Maureena’s Torah Reflections
Parashat Ekev. Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25
“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deut. 6:5)
In last week’s Torah portion was the first paragraph of the Shema (Deut 6:5-9), [repeated in all 3 synoptic Gospels] and in this week’s parashah is the second portion of the Shema (11:13-31). These two paragraphs are written on the parchment scroll which form the mezuza on the door of Jews.
The two paragraphs differ. In the first paragraph (Deut 6:5-9), “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might,” no rewards are promised. In the second paragraph (Deit.11:13ff) rewards are given.
And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil.
A question arises. Does one love God for love’s sake (paragraph one) or for a reward (paragraph 2). Several psalms display a love relationship that is direct and deeply personal with no thought of a reward, e.g:
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water (Ps 63 1).
Prepared by Prof. Sr. Maureena Fritz nds
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“Since the spiritual patrimony common to Christians and Jews is thus so great, this sacred synod wants to foster and recommend that mutual understanding and respect which is the fruit, above all, of biblical and theological studies.”
Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions: Nostra Aetate, No. 4