We often assume that sight is our most important sense—so much so that when we understand something we often say, “I see.”
Yet Rabbi Jonathan Sacks noted that Judaism places far greater emphasis on hearing than seeing. The defining statement of Jewish faith, the Shema, is not “See, O Israel,” but “Hear, O Israel.”
This theme appears prominently in this week’s parsha. Recounting the revelation at Sinai, Moses reminds the people: “You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice” (Deuteronomy 4:12). At the most important moment in Jewish history, Israel encountered God not through an image but through speech.
Rabbi Sacks cites the nineteenth-century Hasidic master Rabbi Jacob Leiner of Radzyn, who suggested that hearing is deeper than seeing. Sight reveals external appearances, while hearing discloses something of a person’s inner world. We see things, but we listen to people.
This idea finds expression in Psalm 29, recited every Friday night as part of the Kabbalat Shabbat synagogue service. Seven times the psalm speaks of the voice of God, a force powerful enough to “break cedars” and “shake the wilderness.” On the Sabbath, we pause and listen—to God, to our family, to our community, and to the deeper truths that we easily miss during the noisy week.
This helps explain the Torah’s fierce opposition to idolatry. An idol turns the divine into something visible that can be manipulated. But the God of Israel cannot be reduced to an image. God creates the world and addresses human beings through the spoken word.
We live in a world saturated with images, yet genuine listening is scarce. We are quick to react and slow to hear. Yet Vaetchanan reminds us that through listening, we encounter some of life’s deepest truths: the voice of a loved one, the cry of someone in need, the wisdom of Torah, and ultimately, the word of God.
Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Sinensky is director of the Rabbi Norman Lamm Legacy digital archive and director of Judaic Studies at Main Line Classical Academy. A member of the inaugural cohort of Sacks Scholars, he has edited over fifty books. He also publishes Reasonable Judaism on Substack and hosts a daily WhatsApp Torah audio series, From the Beginning.
This essay was written as part of our collaboration with The Rabbi Sacks Legacy Sacks Scholars.
