Parshat Ki Tavo- A New Day
by Rabbi Lobel

“This day, G-d, commands you to perform these statutes and the laws (of the Torah), and you shall observe and perform them with all your heart and with all your soul (Deuteronomy 21:16).”

Moses proclaimed this statement at the end of the fortieth year in the desert as the Jewish Nation was about to enter Israel.

The Medrash Tanchuma (Kee Tavo 1) asks, “This day”? The Torah was given forty years earlier at Mount Sinai, just seven weeks after leaving Egypt.

The Tanchuma answers, “This day - On each day the Torah should be cherished, as if you received it today on Mount Sinai.” An individual should perform the commandments of the Torah with the utmost love, as if he had just received the Torah.

Is this realistic? The Torah was received three thousand three hundred twenty years and a hundred and three days ago this shabbat (9/20/08). How is possible to cherish its laws and perform them as if we had just received the Torah today?

Rabeinu BeChaya says that understanding the Torah was given on Mount Sinai by G-d himself in front of three million people gives a person the ability to cherish the Torah as if it was just given to him no matter how much time has lapsed and the external circumstances.

Just as the Torah is the blueprint to the world and the key to a fulfilling life, its laws are fresh and relevant to our every day life. Once a person recognizes that such a gift is directly from G-d to him, he can learn to cherish its laws as if they were given today.