Jewish Law as a Journey

Rabbi Yehuda Amital argues that the requirement to experience the eternal values of the law through the physical medium of practical halakha is the result of a historical shift that occurred after the Jewish people received the Torah at Sinai. Because of the spiritual greatness of our forefathers, they were able to tap into the religious messages of the Torah even without observing the practical halakha itself. Rabbi Amital notes that “the avot did not observe the mitzvot in the sense in which we observe them. They did not put on tefillin or shake the lulav. But they understood and appreciated the underlying messages of the mitzvot.” After the giving of the Torah, by contrast, God insisted that the spiritual messages underlying the law could be accessed only through firm commitment to halakhic detail.

Rav Kook notes that one of the most distinct features of Mosaic legislation is its ability to link specific commandments to a larger spiritual vision that motivates the legal conversation

By introducing a blessing that uses the standard formula for ritual obligations, Shmuel reminds us that Torah study is a halakhic obligation, a daily requirement regardless of whether or not we feel motivated to study

Praying in the morning, again in the afternoon, and a third time in the evening ensures that the values of the Jewish prayerbook become the medium through which a Jew views his daily existence.

Praying in a community reminds us of the transcendent values that bond Jews together despite their differences.

Conversely, the absence of blessings before interpersonal commandments reminds us that we should always be in a mental state of awareness, ready to help a fellow human being when called upon

the Or HaChayim notes that practicing what we preach affirms God’s commitment to truth and justice.

According to an aggadic passage in the Talmud, God divides his day as follows: [During the] first three hours [of each day, God] sits and involves Himself with Torah [study]. [During the] second [three-hour period], He sits and judges the entire world…. [During the] third [three-hour period], He sits and provides [nourishment] for the entire world. [During the] fourth [three-hour period], He sits and amuses [Himself] with the Leviathan [a gigantic sea creature]. According to Rav Soloveitchik, the Talmud describes God spending a portion of His day in amusement with the Leviathan in order to teach us that an observant Jew need not be in a perpetually serious and heavy head space. Rabbi Daniel Feldman explains that humor has the ability to place various elements of our lives in proper perspective: “It seems that the intent [of Rav Soloveitchik] was to highlight humor (or, in this case, playfulness) as an indication of one’s awareness of the relative importance, or lack of same, contained in various elements of life.”

The Or Sameach explains the lack of formal Torah legislation in the realm of character traits by noting that the Torah can legislate only those issues that share a uniform baseline. Every Jew wears the same basic tefillin, for example, and the Torah legislates accordingly. Character development, however, is deeply subjective; the proper balance between various attributes can vary from person to person

Another passage in Berakhot states that anyone who recites Shema before bed is considered “as though he holds a double-edged sword in his hand,” which protects him from evil spirits. ... The Meiri argues that these negative spirits are actually foreign thoughts that can enter our heads when we have extended time to think by ourselves. When the mind wanders, it is theoretically possible for us to think about anything, including religiously problematic ideas. Saying Shema before bed with proper intention protects us from these invasive thoughts, since it focuses our minds on the ideals of the Shema, which then leads to more value-oriented thoughts when trying to go to sleep.