In both paragraphs a similar sentiment is expressed. In the first one we express:

ואהבת את ד' אלקיך בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך ובכל מאדך, You shall love, G-d, your Lord, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your resources.

In the second one we state:

...לאהבה את ד' אלקיכם בכל לבבכם ובכל נפשכם, to love, G-d, your Lord, with all your heart and with all your soul

The Sifrei addressing why the Torah repeats this command to love G-d, explains that the first one is a charge to the individual, therefore written in the singular, whereas the second reference is an injunction to the community and thus appearing in the plural.

The question that begs, that many have pondered, is why does the Torah omit when speaking to them collectively the aspect of loving G-d, בכל מאדיכם, with all your resources as it does when talking to them as individuals?

The requirement of one to forfeit all of one’s resources understands the phrase בכל מאדך, to mean one’s financial resources. The Talmud asserts that there are people whose possessions are more dear to them than their life and although may be willing, if ‘push came to shove’, to give up their life for the sake of G-d’s will, nevertheless might hesitate to relinquish all their assets in a similar circumstance, with the awareness that they will be destitute for the rest of his life. It is possible that one threatened with his life unless he transgresses the Torah, would accept death and its finality but would find it difficult to live a prolonged time in poverty, and therefore wouldn’t be as inclined to sacrifice his ‘livelihood’ for G-d’s will.

What is difficult to understand however is why the word מאד was chosen to refer to physical assets? Nowhere else is this form used to mean ממון; money or valuables.

The very first reference of this term מאד, appears at the conclusion of the six days of creation where G-d observes all that He brought into existence and finds that: והנה טוב מאד, and behold it was very good. The great scholar and grammarian, Rabbi Yaakov Zvi Mecklenberg, poses a fascinating question. The word הנה, behold, generally implies a sudden discovery that wasn’t evident before. Is that concept possible in the realm of ‘The Creator’? Additionally he asks, how can the entirety of creation be termed as ‘very’ good? One can depict a mountain as ‘very’ high as it contrasts to other mountains lesser than it, but when describing the whole of creation with nothing else to compare it to, the notion of it being ‘very’ good has no context or significance.

The Midrash interprets the extra word מאד, and its implication of His creation being ‘very good’ as a reference to the Angel of Death. Certainly this intriguing connection touches on the deepest secrets of Torah, but how are we to fathom this on a understandable level? How can the purveyor of death be ‘very good’?

The Torah once again this week details the revelation at Mount Sinai as it pertains to the command to retell and never forget the sin of the Golden Calf that was the catalyst for the breaking of the Tablets that necessitated Moshe’s intercession on our behalf so that we may recover from that error and receive the Second Tablets.

In describing the events at the giving of the Torah, the Torah states twice in our portion and another eight times in last week’s reading, for a total of ten that corresponds to the Ten Commandments, that the Torah was given מתוך האש, in the midst of fire.(המאירי עה"ת)

These are the only places where this exact term is used. What is the significance of this emphasis?

The late great Gaon, Rav Moshe Shapiro, taught that the nature of fire is that it consumes all that comes in its proximity. This represents the Divine Presence which is described as אש אוכלה, a consuming fire. Fire cannot tolerate any other reality. This is not referring to G-d as a destructive force but merely as the fire that illuminates all of creation. Avraham Avinu is portrayed in the Midrash as having discovered the world as a בירה דולקת, a palace aflame. He uncovered the force that defines existence, G-d Himself. For those who choose to see the brilliance of the world as lit and inspired by that ‘fire’, then it need not be physically consumed. Moshe too, observed והנה הסנה בער באש והסנה אננו אכל (שמות ג ב), the bush was burning in the fire but the bush was not consumed.

Those, however, who refuse to forfeit their perception of a physical realm and delude themselves into thinking it is controlled by man alone, will be forced to accept the fate of a fire that consumes and de-constructs a world inhabited by those who negate His absolute and definitive presence in all of creation.

Quoting the primary disciple of the Vilna Gaon, Rav Chaim of Volozhin, he teaches further that fire has two properties. Fire can purify elements from their impurities and at the same time bond and meld material into one.

That is the essence of the fire of חורבן, the Destruction, which compelled the physical Temple that was neglected and forsaken as a result of our many sins, to be devoured by His flame in an powerful expression of this vital lesson, that one who denies G-d’s presence will inevitably be forged into that reality regardless.

One who pledges allegiance to the super-reality of G-d’s force in the world will be illuminated by the energy of that intense flame rather than physically absorbed, while those who refuse to see G-d in the flame will be destined to be destroyed.

Perhaps what the Torah is informing us by calling the Angel of Death as very good is precisely this very principle. The world in its pure physical sense was simply ‘good’. When G-d infused the world with His presence so that those who would see the ‘palace aflame’ with His essence, would merit its blessings, while those who would color their perception with the tainted view of self-determination, would suffer the natural consequences and properties of fire, and be devoured.

Even before Man sinned and was condemned to death and a world of decay, this ‘reality’ was  wired into its nature.

The famed Chasam Sofer reveals a marvelous teaching. He points out that the term מאד, which the Midrash tells us allude to אדם, Man, whose very name is comprised of these same letters, is an acronym for the description of that momentous event at Mount Sinai that Moshe mentions in his parting blessing to his beloved people,מימינו אש דת (דברים לג ב), from His right hand He presented the fiery Torah to them. The reality of G-d and His fiery presence is embedded into our very essence.

The pursuit of money is one of the greatest preoccupations of man. One who is bitten by that bug we are told will never be satisfied, ‘one who has one hundred will thirst for two’. It is a force that often obscures our vision of His presence. The charge to serve G-d, בכל מאדך, with all your 'מאד', is a call to never allow the primacy of G-d to be clouded by your material needs, or for that matter any of the myriad of needs that often blinds us to His presence and absolute providence in all areas of our lives.

Precisely because each one of us has a different ‘blinder’ to deal with, for no two people share the exact same challenge, each one of us has a unique script that must be read and acted upon, this injunction cannot be possibly conveyed collectively as a community. That is why this call to allegiance can only appear in G-d’s personal appeal to each one of us.

The great 18th century philosopher and linguist, Rav Shlomo Pappenheim of Breslau, suggests the root of this word מאד, starts in the verse that speaks of a אוד מוצל מאש, a firebrand rescued from the flames. This is a description of Yehoshua, the Kohen Gadol, who although sullied by the flames of the physical and spiritual destruction, is given a fresh set of clothes and encouraged to adhere more closely to the word of G-d so that he may merit worthy descendants.

An אוד, he teaches, ‘is the small spark the fire throws off of the burning material.’

Through life we each experience the struggle to see G-d through the smoke. Even when we fail an ember continues to burn within us, with G-d compassionately waiting for it to ignite and illuminate our lives and world.

Each one of us must discover that aspect in our spiritual lives that qualifies as 'מתוך האש', amidst the fire of Sinai, that disallows anything of this material world to douse its inspired flame.

Mr. Amram Deutsch, a 93 year old Holocaust survivor, risked his life daily for six months during his stay in the darkness called Bergen-Belsen, putting on tefillin and reciting the Shma clandestinely early in the morning each and every day. To this day Mr. Deutsch unlocks the doors to his beloved Shul at 5:00 every morning, a firebrand that continues to enlighten the world with his burning inextinguishable inspiration.

Ita Kaminer was a child when her parents had the prescience to send her to Palestine as part of the ‘Teheran Children’ who eventually succeeded in making Aliyah, while their parents perished in the fires of Europe. Despite being exposed to anti-religious propaganda, Ita refused to succumb to the extreme pressures in exchanging her skirt for a pair of shorts as the group went on a tiyul on a hot summer day to the shores of Haifa. While walking together with the group another religious girl noticed this thorn among the roses so modestly dressed. Intrigued she reported this to her mother who quickly caught up to the group in order to see this phenomena with her own eyes, only to discover Ita, her beloved deceased sister’s surviving child. 

This tiny flicker ignited into a full blown fire, going on to raise a fine family of outstanding character and observance.

Exactly twelve years ago the inhabitants of Gush Katif were sent into exile. There is a famous picture of a female non-religious soldier sobbing uncontrollably after forcing a family out of their home. Today, this woman Mrs. Tal Geller, modestly dressed is a mother, and wife of a husband who learned ten years in Kollel. It was the warmth this family extended to her, not cursing her for her role but instead embracing her, that drew the inner fire that burned within her to ignite to perceive a new reality. In her own words, “My tears came from a very deep place in my heart... It was my Jewish neshamah that understood it was inconceivable to evict a Jew from his home... Doing the will of Hashem is my highest priority. I solve many conflicts this way; it doesn’t matter what I want. There is the will of Hashem, and that determines everything. Today when I know the truth, I would be prepared for much more than going to prison.

בכל מאדך; with all one’s fire, resolve and clear reality, that is the ultimate in serving G-d. There is nothing but the will of G-d.

We prayed on Tisha B’Av, באש הצתה ובאש אתה עתיד לבנותה, With fire You consumed her with fire You will rebuild her.

How can the very same fire that destroys be that which will rebuild the Temple?

It is indeed the very same fire, but how it will affect us depends on our attitude and how we perceive it. If it brightens our lives and cast its glow upon every facet of our lives, then it will be a fire that builds. If we ignore His presence the fire will consume us until we  retrieve that inner spark that remains within each one of us and fan it until it glows brilliantly again.

What is your ‘fire’? What burning desire for His closeness glows within you that eclipses every other interest in life? When you discover that, we stand a chance to bring the final redemption in all its blazing grandeur. 

באהבה,

צבי טייכמאן