Naaseh v’Nishma[i]
Na’aseh v’nishma at first glance seems a little strange. “Nishma” means to hear and “na’aseh” means to do. How can you do something if you have not heard it yet? This does not seem to make sense.
There are several classic p’shatim in the meforshim. One p’shat that many meforshim[ii] say is that “nishma” does not mean to hear. Rather, “nishma” means to have a deep understanding of the mitzvah and to delve into it. So, “na’aseh v’nishma” means,
‘Hashem, whatever You tell me I accept, even before I understand the reasons for things, I will do it anyway.’
This is a major yesod in Torah hashkafa. You hear a mitzvah and you do it because Hashem said so, and then we try to understand and delve into the reasons more deeply. This is a major yesod in Torah hashkafa- na’aseh v’nishma.
I once heard a beautiful explanation of this point from Rav Ahron Solovetchik zt"l. Rav Ahron explained as follows: it's interesting that the Hebrew word Ta'am which means reason also means flavor. What's the significance of the dual meaning of the word Ta'am? The idea is as follows: The reason for the Mitzvah is not the essence of the Mitzvah itself. The reason for the Mitzvah only adds flavor to the Mitzvah. When a Jew understands the reason for a Mitzvah, he is likely to do it better, with more excitement. But the essence of the Mitzvah is- I do what Hashem commands because Hashem said so. So we should view the reasons as adding flavor to the Mitzvah, but not the essence of the Mitzvah itself.
Based on this vort of Rav Ahron, I wanted to offer the following mashal. Mitzvos are like vitamins, they are good for you. A person goes to the doctor, and the doctor prescribes vitamins or a certain pill. Most people who go to the doctor don’t know enough about medicine or chemistry to understand why this particular vitamin will help them. And yet we take them anyway. Why? Because we trust the doctor. The doctor has all his degrees up on the wall, and so we feel confident and secure enough to follow his advice. We are entrusting the doctors with our physical health. Therefore, the person takes the prescribed pills and takes the vitamins because they trust the doctor. Mitzvos are like vitamins, they are good for you. If Hashem commanded a Mitzvah, it is good for us. It is healthy for us spiritually and psychologically. The Mitzvah is certainly good for us in Olam Haba and also good for us in Olam Hazeh. Mitzvos are good for us. We may not understand the Mitzvah, but we trust Hashem. (Hashem has more 'degrees' than (l’havdil) any doctor!) If I trust the doctor, then certainly it goes without saying that I trust Hashem. If Hashem gives me a Mitzvah, it is good for me! (Just) do it!
Let us take the mashal one step further. When a person understands the reason for the Mitzvah, then a person gets more into the Mitzvah and becomes more excited to do the Mitzvah, and he will do it with more fervor. When one understands the Mitzvah, there is more of a geshmak when performing the Mitzvah because one really understands why it is beneficial and what it accomplishes. So when a person understands the reason for a Mitzvah, it adds flavor to the Mitzvah. He is more excited about the Mitzvah. Therefore, to complete the Mashal, if Mitzvos are like vitamins, then Mitzvos with reasons are like Flinstones vitamins! When you take vitamins they do not always taste good, but Flinstones vitamins taste good and you enjoy taking them. Mitzvos are like vitamins, and Mitzvos with reasons are like Flinstones vitamins. That is exactly this yesod. That is one p’shat of “na’aseh v’nishma,” that “nishma” means to understand.
The other p’shat is that “nishma” means “to hear.” But how can you do something before you hear about it? Rav Nevenzahl shl”ita quotes the following answer. The Mishna (Avos 3,12) says, “If one’s ma’asim are greater than his chachmah, then his chachmah is miskayames. And if his chachmah is greater than his ma’asim, then his chachmah is not miskayemes.” How does that work? How can your ma’asim be greater than your chachmah? If you do not know it, how can you do it? Rabbeinu Yonah there says an incredible p’shat. Rabbeinu Yonah says, if you accept upon yourself to keep any mitzvah which you will learn about in the future, you get credit now as if you did it already - even though you do not know about it. If you accept upon yourself, “I will do whatever I learn” you get credit now as if you did it already. Then, when you actually learn and do the mitzvah you get credit for doing it again. Therefore, it is possible that you get more schar than what you know. One can ‘do’ more than he knows. Wow! Rabbeinu Yonah goes on to say that this is like “na’aseh v’nishma.” This is beautiful. This is Yahadus- “na’aseh v’nishma.” I will do whatever Hashem tells me. I do not know the whole Torah or all the halachos yet, so I will do whatever I learn. If you accept it upon yourself now, you get credit now as if you did it already.
My rebbe Rav Schachter shl”ita once was describing yiras Shamayim. He said that a good definition of yiras Shamayim is that you say to yourself, “anything I learn I will keep.” Rav Schachter tells the following story. He was giving shiur, in Tannersville, talking about hilchos mezuzah. You have to put a mezuzah on your house. What if you leave your house one month out of the year? The halacha is that that house needs a mezuzah the whole year. In other words, if you live in New York City and you go up to the mountains for the summer, you cannot take the mezuzahs off your house in the city, take them with you, put them on your bungalow, and then take them back at the end of the summer. You cannot do that. Since you live in your house during the year, you need to have mezuzahs up all year round. Rav Schechter was giving a shiur and he was looking around, and suddenly one of the members of the shiur disappeared. It was strange. The next morning the guy came back and Rav Schachter asked him, “Where were you?”
He said, “Rebbe, as you were teaching that I realized that is what I do. I take my mezuzahs from New York and I bring them up to the mountains. And you said I can not do that. So, I left to go buy mezuzahs for my house.”
That is a great story! The person hears a new halacha and immediately disappears, runs to NY and buys new mezuzahs. That is the na’aseh v’nishma of Rabbeinu Yonah. You accept upon yourself, I will do whatever I learn.
This year on Purim let us all rededicate ourselves to both p’shatim of na’aseh v’nishma.
Purim Sameach,
B. Ginsburg
[i] See the shiur on Purim and the Chiyuv Seudah for the connection between Matan Torah (Na’aseh v’nishma) and Purim. We said na’aesh v’nishma before Matan Torah on Shavuos. But the meforshim explain (see for example Tosfos (Shabbos 88a), the Midrash Tanchuma at the end of Parshas Noach, and the Maharal on Purim) that somehow that na’aseh v’nishma was somewhat deficient. This deficiency was rectified on Purim, so Purim becomes a day of celebrating the fuller, more perfect na’aseh v’nishma.
[ii] See for example the Dorosh Moshe of Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l at the end of Parshas Mishpatim.