If you will hear the voice of Hashem your G-d and do what is just in His eyes, give ear to His commandments…[2]
“Hearing”/shmia and “giving ear”/haazanah (from ozen/ear) are certainly not identical. The ear doesn’t “hear;” rather, it is a tool to concentrate sound and bring it to a place where it is processed. After that, the final sensations are what we call hearing. The ear is simply a tool that makes hearing happen.
With this in mind, we can understand why both hearing and giving ear are important when applied to Hashem’s commandments. “Giving ear” facilitates complete and accurate observance. It refers to heeding the safeguards instituted by the Rabbis. They are important in turning a person into an appropriate vessel to receive Divine instructions.
A midrash:[3] “Listen, and give ear. Don’t hold yourselves aloof from listening. For Hashem has spoken.”[4] This means, listen to words of Torah, and give ear to words of Torah. Don’t hold yourselves aloof from listening to them. Where has He spoken? ‘One who removes his ear from listening to Torah, his prayer is also an abomination.’”[5]
Some have questioned the meaning of this passage. After all, either it is possible to listen without giving ear, or it isn’t. If it is possible, then why command people to give ear? Just tell them to listen! And if it is not possible, then listening already implies that it has been preceded by giving ear. Why bother repeating an instruction to give ear, when the listening command already subsumes it?
According to my reading, however, it all makes sense. The giving ear refers to the words of the Chachamim. Yirmiyahu correctly admonishes the people, “Listen to the words of Torah. But don’t be content with that. You must be diligent in following the instructions of the Chachamim, for so Hashem has said. Where has He said that? ‘One who removes his ear from listening to Torah, his prayer is also an abomination.’ In other words, listening to the Chachamim is valuable, independently of observing the actual mitzvos. It changes the person, so that his prayer will not be rejected.”
But why, you will ask, is it in prayer that we see the benefit? The answer is that tefillah – wholly or partially – is an institution of the Chachamim. According to Ramban, the entire mitzvah of davening is a derabbanan. Even according to Rambam (who holds that tefillah is a chiyuv mi-d’orayso) the sequence and form of davening is of rabbinic manufacture. The core mitzvah is in the kavanah, the intention that a person puts into his davening. It is difficult for people to focus and frame their thoughts and intentions properly. It is the contribution of the Chachamim that makes tefillah possible for us.
Just like rabbinic fences make the mitzvah system viable.
- Adapted from Divrei Shaul, by Rav Yosef Shaul Nathanson, the Sho’el U-Meshiv ↑
- Shemos 15:26 ↑
- Devarim Rabbah 4:2 ↑
- Yirmiyahu 13:15 ↑
- Mishlei 28:9 ↑