A Parsha Bit

From this week's parsha, a short bit...

"You shall follow after HASHEM your G-d, and Him you shall fear and His Mitzvos you shall keep and to His voice you should hearken and Him shall you serve and to Him you should cleave." (Devarim 13:5)

Rashi interpretates this line to mean attaching ourselves to Hashem---to his ways, acts of kindness, burying the dead, visiting the sick, etc. etc. But he doesn't mean physically attaching ourselves to him. Instead, Rashi feels we must attach ourselves, by emulating Hashem's ways. We should do as Hashem does.

Hashem is a healer of the sick, teacher of the Torah to Israel, and good being to all, also patient and merciful. He dresses the naked, feeds the hungry, supports the fallen, chooses His people ISrael with love, gracious to forgive his people, loves charity and justice, builds Jerusalem, makes peace, and repays those who fear HIM, protects, provides, redeems, saves and always does what he says he will do.

Wow, that was a mouthful. Yes, all these interpretations of who Hashem is can be found in our very own Siddurim.

Hashem nourishes the world with his goodness and we must do the same. Although we can never make ourselves to be exactly like Hashem, we must do as he does and make the world a better place. And the only way to get closer to Hashem, though we can't be exactly like him, is to do what he does. Emulating Hashem, according to our Parsha and to Rashi, is the only way to become closer to our fellow Jew while at the same time, become even closer to our Almighty.