When a series of pink “I love you” signs mysteriously appeared in the town of Welland, Ontario, local reporter Maryanne Firth decided to investigate. Her sleuthing turned up nothing. Weeks later, new signs appeared featuring the name of a local park along with a date and time.
Accompanied by a crowd of curious townspeople, Firth
went to the park at the appointed time. There, she met a man wearing a suit who
had cleverly concealed his face. Imagine her surprise when he handed her a
bouquet and proposed marriage! The mystery man was Ryan St. Denis—her
boyfriend. She happily accepted.
St. Denis’s expression of
love toward his fiancée may seem a bit over-the-top, but God’s expression of
love for us is nothing short of extravagant! This week’s Torah portion reminds
us God’s did for us and not for our ancestors alone. “Take thought this day that it was
not your children, who neither experienced nor witnessed the lesson of the LORD
your God— His majesty, His mighty hand, His outstretched arm; the signs and the
deeds that He performed in Egypt against Pharaoh king of Egypt and all his
land; what He did to Egypt’s army, its horses and chariots; how the LORD rolled
back upon them the waters of the Sea of Reeds when they were pursuing you, thus
destroying them once and for all; what He did for you in the wilderness before
you arrived in this place;…but that it was you who saw with your own eyes all
the marvelous deeds that the LORD performed.”
(Dt. 11: 2-7)
We show our love for God by
“always keep(ing) His charge, His laws, His rules, and His commandments.”(Dt.
11:1) “The fundamental relationship between God and the individual is one of
love, not fear of punishment or hope of reward. We do what God asks of us
because we are so pleased to be able to do something for one whom we love.
Petuchowski said that a Jew reads the Torah not as one reads a novel or a
newspaper, but as one reads a love letter, eager to extract every bit of
meaning from it.” (Etz Hayim, page 1050, below the line)
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Greene
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