Relationship with god, part 1.

1. The Mitzvoth: Relationship with God,Part 1.
Introduction - today our focus will be on the crucial first mitzvoth that guide
us in the foundational ways of building a relationship with God
I. Read Exodus 20:2.
A. 1. Why does Maimonides place this first? What does it mean? Is it
indeed a mitzvah or just a statement?
(Maimonides says it means we are commanded to believe in God - a
Supreme Cause who is the creator of everything, an all-transcendent

2. Reality. Without this belief in God’s sovereignty, understanding Torah and
being obedient to its direction would not be possible.
Another way of saying that is to understand this first statement of the
Decalogue, “I am your God” as a statement of sovereignty, in which we are
commanded to seekand serve God.It further invites us to want to know
and seek to know more about God (though there are limits to our
knowledge), to enhance our belief and our relationship. We learned a great
deal in our Torah study as we followed Moses in his curiosity to glean
greater understanding from “I am” or, put another way, “I will be what I will
be.”)
2. Must it entail our faith that God controls all, is the cause of all, is all
powerful, or is it being bound to this One God, our Creator, alone in service
and duty, or both?
(Tradition says yes to both, unequivocally. Though the sages debate
whether this first statement is actually a command or simply a statement of
fact to be known as an introduction to the mitzvoth, they use certain words
pretty universally - all powerful, all controlling, all ability, all greatness, all
strength and splendorand glory and blessing and endurance, etc. Is this

3. just a distinct and necessary way of separating from the ancient tug of
polytheism, that we are to see no other force or being or objectas
controlling, powerful, or…god?
Is it possible to put it in different terms: whatever our views on all the alls,
can it be that we are to commit to this God as our God alone? Period. Or
does our notion of God require having faith or belief in all of the alls,
including all-powerful, all-controlling, all-creating?
For me, it doesn’t. For instance, God gives human beings the choice to
choose life or death. In that sense, God is not all controlling. I’m not a
Manichean; I simply don’t think this mitzvah requires all the alls. As with the
young Jacob, I serve this transcendent God alone, with my bestand
growing knowledge of, and faith in, Divine greatness, as my sovereign,
irrespective of the ultimate resolution of each and all of the alls.)
3. What is significant about God beyond being God in this mitzvah?

4. (God is the redeemerof the people and my redeemer! Whatdoes that
mean?
I believe that it is intended to say that God saves me from servitude to any
earthly or material form of life, that God gives me life and hope and
direction, that I serve and am devoted to this God of revelation and
redemption, Who has saved me for a purpose that I must fulfill in my life.
This clause of the first commandment is what gives it its power and
definition.
This redemptionis not by chance; nor is it my doing; nor is it the doing of
an earthly force; nor should I see any such redemptionfrom any sort of
Egypt as caused by anyone other than God.
Vitally, this redemptionhas the further purposes bothof bringing us into
service of God through the revelation and, crucially, as the redeemed
stranger, to love the stranger on our own path and always seekhis/her
redemption.)

5. II. Read Deuteronomy6:4.
Why is this second, and what’s its significance? What does it mean that
God is one, and why is this important?
(As suggested above and will be repeated often, we believe in the unity of
God. God is God alone. By being yoked to the One, we, as Rambam says,
take on the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven. It is not to created things,
fragments such as the Greek gods, or modernforces such as fame or
fortune to which we bow down and hold in reverence, devotion, and
ultimately in indivisibility. It is God alone.
This unity further is the basis of our humanitarianism in that there being one
God in heaven means all people are equally His children and they must
respect each other as such. While there are many of us, there is a Single
Source of universal truth, justice, and compassion. Comforted that there is
Foundation for the good,we are mindful of the One God’s instruction and
ready and obedient to do it.

6. We literally hear of the Oneness, and then are to understand it, submit to it,
and regularly repeat it, reinforcing it in one’s heart (in the Shema). Accept,
know, believe.)
III.Read Deuteronomy6:5. This is Jesus’great commandment.
A. What is this love, how does it develop, and what are its effects?
(Sages teach it’s a spiritual delight that develops out of being aware of and
appreciative of God’s benevolence and wisdom. It’s a bliss that results
further from reflecting on the gift of the mitzvoth, God’s wonders, blessings,
grace, and love for us. The more the focus on this, the more sublime, the
greater the love. And it is the purpose of this mitzvah to drive us as close
as possible to devoting “all” to the love. Beyond the mind and the
knowledge, this love should come to dwell in one’s heart, involve one’s
whole soul, and draw upon all one’s resources.

7. The net effect:we are to serve God out of love; we are to arouse others to
love and serve God;we are to live in a manner that God will be loved by
others through our lives. In other words, out of love (not just duty or fear),
and this great-as-possible and growing abundance of love, we serve God
bestand mostfully. As we will discern in later mitzvoth, this love then
grows through that service, through our devotion, commitment, and
faithfulness, in helping God re-create wholeness in the creation.)
B. What do we exactly mean by the love we see here?
(When we love another, we seek principally to be united with the finest
features of our beloved, which we admire and may share. The best
qualities of the soul of a lover, it is said, actually yearn for such qualities in
the soul of the beloved. We are transformed by our union and are closely
knitted in our hearts.
Our sages say that one who loves another will not rest unless he exerts
himself in matters pertaining to his beloved and that the exertion is sweeter
than the rest. Further, if one acts in a manner displeasing to his beloved, he
will be confounded and ashamed unless and until they are reconciled.

8. In our case, we admire wisdom, justice, and mercy, and so we seek out
and love the One in Whom such attributes are fundamentally rooted.Also,
we yearn for God out of our human quest for the eternal which only God
represents and can guarantee.)
C. Why is this love so very important?
(This great love puts us maximally into spiritual space, with God and God’s
interests, thus weakening our attachment to worldly demands that don’t
have divine purpose. The more we begin to love God,the more possessed
we become by that love, and the more possessedby God we become. And
the greater our love becomes, the closerwe come to God.
So, this mitzvah is important, and one we confront early in the order, in that
it pushes us continually to grow our love of God and cultivate it to be a sort
of default state, one of preoccupation, one in which the rest of the mitzvoth
find us in the most receptive state.)

9. IV. Read Deuteronomy6:13.
We moderns don’t like to read these words. It suits us a little better to
considerthe direction to be in awe of God. The sages say it’s both: fear, as
in fear of punishment, and awe of God’s exaltedness. With both, what’s its
most important message to us?
(We are not to be at ease and self-confident or negligent about living true to
God’s expectations. We must be aware and believe there are negative
consequences forstraying from them. We should, as we just discussed, be
principally motivated by love, but we also serve with this knowledge of
consequences as well, as any lover does and must. In fact, there are now
two barriers to straying: the violation of the mitzvah out of fear of God’s
punishment and then the consequencesforviolating the substantive
mitzvah itself.
This clearly entails a confidence that God watches us and holds us to
account.

10. We learned in our study of blessings and curses in Vayikra of the reality of
the aloneness of life without God.Whether it’s lack of joy, boredom, a
sense of living death, yes, punishment, there are consequences to living
outside of Divine Presence. When we act in a manner we know is
displeasing to God, we know God knows, and we are ashamed and
confounded. We learn to return or endure the consequences.
This mitzvah teaches us to be aware of this - God’s knowing, our shame,
and the consequence and pain of straying - as well as developing the urge
to, and knowledge of how, to return to God’s way. One could say all this is
inherent in love, but that it’s separately commanded surely teaches us it’s a
powerful, disciplined, rather than softand easy, love that we are to develop
and show God. Love and fear together intensify the commitment.)
V. Read Exodus 23:25
Literally, we are to serve God.What does that mean? Why is it important?

11. (It tends to mean prayer, with devotion, from and with the heart. What do
we do when we pray?
We arouse our conscienceand focus our thought and words on truths. We
concentrate, recognizing we are praying to God. We act in a respectful
manner. We reflect on God as Master, Who is good and Who extends good
to us. We sense God watches us and is with us. This makes us mindful of
our duty. We praise God. We express gratitude. It also gives us the
occasionto cry out to God,which occasions God’s response. All of this
furthers the other mitzvoth of belief, love, fear/awe, and indeed the rest.
The mitzvah, seen as prayer, is vital.
Yet, it also means study, especially of the mitzvoth. More generally, it also
means certainly the doing of them. But Maimonides describes it as a duty
to worship God. Why would we like that?
First, avodah, the root of the word in the text can mean worship. But, more
fundamentally, isn’t so that we worship God in all these forms of service?

12. Regular worship of God involves both a constant turning toward God and a
living in service of God.This helps build relationship with God in so many
ways, perhaps none as important in our tradition that God is near to all who
call Him, if they call Him in truth, and turn to Him.)
VI. Read Deuteronomy10:20.
What does it mean that we must cleave to God?
(A. Interestingly, many sages say it means to be near and study from
people wise in the ways of God. Why would that be so?
It helps us get close to God, to know God and God’s ways better, and
better live with God.This is also manifest in the people with whom we

13. choose to associate, as to goodness, Godliness, etc.,and now in the “real”
and the “virtual” worlds.
B. Some say it means to marry a wise person’s child. I surely did that - the
child of two wise persons!
C. While some caution against taking this too literally since the Divine is
often considereda “consuming fire,” we can think of other ways of being
that would add meaning, such as: in prayer, in study of God’s word, in
loving others, in living by the mitzvoth, in seeking to draw near with
offerings, in both sacred and secular time, in seeking holiness, in use of
time.
One nice thought is to seek to be in touch with one’s soul, which always
itself seeks its Source.
VII.Read Deuteronomy28:9.

14. What does it mean to walk in God’s ways?
(Generally, it means to emulate God in the ways of the attributes we’ve
been shown, including mercy, graciousness, righteousness, loving
kindness. We recall being taught that we are created in God’s image, that
we are to be holy as God is holy. We are to make our ways be like God’s
ways, as in clothing the naked, visiting the sick, comforting mourners, etc.
Can you think of specific examples of conditions you see in your world
where, based on these attributes, God would expect us, in the Divine
image, to act?
Insisting poorchildren be well educated, being helpful to a lonely personon
the street, taking a momentto help a friend in need of support, etc.)
VIII.Read Leviticus 22:32.
What does it mean to sanctify God’s name?

15. (Rambam says principally it means to proclaim our belief and faith in God
without fear or constraint.
We also do it when we live in a Godly manner by being scrupulous in
behavior, showing concernfor others, bringing cheer where we can, being
honorable, being faithful in dealings, studying, praising and seeking to
emulate God,etc. Living as God expects is as if reflectedin a mirror for
others (and God)to see. In doing these things, we sanctify God’s name, for
we were created principally to serve God.
We refrain from doing things odious to God.While we won’t get into it
today, I would point out that Jewish tradition suggeststhat even on pain of
death a demand to be actually idolatrous, to murder, or to engage in certain
illicit relations must be resisted. This was deemedto act in the world in a
way that sanctifies God’s name.)
Conclusion