Doing and Hearing. One of the most famous phrases in the Terah makes its appearance in this week's parasha.

It's often been used to characterize Jewish faith as a whole.

It consists of two words, Nassir, Venishma, literally, we will do and we will hear.

What does this mean and why does it matter? There are two famous

interpretations, one ancient, the other modern. The first appears in the Babylonian Talmud,

where it's taken to describe the enthusiasm and whole-heartedness with which the Israelites

accepted the covenant with God at Mount Sinai. When they said to Moses, all the Lord has spoken we will do and we will hear, they were saying in effect,

whatever God asks of us, we will do, saying this before they had heard any of the commandments.

The words, we will hear, imply that they hadn't yet heard, not the ten commandments, or indeed the detailed laws that followed as set out in our Parasha.

So keen were they to signal their assent to God that they agreed to his demands before knowing what they were.

This reading adopted also by Rashi and his commentary to the Torah is difficult because it depends on reading the narrative

out of chronological sequence. Using the principle of en muqdam umuoh-hah bar Torah, there's no before

and after in the Torah. The Torah chapters and verses aren't in strict chronological sequence.

The events of chapter 24 on this interpretation

happened before Chapter 20, the account of the Revelation at Mount Sinai and the Ten Commandments.

Ibn Ezra, Rashbam and Ramban all disagree and read the chapters in chronological sequence.

For them the words Naseva and Ishmae mean not we will do

and we will hear, but simply we will do and we will obey. The second interpretation,

not the plain sense of the text, but important nonetheless, has been given often in modern

Jewish thought. On this view, Nasev and nasev and ishma means we will do and

we will understand from this they derive the conclusion that we can only understand Judaism by doing it

by performing the commands and living a Jewish life in the beginning is the deed only then comes the

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