Matthew 23:23
23
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You
give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected
the more important
matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness.
You
should have practiced
the latter, without neglecting the former.
Do
you see what he is saying and doing? He is showing the two aspects of the
law: the part that is written (the rule or the ordinance itself), and the
mitzvah (the justice mercy and faith).
“You should have practiced
the latter, without neglecting the former.” Far from saying that we should not be obedient to the law, he is
saying just the opposite. We
SHOULD practice the law, but we should also UNDERSTAND that the purpose of
the law is to have justice, mercy, and faith among us.
An
article written by the Jewish Organization,
Chabad
House, says:
"Cleave
to Him"
We are told in the Torah Portion Re'eh, "Follow G*d your L*rd, fear Him, observe His commandments, hearken to His voice, serve Him and cleave to Him."
On the words "cleave to Him," Rashi explains: "Cleave to His ways, perform acts of loving kindness, bury the dead, visit the sick, just as G*d has done."
Rashi's comment must be understood: Since, according to Rashi, the verse means to tell us that we should cleave to G*d's ways and act as He does, why doesn't the verse explicitly state "cleave to His ways" rather than "cleave to Him?"
Moreover, since the command to cleave to G*d's
ways is stated as "cleave to Him," it is understandable that