvah as if this is the very first time that I am fulfilling it?
The answer to this question lies in
understanding certain tools that HASHEM gave to man.
The power of imagination
If you remember reading a well-written novel
as a child, you may have found yourself somewhere you had never been before.
You might have been brought to the 17th century as a pirate
sailing the seven seas. There you were, out on the ocean with the buck and
the sway of the waves, fighting off your enemy as he tried to board your
ship. The sun glinting in your eyes, you pulled your sword from its
scabbard, prepared for the battle. The enemy boarded your vessel; you dug
your feet into the deck, tightening your fist on your sword, ready to
pounce. And suddenly, your mother called you to dinner. Gone was the pirate
ship, gone was the scabbard and sword, and rudely you were pulled back to
reality.
That is an example of imagination at work.
Imagination is a powerful tool that HASHEM put into a person for a number of
reasons. One of its functions is to make a scene, a time, or an event real.
It can bring me to a different time, to a land I never saw, to an experience
that I never had, and yet it is me right there. I feel it. I experience it.
And in my mind’s eye, those events are actually happening to me. I may even
have physiological reactions to the event; my heart rate will quicken, my
blood pressure will increase, and my palms will begin sweating as I live
that experience. If you have ever cried when you read a book even though you
knew the events in it never happened, it is a classic example of this
phenomenon.
Using visualizations
Imagination is also a tool that can help a
person achieve success. Olympic athletes are trained to use what are known
as visualizations. A diver will see himself standing high on the platform,
the water glistening below. He is there in the stadium with the crowd
cheering as he flawlessly performs his dive. He is living that experience in
his mind, and it affects his performance later in a very real way. He has
already been there and done that.
The results of using visualizations are
powerful. Studies show that not only do athletes who use them improve, so do
many other people whose activities require peak performance. From a salesman
going on a new call to a surgeon performing a difficult operation,
performance can be greatly increased by seeing the event happen
successfully.
This seems to be the answer for this Rashi.
The Torah is telling us that a person can and should view the mitzvahs
as if they are brand new, as if I heard about them for the very first time
today. In my mind, I can feel that newness if I use this technique to
visualize that I have first heard about them today. And this can bring
freshness and a new energy to the manner in which I perform these
mitzvahs.
This concept is something that is very useful
in our Avodas HASHEM.
More precious than fine gold
Dovid Ha’Melech describes that, “The Torah is
more precious to me than fine gold.” Chazal tell us that “a mere whiff of
the World to Come is more pleasurable than all of the enjoyments of this
world.” Could you imagine the impact it would have on your life if you
actually felt that way? Could you imagine the effect it would have on your
enthusiasm for the mitzvahs if for one minute you sensed that? The
change in your life would be enormous.
The problem is that Iwe don’t feel that way.
It’s not that I don’t want to; I just don’t. Granted mitzvahs are
important, and I recognize their place, but to actually feel that they are
more precious than gold and silver just isn’t real. But it can become real
if I close my eyes and imagine a king’s treasure room, filled with chests
and chests of gold coins, diamonds, sapphires, and pearls. . . and then I
imagine that every time that I open a sefer to learn or daven
appropriately, I am depositing another precious stone in my storehouse of
fine gems.
The Torah is teaching us that visualizations
work, and we can use them. The reality is that we experience them all the
time. Our imagination is vivid and powerful. The key is to use it without
letting it control us.
Motivation is essential for success in any
endeavor in life. A person can have all the talent in the world, but if he
isn’t driven to succeed, he won’t. One of the techniques that successful
athletes, entrepreneurs, and world leaders use to motivate themselves is
visualization – seeing the event, living it, and experiencing it – all by
using their imagination.
For this reason HASHEM has given us the power
of imagination as a tool to be used to aid us in reaching our own potential
greatness.
For more on this topic please listen to Shmuz
#61 - Heroes
