going home ... to yerushalayim: Reb Neuberger: Parshas Noach

30 October 2024

Reb Neuberger: Parshas Noach

THE WHOLE PACKAGE

The world goes in cycles.

The earth revolves around the sun.

The moon revolves around the earth.

Hashem set up the heavens so that mankind would learn how to organize our life. “The heavens declare the glory of G-d and the expanse of the sky tells of His handiwork. Day following day brings expressions of praise … night following night bespeaks wisdom. There is no speech and there are no words; their sound is unheard …. The Torah of Hashem is perfect, restoring the soul ….” (Tehillim 19)

The Torah is a cycle. Each year we end the Chumash on Shemini Atzeres/Simchas Torah and immediately we begin anew. “Hashem made the moon for festivals; the sun knows its destination. You make darkness and it is night, in which every beast of the forest stirs. The young lions roar after their prey and … seek their food from G-d. The sun rises … they are gathered in and crouch in their dens. Man goes forth to his work and to his labor until evening.” (Tehillim 104)

History also is cyclical. At the beginning we are created. We go out to our labor “under the sun.” Being imperfect, we err. If we are fortunate, we seek Hashem’s guidance. He teaches us to do teshuva. We correct our mistakes and hope for redemption. The cycle of mistake and redemption occurs over and over. Every year brings a new Yom Kippur, but we hope the cycle is on a higher level this year than the year before. "A tzaddik falls seven times and rises.” (Mishlei 24:16)

The first Rashi to Beraishis is a perfect example of how a great rabbi sees the end of the cycle when he looks at the beginning. Imagine this man Rashi, who worked in the shadow of the Crusades, surrounded by mortal danger. You would never guess it from his writings, which seem ensconced in serenity, belying the mayhem around him. But his neshoma was focused on emes, the World of Truth which is the destination of tzaddikim.

When I was much younger, before we had found the Torah, I lived as if I were on a merry-go-round. You climb on the horse and the music begins. You whirl around and around and it is a beautiful ride. The wind blows your hair. And then – suddenly – the music stops. The ride is over. And you are exactly where you were when you got on the horse!

This is the life of the nations, but not so the Jew! We do not go in circles. We have a destination. Each week the destination is Shabbos. And the destination of our entire life is Olam ha Ba, the World of Truth, where we hope to stand in the presence of the King of Kings. We always have a destination, and each moment – hopefully – we move closer to our goal as we guide ourselves by the Torah: “asher kidshanu b’mitzvosav.” Through the mitzvos, Hashem elevates us.

Rashi predicts the end of history from the beginning of history: “If the nations of the world will say to Israel, ‘You are thieves, for you conquered the land of the Seven Nations … then [you, the Children of Israel] will say to them, ‘The entire earth belongs to the Holy One Blessed is He. He created it and He [originally] gave it to them, and [then] by His wish He took it from them and gave it to us.’”

Reb Yaakov Galinsky zt”l tells a story which occurred in 1947, when Ben Gurion spoke at the United Nations and said that our deed to the Land is contained in the Torah. Whereupon Ahmed Shukairy, the representative of Syria, countered, “It also says in the Torah that you Jews must keep Shabbos!”

OY! Words of truth from our enemy!

How right he was! We can’t have it both ways! Either we accept the whole package or – G-d forbid – we lose the whole package! Rashi looked at the beginning and saw the end. The nations of the world are screaming at us: “You are bandits! You stole the Land of Israel.”

The answer is right there in the Torah. The Master of the World gave us the Holy Land as our exclusive possession. But we need to accept the whole package!