The Production Line

“with all your heart and with all your soul…”(Deuteronomy 11:13).
 
There’s a subtle difference between the Shema segment in the Torah portion of Va’etchanan (see Deuteronomy 6:5) and the Ve’haya im Shamoa segment in Ekev: both command a person to serve Hashem, “with all your heart and with all your soul.” Whereas in English, the pronoun “your” can be either singular or plural, in Hebrew, they are two different pronouns or suffixes. The “Shema” segment says levavcha and nafshecha, your (singular) heart and your (singular) soul, but the Ekev Torah portion says levavchem and nafshechem,  your (plural) heart and your (plural) soul. Clearly, in the Shema segment, the Torah is addressing the individual whereas in the Ve’haya im Shamoa segment, the Torah is addressing the entire public. What does this double command teach us?
 
Rebbe Nachman’s uncle, Rebbe Ephraim of Sidilkov osb”m writes (Degel Machane Ephraim, Parshat Shlach, opening word “ish”) that a person must serve Hashem with all of his individuality, while utilizing all of his unique talents and capabilities without paying attention to anyone else. On the other hand, a person must remember that although he is an individual, he is part of the whole – the Jewish People.
 
With the above idea in mind, the “with all your heart and with all your soul” that appears in the “Shema” segment commands each individual to serve Hashem in his own special way and with his own special talents without sacrificing his individuality to please or placate anyone on earth. This often requires tremendous strength, especially when a person lives in a societal setting where the norms are mediocre and the group pressures the individual to conform – don’t be so pious, don’t be so modest, don’t be so extreme, and the like.

This is what the Rebbe Ephraim of Sidilkov means when he says that the individual doesn’t have to pay attention to anyone else on earth when he’s serving Hashem. That doesn’t mean that one is allowed to disturb or upset anyone else under the excuse that he serving Hashem, or to ignore a person who needs help. A person mustn’t yell or gesticulate in a manner that calls attention to himself or that disturbs others in the synagogue, nor must he refrain from lending a hand to the needy. Yet, if no one in the group guards his eyes, then the individual must be courageous in serving Hashem without paying attention to what anyone else is doing. If no one in the group pays attention to the laws of slander, then the individual must still strengthen himself in learning and implementing the laws of proper speech.  And, if the entire neighborhood wears tight and provocative clothes, compromising on the laws of modesty, then a woman must not be afraid of being called names, and dress the way the King’s daughter should dress.

On the other hand, we are commanded to serve Hashem together, as a group. A person must devote a daily hour to solitary personal prayer, but when it comes to the prescribed prayers of Shacharit, Mincha and Maariv, he must pray with a prayer quorum – a minyan – in the synagogue. Vitally important prayers such as Kaddish, Kedusha and Borchu can only be recited in the context of a minyan, a quorum of ten men. So, without sacrificing our individuality, we should still serve Hashem as a group, otherwise our service of Hashem is not complete.

The following analogy clarifies the above concept: workers are working on an aircraft production line. Each has his individual task on the production line, yet at the end of the line, one joint product emerges – an airplane. Although one worker participated in putting together the engine, a second helped assemble the wing and a third fine-tuned the avionics, each has an important share in the final product.

By the same token, although each one of us serves Hashem according to our own individuality – one is a great Torah scholar, some else is a remarkable host whose home is always open to guests and a third visits hospitals to gladden and encourage the sick. Yet, we all pray together. We celebrate holidays together. We serve Hashem together with all our hearts while enabling each person to be a special individual. No one has the right to rob anyone else of their individuality or force conformity, especially mediocrity. Serving Hashem with limits (“I don’t want to be too religious”, etc.) is not serving Hashem with all our heart as the Torah requires. Yet, we must remember that we are all vital parts of a whole, the Jewish People. As the Torah teaches us, each of us is one individual with a double task – to do our own special part while never forgetting that we are but parts in a very special whole – Klal Yisrael, the Jewish People.