Active Participation – VeZot HaBracha
וּלְכֹל הַיָּד הַחֲזָקָה וּלְכֹל הַמּוֹרָא הַגָּדוֹל אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה מֹשֶׁה לְעֵינֵי כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל (דברים לד, יב).
On Simchat Torah we complete the annual cycle of the Torah, ending with the last parsha in sefer Devarim, VeZot HaBracha, and beginning again with the first parsha in the Torah, Breishit.
The Torah begins with the most spectacular event in history – the creation of “history” itself - Creation of the universe and everything in it, (including time/history). The חֲמִשָּׁה חֻמְשֵׁי תּוֹרָה tell the tale of the inception of Am Yisrael, beginning with Adam HaRishon, who was supposed to have twelve children (tribes) and establish Am Yisrael, but as a result of his sin, his neshama split into multitudinous fragments that were scattered and only managed to reunite 2448 years later at Har Sinai.
They tell of the patriarchs, Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov (and perhaps Yosef – some opinions say Yosef was almost of the דַּרְגָּה of the Avot, he was called אַבְרֵךְ or אָב רַךְ and his sons Ephraim and Menashe were elevated to Tribe status). They tell of Yaakov and his family descending to Egypt with 70 souls, enduring 210 years of slavery under Pharaoh and emerging 600,000 strong (males over the age of 20, approximately 6 million in total).
They tell of the Exodus and the epic miracles that took place, the Ten Plagues, the Splitting of the Red Sea. They tell of the greatest event ever to take place in history, Har Sinai, where HKB”H appeared in “Person”, accompanied by 20,000 angels, to give Am Yisrael the Torah.
They tell of Am Yisrael becoming a nation and their wanderings in the Midbar for forty years. They end with the death of Moshe and with Am Yisrael poised to enter Eretz Yisrael under the leadership of Yehoshua.
Finally, we reach the climax of this epic “tale”, the last passuk in our parsha, above. One would think that the ending would be as monumental as the beginning.
We wait with bated breath for the last words of the Torah and they are … אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה מֹשֶׁה לְעֵינֵי כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל. The Mefarshim (Targum Yonatan, Sifri, Rashi, etc.) say that this is referring to Moshe breaking the Luchot HaBrit (there is a hint in the passuk - the gematria of לְעֵינֵי כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל is הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי כֹּרֵת [בְּרִית]).
Rashi (ibid.) says that HKB”H agreed with Moshe breaking the Luchot and said to him “Yasher Koach that you broke them!” This is how the Torah ends.
What kind of ending is that?
Instead of ending with something spectacular and inspiring …, the Torah ends with one of the most embarrassing and tragic events in our history. A short thirty-nine days after receiving the Torah, Am Yisrael sinned with the egel. HKB"H told Moshe, who was up on the mountain at the time, to return because Am Yisrael had sinned.
When Moshe descended and saw Am Yisrael dancing around the egel, he cast down the two Luchot that he held in his hands and smashed them. According to the Gemara (Taanit 23a), Moshe waited for the letters to depart from the Luchot and ascend back to Heaven before breaking the Luchot. This was not done privately, out of sight – it was done purposely and ceremoniously in front of the entire Am Yisrael לְעֵינֵי כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל.
Why break both Luchot? The sin of the egel was בֵּין אָדָם לַמָּקוֹם, so break only the first tablet with the commandments בֵּין אָדָם לַמָּקוֹם and leave the second with the commandments בֵּין אָדָם לַחֲבֵרוֹ intact. This is impossible. Both Luchot are one integral unit, when you transgress one you transgress the other (רש"ר הירש, שמות לא, יח).
According to Rashi (above), HKB"H commended Moshe for doing so, although He did not command Moshe to do so. This is one of three things Moshe did of his own initiative that HKB"H sanctioned in retrospect (Shabbat 87a).
Without getting into all the perushim of why Moshe broke the Luchot, I would like to concentrate here on why this topic wraps up the חֲמִשָּׁה חֻמְשֵׁי תּוֹרָה. What is so unique about this event that warrants its distinguished placement as the epilogue to the Torah?
Let us begin by comparing the first Matan Torah to the second Matan Torah.
In the first iteration, the Luchot were carved out by HKB"H and given to Moshe. In the second set, HKB"H commands Moshe to carve out the two Luchot himself. This gives us a sneak peek into the essence of the difference between the way the Torah was given the first time and the way it was given the second time, after the sin with the egel.
The first set of Luchot were a gift. It was sufficient for Am Yisrael to declare נַעֲשֶׂה וְנִשְׁמַע to receive them. They did not need to work at all beyond that. In fact, the Gemara (Nedarim 38a) says that during the forty days and nights that Moshe was up on Har Sinai, he learned the entire Torah, but at the end of each day he forgot all he had learned that day. In the end, HKB"H gave him the entire Torah as a gift.
The Gemara (Eruvin 54a) says that if the first set of Luchot had not been broken, Am Yisrael would have never have forgotten what they had learned. They would have learned it once and it would have been indelible forever. Since the first Luchot were broken, Am Yisrael now study and forget what they learn.
From this it appears that the second set of Luchot were inferior to the first, however, this was not the case. How long did the first Luchot last? Forty days after Matan Torah they were already broken. How long did the second set of Luchot last?
They have lasted 3338 years! Up to the present day. The second set of Luchot were never destroyed – they were hidden together with the Aron HaBrit by king Yoshiyahu, probably in the catacombs under Har HaBayit (Yoma 52b). In other words, they still exist!
If the first set of Luchot were much "holier" than the second (and they undoubtedly were), why did they not survive?
The simple answer is that – they lacked "active participation". The first set of Luchot required no effort on our part, they were a gift. The second set of Luchot, on the other hand, requires intense active participation from us.
We (Moshe) had to carve them himself, they were not a "freebie". Am Yisrael who study them, have to keep repeating our study over and over and over again, in order to remember what we learn. Without the continued repetition and participation, we would forget.
The secret to Torah study is תְּמִידִין וּמוּסָפִין. To be "matmid", to repeat and review over and over and … over again. Anyone who studies Daf Yomi will tell you, this is not a university degree that you study once and that's it. You finish a cycle of the Shas every seven and a half years and what do you do immediately after?
You start all over again, another cycle and another. What do we do on Simchat Torah? We end a cycle of the Torah and we start the same cycle again and … again, year in, year out. Each cycle is not the same as the last. Each time, we add and accumulate new knowledge – "musafin".
When we invest our time and energy, our active participation in something, we make it part of ourselves and it acquires greater value. It is not "just" a wedding gift that uncle Shmulik gave us that has sat in our kitchen cabinet since the wedding 20-years ago and never been used.
When you take a volume of the Gemara off the shelf, if the pages are pristine and almost untouched, that masechet is simply an ornament in your home and of little value. If, however, the pages are yellowed and wrinkled from repeated use, that masechet does not reside on your shelf in the living room, it resides in you!
How could the Torah end with Moshe breaking the Luchot? The answer is that the Torah does not end with Moshe breaking the Luchot – it begins with Moshe breaking the Luchot. The Torah never ends! The final passuk in the Torah is perhaps the most monumental and inspiring passuk in the entire Torah.
Like the first passuk which describes the Creation of the world, which HKB"H repeats every millisecond of every day in a never ending cycle of injection of energy, the last passuk of the Torah describes the never ending cycle of injection of energy by us, Am Yisrael, that makes the Torah a living, beating entity that exists forever in our hearts (the first and last letters of the Torah are לב) and is not relegated to becoming some dusty textbook on a shelf.
This Simchat Torah marks two years since the Simchat Torah massacre on October 7, 2023. This war has taken its toll on our nation, both in Israel and abroad. The loss of life, the terrifying rise in international antisemitism, the feeling of uncertainty and bewilderment as to where this is all headed. Things are so dynamic and unpredictable that by the time you read this, the reality may have changed.
As I write these words, the world awaits Hamas' reply to Trump's "peace plan" and meanwhile the remaining hostages continue to suffer in unspeakable horror.
The "experts" say that Israel is not designed for prolonged wars. All preceding wars were brief and decisive. The fact that this war has continued for two long years has contributed to its stagnation and lack of completion.
These so-called "experts" do not understand which nation they belong to. This war has not been conducted over the last two years - it has been conducted over the last 3338 years!
From the very second that Am Yisrael became a nation (even before that), our enemies have been trying to wipe us out. Am Yisrael didn't even have a second's respite to pack up their towels (unused) after crossing the Red Sea, when Amalek cowardly attacked us at our weakest point.
Am Yisrael's DNA is built on תְּמִידִין וּמוּסָפִין, constant repetition and accumulation – in our Torah study and also in our vigilance and active participation in warding off our enemies.
The degree of active participation in our own defense is directly proportional to the spiritual status of Am Yisrael. If Am Yisrael are united in the service of HKB"H, our active participation in the defense of our nation is reduced drastically ה' יִלָּחֵם לָכֶם וְאַתֶּם תַּחֲרִישׁוּן (שמות יד, יד). Note the two יד's, perek יד and passuk יד.
We lend a "hand" (hishtadlut) and HKB"H lends a "hand", and thus we prevail. However, if it is just one יד, in other words כֹּחִי וְעֹצֶם יָדִי עָשָׂה לִי אֶת הַחַיִל הַזֶּה, then HKB"H says "You think it is just you, and you are doing so well on your own, so I will let you continue - going it alone - and we will see how far you get!"
When Am Yisrael veer from the DNA, we suffer the consequences. We are not meant to be a nation like all the other nations. When we get tired of the תְּמִידִין and try to be like all the other nations, instead of becoming like the other nations we cause all the nations to rise up against us. The more we try to make them like us, the more they hate us. This is the way HKB"H designed His world, to remind us who we truly are and what our true purpose is.
When there is a disconnect between the two sets of Luchot, בֵּין אָדָם לַמָּקוֹם and בֵּין אָדָם לַחֲבֵרוֹ, Am Yisrael implode from within. When you glorify the בֵּין אָדָם לַמָּקוֹם at the expense of בֵּין אָדָם לַחֲבֵרוֹ, you experience the phenomenon of unequal sharing of the load. When you glorify the בֵּין אָדָם לַחֲבֵרוֹ at the expense of בֵּין אָדָם לַמָּקוֹם, you get Kaplan.
The two Luchot are an integral unit and cannot exist mutually exclusive of the other. This is who and what Am Yisrael are and any who perpetuate this "disconnect", in either direction, are "enemies of the state", and must be marginalized to such a degree until they are no longer a threat (like with the Tribe of Shimon's inheritance in biblical Eretz Yisrael).
Most of Am Yisrael understand this and the core of our nation is healthy. Their only shortcoming is that they are not vocal enough. To marginalize the "enemies of the state", the healthy majority must be more vocal than the "enemies of the state", not attacking them, but spreading light and truth. By attacking and responding to these marginal extremists, you become like them.
For example, channel 14 is fast becoming a mirror image of channel 12, but on the opposite end of the spectrum. Instead of left-wing bulldogs, you now have right-wing bulldogs. We need to become better than them, to establish media channels that reflect the truth of the majority without stooping to the same dirty tactics as these fanatics. Only in this way will we attract the healthy majority of Am Yisrael and get them on board.
The healthy majority of Am Yisrael lacks media representation and unfortunately it is media representation that shapes consciousness and defines reality. The disproportionate media representation of the marginal elements in Am Yisrael are our greatest existential threat as a nation today. To save Am Yisrael, we can be the silent majority no longer. This requires active participation, each doing their part and not waiting for someone else to do the job for you.
We have seen what a dysfunction in the "message of Simchat Torah" can wreak. We instead need to embrace the power of Simchat Torah and restore our nation to its natural balance and become active participants in our own destiny.
Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach
Eliezer Meir Saidel
Machon Lechem Hapanim
www.machonlechemhapanim.org
