Take Stock of Ourselves

Another play on words from פרשת חוקת comes from the words, בואו חשבון. Literally these words mean to come to a place called חשבון.

Homiletically, the Torah is telling us to make a חשבון, or calculation as to how we are doing as observant Jews. There are many Mussar books that advise making daily self examinations as to our עבודת ה׳. We need to monitor our love and fear of Hashem, and take responsibility for valuable time wasted.

Rabbi Twerski spoke of how Western Civilization is into “seizing the pleasure of the moment,” without taking into account the price paid for momentary indiscretion. It is a kind of “buy now, pay later” mentality. If people thought a little more, they would not get into spiritual debt.

Pirkei Avot tells us, איזהו חכם? הרואה את הנולד. Who is wise? the one who takes into account the consequences of his actions.

This is the meaning of בואו חשבון, that we are constantly doing self checks, to be certain that we are on the right path in how we function as Jews and individuals.