Rabbi Winston: V'ZOS HABROCHAH

 

I did not originally intend to write anything for HaBrochah, but here is something anyhow…

V'ZOS HABROCHAH IS Moshe Rabbeinu's parting speech. He's about to pass over, but not from the desert to Eretz Yisroel but from this world to the next one. The people knew they were losing a great leader, but not how great a leader. Familiarity breeds contempt, which means different things on different levels. 

People can be friends for years and one may never know or appreciate just how great the other one was. Spouses often treat one another with less respect than others treat them. It's not always because a spouse knows better, but often because one or both spouses are too focused on what they are not getting out of the relationship to see what they are getting. 

The Jewish People thought they knew Moshe Rabbeinu well enough. They didn't even come close. Had they, they would never have let him go. The Leshem explains that Moshe Rabbeinu was the last person who could individually bring the redemption for the entire nation. Once he died, redemption became a national project...and still is. Some 3,280 years later, we are still waiting for the bus and, once again, with an increasing sense of urgency. 

I recently saw in the Pachad Yitzchak (Rav Yitzchak Hutner, zt"l) that we celebrate Simchas Torah on Shemini Atzeres because it is only through Torah that we maintain a constant connection to God. According to the Midrash, Shemini Atzeres is God's extending His time with His people because He finds separating from them difficult. But it lasts only one day, and separation is inevitable. So, like all others in a similar predicament, He sends us off into the year with a “memento" of our time together, His Torah. 

And not just our time with God, but with His trusted servant, Moshe Rabbeinu. Long gone, Moshe Rabbeinu remains the pipeline through which all Torah comes into this world to this very day. If Torah is flowing through you in any way, it came through Moshe Rabbeinu first. You only have access to it because he has shared it with you.

In fact, in one place the Gemora says that God had only given the Torah to Moshe Rabbeinu, and that he was the one to have decided to share it with us. This idea could use a little discussion, but the point is the point: we owe our connection to Torah to Moshe Rabbeinu, and always will. 

Don't worry, though. You may have your opportunity to thank him...in person. The Arizal says that Moshe Rabbeinu reincarnates into every generation to rectify the Erev Rav he took out of Egypt with him. 

Eventually, Moshe will even be the Moshiach to complete the final redemption which will only be the completion of the first redemption from Egypt he started but never finished. But this time, once he finally comes and wraps up history to transition to Yemos HaMoshiach, will have a better appreciation of who Moshe Rabbeinu was, and is. That's when he will finally understand the true nature of the blessing with which he left us just before he died. To understand any blessing you have to appreciate the one giving it. 

Chag Samayach,

Pinchas Winston