This week’s portion is V’etchanan and contains text from one of our most important prayers – the Shema. Deuteronomy 6:4 reads, “שְׁמַ֖ע יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵ֖ינוּ יְהוָ֥ה ׀ אֶחָֽד׃” [Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone]. The lines that follow are part of what many refer to as the V’ahavta, which is part of the Shema. The Hebrew word for “to hear” is לִשְׁמוֹעַ, which can also be translated as “to listen”. These words may be synonymous when we translate them, but “hearing” and “listening” are different.
Hearing can be defined as, “the act of perceiving sound”. Hearing is passive. I can hear a train passing, but I am not paying attention to it (unless I am waiting not so patiently in my car for it to pass). I can hear the TV on in the background, but be focused on the book I’m reading. Hearing something does not require you to pay attention or put in a significant amount of effort. Hearing is just perceiving sounds around you.
Listening, on the other hand, can be defined as, “to pay attention; heed; obey”. Listening is active. I listen to my parents when they talk to me (gotta remember that commandment). I listen to my friend sharing their passions and heartbreaks with me. Listening requires you to put in something extra than hearing does. Listening to someone shows that you care about them and what they are saying. It allows you to soak up information, empathize, and build relationships. It allows you to truly “get” someone or something. When you listen, not only do you strengthen relationships with people, but also with the world around you. Have you ever taken a moment to sit outside, close your eyes and loosen your muscles to just listen to nature? You notice so much more about the world around you when you do so. Life can feel like a mess when you’re just running on autopilot. Stopping to listen to nature and to others makes you more present in your own life.
If you look around during a prayer service, many people close their eyes when they say the Shema. Not only is this a recognized practice, but it allows you to turn the “Hear, O Israel!” into “Listen, O Israel!” There is so much more intention in the second phrase. You are actively engaged in the prayer when you focus on the words of the prayer, and closing your eyes allows you to do that. Something that I (Amanda) love to do during this prayer is not only close my eyes, but also listen to the voices of others rather than my own while I pray. Hearing the cacophony of voices singing together warms my heart and makes me feel closer to my fellow participants and G-d.
“It’s not my dream dad, it’s yours!” Raise your hand if you heard this line in many movies from your childhood. Now keep them raised if you heard this line uttered in a Disney movie. This trope is a classic. Disney has used this time and time again in their movies, but I’m going to highlight only three movies (yes, only three…I wasn’t kidding when I said Disney uses this trope a lot). Listen, I’m a little biased so we’re going to look at three movies that I very much enjoy, High School Musical, Jump In!, and Ice Princess.
Let’s start with the oldest of the three, Ice Princess which premiered in 2005. Ice Princess is the only movie of the three that actually aired in theaters, and I (Marissa) remember going to see it with my mom and a friend. I loved this movie and it made me want to ice skate…though I never did (which is probably for the better because I’m rather clumsy and tend to trip on nothing). It has a fantastic cast and is underrated. The movie is about a teenage girl named Casey who is trying to get a scholarship for Harvard. For this particular scholarship, she must present a personal summer project about physics. Casey soon realizes that ice skating (which she used to do as a child) would be perfect for it. She works with other ice skaters to help them with their skating skills by applying the rules of physics.
While helping the others Casey decides to try ice skating again and ends up falling back in love with it. Using what she’s learned from her project, she becomes a pretty good skater. Now she must decide between her two loves, physics/Harvard and ice skating. You probably guessed it, Casey’s mom isn’t really thrilled with her daughter’s new love of skating. Casey tries to talk to her mom about this, but she just won’t listen. So, Casey goes against her mother’s wishes and follows her heart.
Now we’ll move onto High School Musical which premiered on Disney Channel in 2006. I remember asking permission to stay up late to watch it when it premiered and loving every bit of it. In this movie we have Troy Bolton, basketball star who…auditions for the school musical? And enjoys it? Crazy, right? Like you can be a jock and a theater kid? Whoa. All sarcasm aside, this is what the movie is about. Breaking the status quo and doing what makes you happy. Troy tries to explain to his dad and to his friends that he wants to do both the musical and play basketball but, you guessed it, they didn’t listen to him.
(click the picture for the full scene)
Contrary to what the above picture states, it’s not just white dads pulling this baloney on their kids. We see this in our next movie, the underrated DCOM Jump In! which premiered on Disney Channel in 2007. I remember after this movie came out we all tried double dutch, it was all the rage. I remember grabbing jump ropes with my friends in gym class and desperately trying to at least jump in the ropes let alone do something cool…but I digress.
This movie is about young boxer Izzy Daniels who joins his neighbor Mary’s double dutch team as a temporary replacement. Izzy practices double dutch so much that his boxing skills begin to suffer. His father notices and isn’t too happy. In a scene where Izzy is arguing with his dad, he literally says, “You wouldn’t have heard me unless I was talking about boxing.” He’s confronting his dad for not listening to him.
I couldn’t find a good picture or gif to go with this section, so I’m just going to leave you with this reminder of what is one of the greatest songs to have come out of a DCOM. No but seriously, this movie has some great songs and you should go listen to them once you’re done reading this post.
I know that was a lot, so let’s do a quick recap. The “It’s not my dream dad, it’s yours” trope is heavily featured in tween/teen movies, especially Disney movies. But we also can’t forget about this iconic scene from A Cinderella Story as an honorable mention. So, what does this all have to do with listening vs hearing? Was this just an excuse for Marissa to talk about some of her favorite Disney movies? Ok, so maybe this was an excuse for me to talk about some of my favorite Disney movies, BUT it does also go along with this week’s theme. In all of these movies, our protagonist goes against what is expected of them to follow their own passions. They try to explain this to their parents, but their parents are only hearing them. They hear what they are saying but they aren’t listening because, quite frankly, they don’t like what they hear. It’s not until their child defies their wishes to follow their dreams that these parents truly understand what their children were trying to tell them.
Listening requires intention. Intention shows you care. We are big fans of caring and being kind. Especially now, we encourage you to be more intentional with how you interact with others and the world around you. Let’s all practice a little more listening and a little less just “hearing”.
Stay safe, wash your hands, wear a mask and remember: Black Lives Matter.
Yours Truly,
Amanda & Marissa
