From: JoshHoff@aol.com
Sent: Friday, October 13, 2006 3:01 AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort: Vezos Haberacha, 5767



                                            Everything is Broken
     
                    By Rabbi Joshua (shatteringly known as The Hoffer) Hoffman


 There is a long-standing practice, tracing itself back to the time of the medieval rabbinical authorities, the Rishonim, to read the beginning of parshas Bereishis on Simchas Torah, after the reading of the last parsha of the Torah, Vezos Haberacha, on that day, as prescribed in the Talmud. The basic message behind this practice is to indicate that we have never completed our study of Torah. Immediately after completing the yearly cycle of reading, we start all over again, to show that we have really not begun to fully understand, and must always look more deeply into the Torah than we have during the previous cycle of readings. However, this idea explains only the formal connection between the reading of Bereishis with the reading of Vezos Haberacha, but not. the thematic connection. We have, in the past, suggested some possible thematic connections (see Netvort to Vezos Haberacha, 5760, available at Torahheights.com). I would like to suggest yet another connection, this time between the very last verse of Vezos Haberacha and the first verse of Bereishis which is different from the one we suggested between those verses in a previous message that is not available at Torahheights.com.


 The Torah ends by giving us a description of the greatness of Moshe. We are told that there never again has risen in Yisroel a prophet like Moshe, for all the signs and wonders that God sent him to perform in Egypt, and "for all the strong hand and for all the signs that Moshe performed before the eyes of all Yisroel" (Devorim, 34:12). Commenting on the words," before the eyes of all Yisroel," Rashi says that this refers to Moshe's breaking of the first tablets in front of the people, as described earlier in the Torah (Devorim 9:17 as well as Shemos 34:19). Rabbi Shlomo Ganzfried, in his Torah commentary Aperion, cites a midrash to this verse which says that Moshe broke the tablets out of his humility. What kind of humility could possibly be involved here? Rabbi Ganzfried explains that the reason the people worshipped the golden calf was that they thought that, since Moshe had seemingly delayed in returning from Mt. Sinai, he must have died, and they needed to find a replacement for him. They believed that no man could ever reach the greatness of Moshe, and so they decided to create and worship an idol, which would take his place. Moshe, says Rabbi Ganzfried, out of his humility, wanted to demonstrate that their notion of considering him as irreplaceable was mistaken, and, therefore, he broke the tablets in front of them. I would like to expand on Rabbi Ganzfried's explanation, based on Netvort to parshas Tetzaveh, 5763 (available at Torahheights.com), and thereby show the connection between this verse and the first verse in Bereishis.


 We have mentioned in the past that parshas Tetzaveh is the only one in the Torah after Moshe's birth, with the exception of a few parshiyos in the book of Devorim, in which his name is not mentioned. This curiosity was already noticed by medieval commentators, including Rabbeinu Bachya and Rabbeinu Ya'akov, Ba'al HaTurim. The Ba'al HaTurim explains this absence by noting that when Moshe was pleading for God to forgive the Jews after they worshipped the golden calf, he said "and if not, erase me now from Your book which You have written" (Shemos 32:32). Although God did forgive the Jews, still Moshe's words were partially fulfilled, in that his name was left out of our parsha. This explanation, of course, assumes that our parshiyos are not recorded in chronological order. However, it does not, on its face, explain why it was parshas Tetzaveh that was chosen for the distinction of not having Moshe's name mentioned in it. I would like to pursue the Ba'al HaTurim's explanation, connecting the removal of Moshe's name to the sin of the golden calf, and demonstrate that it does, in fact, relate to our parsha, as well.


 The incident of the golden calf occurred after Moshe's prolonged absence from the nation. They miscalculated and expected him back earlier than he came, and, in panic, got Aharon to build them a calf, either to take Moshe's place as a kind of intermediary, following Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi's approach, or as an actual object of worship. Actually, one can argue that Moshe's abilities came from the Jewish people. Rabbi Mordechai Gifter writes that any special quality that exists among one group of Jews comes from the Jewish people itself. That is why, toward the beginning of parshas Tetzaveh, when it came time to appoint Aharon, God told Moshe to "bring near Aharon and his sons from among the children of Israel." (Shemos 28:1). Why, asks Rabbi Gifter, was it necessary to note that Aharon should be brought from among the children of Israel? Who else would he be brought from - the Egyptians? Rather, the point is that Aharon drew his spiritual distinction from the nation itself. In the same way, then, our greatest spiritual leader, Moshe, drew his strength from the nation. Perhaps this is also the meaning behind the Rambam's statement in his Laws of Teshuvah that every Jew has the potential to be as righteous as Moshe. When Moshe asked God to remove his name from His book, then, he was trying to show the people that they did, indeed, have great spiritual powers hidden within themselves. Perhaps that is why it is in parshas Tetzaveh, in which Aharon is called to duty, that Moshe's name is left out. Just as Aharon's unique qualities emerged from among the Jewish people, so too did Moshe's. In a similar way, then, the midrash in parshas Vezos Haberacha is telling us that Moshe broke the tablets in front of the people out of his humility, to demonstrate to the people that, rather than being irreplaceable, he actually drew his abilities from them, and they had no need, in his absence, to create an idol to lead them. With this understanding of the end of the parsha in mind, we can now offer an explanation of its connection to the beginning of parshas Bereishis.


 Rashi, in the beginning of parshas Bereishis, cites a midrash that explains the words 'Bereishis barah Elokim', which according to Rashi's own understanding should be translated as 'In the beginning of God's creation,' to mean, for the sake of 'reishis, ' God created. Reishis - or the first - refers, according to the midrash, to the nation of Israel, so that the first verse in the Torah is saying that God created the world for the sake of the Jewish nation. The idea behind this is that the Jewish nation acts as the bearer of God's name in the world, and is therefore the purpose of creation. Thus, the Torah ends, in Vezos Haberacha, with Moshe demonstrating to the Jewish people how great they are, through breaking the tablets in front of them, and begins, in parshas Bereishis, with a declaration that God created the world for the sake of the Jewish people, thus bearing testimony to their inherent greatness and importance in God's plan for the world..


 
 Rashi, in the beginning of parshas Bereishis, cites a midrash that explains the words ' Bereishis barah Elokim', which according to Rashi's own understanding should be translated as ' In the beginning of God's creation,' to mean, for the sake of 'reishis, ' God created. Reishis - or the first - refers, according to the midrash, to the Torah, and to the Jewish nation,since they are both called 'reishis' in various Biblical verses. Thus, the first verse in the Torah is saying that God created the world for the sake of the Torah and for the sake of the Jewish nation. The idea behind this is that the Jewish nation acts as the bearer of God's name in the world, as presented in the Torah, and is therefore the purpose of creation Yisrael,  both of which are called, in different Biblical verses, verses, ‘reishis ’ or first. Thus, the Torah ends, in Vezos Haberacha, with Moshe demonstrating to the Jewish people how great they are, through breaking the tablets in front of them, and begins, in parshas Bereishis, with a declaration that God created the world for the sake of the Jewish people, thus bearing testimony to their inherit greatness and importance n God's plan for the world.


 Please address all correspondence to the author (Rabbi Hoffman) with the following address - JoshHoff @ AOL.com.

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