Hashem spoke these words saying (Shemos 20:1)

Even though I used to live in Boston and the New England Patriots were playing in the Super Bowl, I had little desire to watch it. But, I have a teenaged son who wanted me to watch it with him, so I watched it. I would like to share two lessons from the Super Bowl that relate to this week’s parsha.

Many years ago, we used to say the Aseres HaDibros (commonly translated as the Ten Commandments) in shuls, but this practice was stopped. There were heretics who stated that the Aseres HaDibros are more important than the rest of the Torah and that is all one needs to keep. Their proof was that only the Aseres HaDibros were recited in shul. Therefore, we no longer publicly say them because all of the Torah is important. One part is not more important than another.

Many Seattle fans are very upset at their coach. How could he make such a bad decision on the last play of the game? Why didn’t they just run into the Endzone? But this is the same coach who “got” them to the Super Bowl. This is the same coach who decided they should try for a touchdown at the end of the first half instead of kicking a field goal (and tied the game with his decision). It is true that outcomes depend on the end (i.e. if a person does tshuvah at the end of his life, he will merit to sit in the World to Come), but we cannot ignore the fact that the only reason Seattle was within 1 yard of being back-to-back champions is because of their coach. We should not judge the coach forever based on one play.

The second lesson was the presentation of the trophy to the Patriots. A former quarterback walked with the trophy between the New England players up to a platform for its presentation. The players were all reaching out to touch the trophy and kiss it. It looks just like when we bring around the Torah in shul. But there is one huge difference. Next year in Feb, there is a good possibility that another team will be getting the trophy and New England will just have memories and a banner in their stadium. For us, year after year after year for the past 3,000+ years we have had our trophy and we do not need to give it back to anyone else. We still have our Torah and always will!

This week’s parsha is about accepting the Torah. Football season is over but Torah learning season is never over. This week we should try to focus extra on how we can grow in Torah. The Torah teaches us the proper way to behave and live life. If people get so excited over one game of football which means absolutely nothing for most of the people who were watching it, we should certainly get excited over Torah which makes our lives better.

Good Shabbos!
-y.e.s.
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