כִּֽי־קָר֥וֹב אֵלֶ֛יךָ הַדָּבָ֖ר מְאֹ֑ד בְּפִ֥יךָ וּבִלְבָֽבְךָ֖ לַֽעֲשׂתֽוֹ:

Is one of the most well known psukim in this weeks parsha. Parshat Netzavim,

It translates roughly to the concept that the mitzvot are so close to us, they are manageable, tangible and doable. No one should ever feel like the mitzvot were commanded for the righteous only, or for people “better” than they are. Every single commandment, says this pasuk, was handcrafted for each individual, so I can live the most beautiful and most fulfilling life possible.

However, it is the second part of this pasuk that explains just how this is possible.

 בְּפִ֥יךָ וּבִלְבָֽבְךָ֖ לַֽעֲשׂתֽוֹ

We are to follow the mitzvot with our mouths and our hearts. And this in my opinion is the most beautiful advice we could have possibly been given when being told that the mitzvot are there, they are ours and we can do it all.

Our Judaism must be authentic. We cannot claim to be able to follow the miztvot if they are only in our mouths, and not in our hearts. And vice versa. We cannot claim to follow the mitzvot if we do them silently and are ashamed to represent them in public.

In order for our Judaism to be real, to be eternal, it needs our mouths and our hearts working together. We need to be who we say we are and we need to say what we feel.

I daven that all of us as a nation remember this crucial advice of our religion. That we become determined to live a life of authenticity in which every day we wake up proud to be a Jew, proud to do the mitzvot and proud to love the opportunity to do so.