Connecting the End of the Torah to the Beginning: Reflections on completing our First Chagim BaAretz
It is well known that Chassidic Masters encourage us to seek meaningful connections between the final words of the Torah and B’reishis. When I was asked to spontaneously say a few words at the Sun Gardens Minyan before Mussaf on Simchas Torah, my thoughts headed in that direction. What I shared at the time ended up having special meaning for me personally as we completed our first round of Yamim Tovim in Israel. It went something like this:
Rashi cites the Gemorah in Megilla that there is a dispute regarding the authorship of the final eight p’sukim of the Torah, which describes the death and burial of Moshe Rabeinu. According to one opinion they were written by Moshe’s primary disciple, Yehoshua. Rabbi Meir opines that HaShem dictated and Moshe wrote b’dema, with tears. It is interesting to speculate what Moshe’s tears were about. Were they tears of sadness at his failure to convince HaShem to allow him to enter Eretz Yisrael? It is difficult to think of Moshe in the context of sadness or disappointment. As the paramount eved HaShem, Moshe no doubt accepted G-d’s decision with simcha and emuna. Rather, one could imagine that they were tears of gratitude as well as fulfillment for having reached the summit of his personal journey. Moshe cried as he witnessed that the objective of his mission was being fulfilled in front of his eyes. Yehoshua was following in Moshe’s path, “Vayishma’u eilav B’nei Yisrael vaya’asu ka’asher tziva HaShem es Moshe” (they would follow Yehoshua in the same manner that they followed Moshe). So indeed the end of the Torah really marked a beginning, the first steps of a new era unfolding in front of Moshe’s eyes.
Still, there is a very troubling aspect to this moment of transition. The final verse of the Torah reads: “U’l’chol hayad hachazaka u’l’cho hamora hagadol asher asa Moshe l’einei kol Yisrael” (and to all the mighty deeds and awesome wonders that Moshe did in the eyes of the Jewish People). Rashi explains this refers to Moshe receiving the Torah, as embodied in the Luchos HaBris, with his own hands and the amazing miracles and mighty deeds that Moshe performed in the awesome desert. All well and good. But, Rashi’s final words on the final phrase, l’eini kol Yisrael, are somewhat jarring. He says this refers to: Shenasa’o libo lishbor haluchos l’eineihem…v’hiskima da’as HaKadosh Baruch Hu l’da’ato (Moshe decided in his heart to break the luchos and HaShem succumbed to Moshe’s decision, i.e. to break them). It is hard to imagine a more tragic moment for Moshe than this! Why, according to Rashi, does the Torah identify as Moshe’s crowning and final achievement as the destruction of the luchos, the nullification of the giving of the Torah that Moshe fought so valiantly to deliver to the Jewish People?
One could suggest that the breaking of the luchos was indeed consistent with Moshe’s greatness as the preeminent leader of the Jewish people. The luchos represented the kiddushin, the marriage ring of the Shechinah, HaShem’s presence, and the Jewish People. In many places, Chazal, our rabbis, describe the giving of the Torah as an act of marriage, with HaShem taking the Jewish People as “His chosen bride.” By smashing the wedding ring Moshe delayed the marriage ceremony to give the Jewish People the chance to repent and recover from the grievous sin of making of the Golden Calf. By nullifying the marriage temporarily he assured that the Jewish People would not be considered adulterous partners in violation of their sacred marital vows. Instead, Moshe gave them the opportunity to begin again and remove their imperfections prior to joining a new and even holier union with HaShem. Moshe here emerges the ultimate advocate of K’lal Yisrael, even if his own personal achievements are at stake. Rashi pointed out to us that the greatest act of Moshe until now was the receiving of the luchos, u’l’chol hayad hachazaka, but even greater was his subsequent act of destroying them, so that the Jewish People could do t’shuva and begin their relationship with HaShem in a newer, holier, and more meaningful way.
This lesson emerges as a profound connection between the end and the beginning of the Torah. It demonstrates that if we want to be considered true ovdei Hashem we have to be willing to emulate Moshe’s final lesson to Klal Yisroel. Like Moshe, one has to be able to let go of even ones most cherished and familiar desires and goals, and be willing to start from the beginning,(b’reishis), with the belief that a deeper relationship with HaShem can and will emerge.
Our second month of aliya was very much about being willing to start from the beginning. We have been blessed to meet wonderful new families, friends, chavrusahs and many neighbors and professionals of all kinds, who have assisted us with every detail of our new life, from cellphones to plumbing to painting to governmental rights, and new yeshivas. Even shopping in a supermarket takes on a whole new meaning in Israel. Feeling like an idiot the first year here is a very familiar and constant theme.
Over Yom Kippur I had the opportunity to speak several times to a kehilla that meets at the local Tiferet Women’s Seminary, including delivering a Shabbat Shuva drasha, just after returning from Uman on Rosh HaShana. In Uman I had the opportunity to speak, study and share stories with a large group of Americans and Israelis staying together and joining meals together at a “hotel” known as Landau’s. We were privileged to hear Divrei Torah from Rabbi Nosson Maimon, a veteran Breslov scholar, who spoke to us as well.
Even finding a Succa was about the transition from old world to new. A former congregant from the Young Israel of Oceanside, Sarah (Nadav) Rosenbloom, lent us a beautifully decorated fabric Succa supported by a metal frame, which we assembled with some help from local handymen. Although hastily built it was a beautiful, though ephemeral, shelter. We hope that by next year we will have the honor of designing and building a more elaborate structure, but for this year we were so grateful that a relationship from the past gave us a helping hand to celebrate the chag in a beautiful way.
Chol HaMoed we headed for Yerushalayim to fulfill the mitzvah of Aliya L’Regel. We stayed at a hotel just across from Yeshiva Chut Shel Chesed, Rabbi Arush’s yeshiva, and participated in a massive Simchas Beis HaShoeva, that combined great teachers from Lubavitch (Rabbi Ginsberg) and Breslov, and attended by many yeshiva students, kipot s’rugot, and families - men and women alike. On Wednesday morning of Chol HaMoed, our two teenage Kohanim, Mendy and Levi, went to the Kotel to participate in the mass Birkat Kohanim gathering. They described to us the sea of humanity that engulfed them as they made their way towards the Kotel to offer their personal brachos to us and to all of K’lal Yisrael.
We had a festive family gathering hosted by our cousins, Chana and Shimon Galitzer of Har Nof, with close to fifty relatives who are here on aliya or are studying here for the year. The occasion marked the 30th anniversary of their aliya and welcomed us to our first Regel as olim to Yerushalayim. Others in attendance included cousin Rabbi Motty and Bayla Berger of Aish HaTorah, and representatives of the Bisritz, Jacobs, and Schwartz clans. Chana Galitzer, a remarkable artist whose many works include the Tefilla for Yoshvei Eretz Yisrael (which adorns our new home), noted that when she arrived almost thirty years ago she had almost no relatives here. Now her massive mirpeset overlooking Har Nof was filled to capacity with three generations of relatives, and counting. It gave us hope for our new beginning that down the road we could b’ezras HaShem experience the same thing.
Chani organized a very busy chol hamoed itinerary for little Elimelech and Akiva: We all enjoyed visiting the Petting Zoo (Pinat Chai) at a nearby yishuv, (Yishi), where they rode horses, held turtles and groundhogs, milked goats and made little sh’tilim (potted plants). We also spent an enjoyable day in the hands-on Children’s Science Museum in Yerushalayim. And to throw in an “American” style trip, Chani and kids (together with friends) spent a whole day in a themepark called Superland! The boys loved the rollercoaster!
Chani gets special kudos for hosting and feeding Mendy and seven of his friends for Shabbos Chol Hamoed. From Yeshivas all around yerushalayim, they gathered at our home for a “shabbaton” in honor of Mendy’s last Shabbos here before returning to New York. It was quite a scene: A maze of mattresses weaving around our very many unpacked boxes in the basement. (Houses do not come with closets in Israel.) The boys had a wonderful time together and of course we had our own minyan!
Simchas Torah was back in Ramat Beit Shemesh Alef where our magnificent Torah, dressed in its Yamim Nora’im white mantle, in memory of Rebbetzin Elisheva Schwartz, zatzal, was the center of a local Simchas Torah celebration, crown and all. A new eight hundred pound safe arrived the day after Yom Tov (on Simchas Torah in America) to hold our Torah safely and securely for years to come, be”H.
There is a statement in Israel: Haya tov v’tov she’haya (it was good, and it’s good that it was). We have been running at a furious pace from the moment we boarded the plane back on August 13. Now, as we move from the end of the period towards Shabbos B’reishis we can catch our breath a little and feel satisfied that the massive undertaking of aliya, moving and setting up our home and celebrating the Yamim Tovim is at least somewhat behind us. (Basement is full of boxes……)
On another note, I have started to deliver a nightly Daf Yomi at the local Aish Kodesh synagogue and have enjoyed immensely the opportunity to study every night with wonderful, sincere people who truly soak up every word of Talmud that they can. I have been invited to join efforts at the Family Institute in Jerusalem to spread teachings of spiritual based counseling and chaplaincy to a new generation of young rabbis, counselors and spiritual leaders, again, making from one ending a new beginning.
The final letter of the Torah is a lamed, the beginning letter, of course, is a beis. Together they spell lev, one’s heart. As our rabbis teach, rachmana liba ba’i (HaShem looks not so much for the external aspects of what we do but for the extent we put our heart and soul into our avoda). Perhaps every new beginning is about finding a lev chadash, a new excitement and a new perspective on what we hope to do with the precious days and hours of our lives. We feel very blessed to bring all of our wonderful family and friends into our new experiences in Israel, connecting them to what we are experiencing now and to what we hope to experience here in the future. K’ish echad b’lev echad. Also, there is no doubt that Israel is the heart and core of the Jewish experience today with all the communities in the diaspora revolving around its fate and its destiny. By connecting with you we hope to join you to that mindset and to inspire all of us to open our eyes and our hearts to the new beginnings that are occurring here on a daily basis, b’ruchniyus u’b’gashmiyus.
