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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