Vezot Habracha 5771

Rabbi Mario Gurevich

Beth Israel Synagogue, Aruba

A year has ended and another has just begun.  Time and years flow in cycles, beyond our will.  Of course, we mark the time with our holidays and their observance, but even if we didn’t, the old year would have ended, and the new one, begun.

 
On the other hand, on Simchat Torah we celebrate the end of a cycle and the start of another, which can only happen through the exercise of our will: on this day, we finish the reading-study of the entire Torah, once again starting it, at the same time, from the beginning.

 
The last word of the last parashah, VeZot haBrachah, is Israel, and the first word of the first parashah, is Bereshit, “in the beginning”. Hence, our sages concluded: “What is the purpose of Bereshit?  Israel. And what is the purpose of Israel?  Bereshit.”

In other words:  What is the purpose of the Torah and its study?  The welfare and spiritual growth of Israel, the entirety of its people being all of us.  And then, what is the purpose, the raison d'être, of Israel?  The study of Torah, in what is a finely balanced game of cause and effect.  The Torah could not exist without us; we could not exist without the Torah.

 
That is why the festival of Simchat Torah should be experienced with joy.  It is through our effort and perseverance that, once again, we culminate this cycle, and these same virtues will enable its renewal.

 
It is a reason to rejoice as a group and as a community, but the rejoicing should be individual.  Each one of us should celebrate this holiday as a personal triumph. The victory of our will to study the 54 parashiot, the 184 chapters, the 5845 verses of the Torah, known as “tree of life” by those who keep it.

 
This parashah ends the story of Moses’ life and his odyssey as leader of the people of Israel, from their slavery in Egypt to the eve before their entering into the land of Canaan, promised by God since the patriarchs.  “So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab… and no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day” (Deut. 34:5-6).

 
Moses did not leave behind a tombstone to pay him homage, nor a shrine to go to on pilgrimage.  But his legacy is monumental, as is our enormous tribute.  With each positive action, we honor his memory; with each letter we study from the Torah, we make a pilgrimage to his sepulchre; with each one of his teachings we understand, we take on some of his immortality and grandeur.

 
Moses, of whom we bear witness, did not die, but rather lives on through his work and through each one of us, who study and try to keep his law.
 

Sisu veSimchu, the hymn we chant in Simchat Torah, says:
 

Rejoice and be joyous on Simchat Torah
And honour the Torah.
For beyond any things, it is your reward
Better than gold and precious pearls.
Let us delight and rejoice with this Torah
For it is our strength and our light.

 

Chag Sameach!