Torah & more… תורה ועוד

I love Moshe in the Torah portion of Vayeylech, the shortest parasha in the Torah: at 120 years old, he walks. And not for his own musing, but in order to talk to the People “all these things” (Deuteronomy 31:1). Couldn’t they come to him? Didn’t anyone think, oh, Moshe is getting old, our journey is nearing its end, we should try to hear as much Torah from him as possible, let’s all go”… The portion’s name should have been “Venelech”, in the first person plural, as in “let us go”! but instead, the humblest person we know of, gets up and goes, so that we too will learn to walk; to go talk; to ask, to teach, to bid farewell when the time comes; to not sit around and wait for things to happen, but to get up and make them happen, at least start.
At 120, he also writes the Torah, coincidentally, or not, with the same Torah portion he “walks”, possibly to hint at a connection between the two (“walking”, lalechet, halacha and the Torah)? According to our tradition, he wrote 13 scrolls: one for each tribe and one to be placed in the holy ark. The sages have already noted the various authors of the Biblical books (Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 14:b and copied below). The question of course arises regarding “who wrote the Torah”. The Torah itself says that Moses did (Deuteronomy 31:9), but then, there are issues: Could Moses actually write about his own death? According to some, sure, why not; he was G-d’s secretary and would write whatever the Boss told him! And yet according to others, writing about his own death would have been too much to ask, and Joshua wrote that. Ah, but once we say that any part of the Torah was written by someone else, what about other seemingly out of place verses, like Genesis 12:6: – והכנעני אז בארץ- “And the Canaanites were then in the Land”. What does the Torah mean by “then”? Did someone write it in later??? There are ways to explain it but the question remains: Did Moshe write the whole Torah as describe right here in our reading?
In the early 1990’s a fantastic kids’ book was published: The Always Prayer Shawl. The Books tells of the time when Adam’s family leaves Russia for America, Grandfather gives him an ancient prayer shawl that has been passed down from generation to generation, and in time, an older Adam passes the prayer shawl down to his own grandson. The problem is the prayer shawl get frayed: the tzitzit unravels, the writing fades, the cloth falls apart. Every generation fixes something, so by the time it reaches Adam’s own grandson, it’s a completely different prayer shawl. Nevertheless, it is the always prayer shawl, the same exact one, passed down through the generations.
I think of this story often: on one hand, one of our principals is that G-d gave the Torah to Moses, but on the other hand, He also gave the Torah to us, and as Rabbi Yehoshua noted in the famous debate (Bava Metzia 59b) it didn’t stay in the heavens. Further, if we think Moses got the whole Torah already at Sinai, we have many problems. For example, why was he worried during Korach’s rebellion? Why was he pleading to go into the Land? More likely is that Moses wrote as they traveled and at the end, put it all together to give us one book. The sages already split hairs on what is this “all together”: really all or maybe just most?? And what would be the ramifications of that??
Luckily, we don’t have to decide. It is possible to accept both and understand it in a boarder way, exactly like with the Always prayer shawl: too many changes, additions and adjustments, will make the shawl a table cloth or perhaps a dress. The Torah we have is, of course, the Torah of Moses, and yet, at the same time, it is being written again and again, as it being transmitted from one generation to the next.
Shabbat Shalom.

From the Talmud:

בבא בתרא יד:ב: ומי כתבן? משה כתב ספרו ופרשת בלעם ואיוב יהושע כתב ספרו ושמונה פסוקים שבתורה שמואל כתב ספרו ושופטים ורות דוד כתב ספר תהלים על ידי עשרה זקנים ע”י אדם הראשון על ידי מלכי צדק ועל ידי אברהם וע”י משה ועל ידי הימן וע”י ידותון ועל ידי אסף
Bava Batra 14:b: The baraita now considers the authors of the biblical books: And who wrote the books of the Bible? Moses wrote his own book, i.e., the Torah, and the portion of Balaam in the Torah, and the book of Job. Joshua wrote his own book and eight verses in the Torah, which describe the death of Moses. Samuel wrote his own book, the book of Judges, and the book of Ruth. David wrote the book of Psalms by means of ten elders of previous generations, assembling a collection that included compositions of others along with his own. He included psalms authored by Adam the first man, by Melchizedek king of Salem, and by Abraham, and by Moses, and by Heman, and by Jeduthun, and by Asaph,
15a
ועל ידי שלשה בני קרח
and by the three sons of Korah.
ירמיה כתב ספרו וספר מלכים וקינות חזקיה וסיעתו כתבו (ימש”ק סימן) ישעיה משלי שיר השירים וקהלת אנשי כנסת הגדולה כתבו (קנד”ג סימן) יחזקאל ושנים עשר דניאל ומגילת אסתר עזרא כתב ספרו ויחס של דברי הימים עד לו
Jeremiah wrote his own book, and the book of Kings, and Lamentations. Hezekiah and his colleagues wrote the following, and a mnemonic to remember which books they wrote is yod, mem, shin, kuf: Isaiah [Yeshaya], Proverbs [Mishlei], Song of Songs [Shir HaShirim], and Ecclesiastes [Kohelet]. The members of the Great Assembly wrote the following, and a mnemonic to remember these books is kuf, nun, dalet, gimmel: Ezekiel [Yeḥezkel ], and the Twelve Prophets [Sheneim Asar], Daniel [Daniel ], and the Scroll of Esther [Megillat Ester]. Ezra wrote his own book and the genealogy of the book of Chronicles until his period.

Why do we celebrate Rosh Hashana? We often say, “it’s the birthday of the world!” and it is, but… turns out, it’s a bit more complicated than that. According to Rav Uri Sherki, every Jewish holiday is connected to a historical event. If the event is creation, we already have a holiday to celebrate that (Shabbat!). Further, we don’t celebrate events we don’t attend. This is why although light was created first, it only got a holiday when we encounter the historical events of Hanukkah. So what it is that happened on Rosh Hashana?
Rabbi Eliezer and rabbi Yehoshua debate that too, and the Talmud tells us (Masechet Rosh Hashana 10:2) that these two esteemed sages actually disagreed on whether the world was created in Tishrei because Rabbi Yehoshua holds that the world was created in Nisan, in the spring, and there is no way that not only do we celebrate an event which we did not attend, but an event over which there is a machloket (unresolved debate)! But there are a few things they agree on, and one national event: בטלה העבדות במצרים – Slavery in Egypt was canceled.
Wait, what?? What about the charoset, maror, matza baked in haste?? Prince of Egypt?? Anything??
Yes, all of it and yet, according to our sages, it is really Rosh Hashana that celebrates the beginning of freedom!
And what about Yom Kippur? What historical, national event does Yom Kippur celebrate?
Our tradition teaches that the day Moses comes back with the second set of tablets is – Yom Kippur, the day of reconciliation, forgiveness and second chances. If so, what we’re about the celebrate is a fall variation of Pesach and of Shavuot!
What is the time span between this first event and the second?
If slavery was canceled in a sort of emancipation on Rosh Hashana, then the Exodus itself in the spring, then Shavuot, first set of tablets, followed by the golden calf, and more days on Sinai leading to getting the second set on the next Yom Kippur, it means that it’s been one whole year between them; well, if to be precise, one year and 10 days; ten days that don’t quite “belong” to either year. Those are the ten days we’re beginning tonight, the ten days of teshuva, repentance, a time of recalibrating and starting over.

May it be a good beginning to a good New Year! Shana Tova!!

In the process of “going and coming” and of finding balance, Parashat Ki Tavo can be hard to read. So much so that a major part of it is customarily read by many in whisper.
It starts all nice with a beautiful detailed account of how we bring the bikurim, first fruits, a reading which is included, still, every year, in the Passover Haggadah as the story of where we’ve come from, where we’re going to and what are we doing here.
But then, this gives way to the notorious “Blessings and Curses”, perhaps better translated as “consequences” – what will happen if we listen and, alternatively, what if we don’t. Are those two possibly connected?
The process of bringing the first fruit to the priest in the Temple is especially hard to understand today maybe because we live in such a “fast-food”, fast-anything culture, where everything must happen immediately if not sooner (‘what! It’s been 20 seconds and no answer to my text?!’).
But in order to bring the first fruit…. It wasn’t even enough to see that first fig beginning to ripen on the tree, when it was marked with a special ribbon, then guarded throughout the season, making sure it keeps growing nicely, then picked, wrapped safely, then put in the basket and carried all the way – with everything that can happen along the journey – to Jerusalem, just to say, Look! This is It! This is the fruit of my partnership with the amazing, endless, wonderful gifts G-d gave me and family!
Not only could this long, arduous process been disrupted at any moment, but it had to start much earlier, with preparing the soil, planting the tree, caring for it. Or, caring for the animals, feeding them, taking them out, cleaning after them, day in and day out; season in and season out. At any moment we can begin to think, ‘oh look at me and what I’ve done!! At any moment, we can begin to think, ‘oh, this will never work; I’m worthless!’
And the Torah, again and again wants to remind us: we’re not everything, we’re not nothing. Most of all, we are not alone but a part of.
What’s our part? According to the Kabbalists, there is bounty coming to the world all the time, just good stuff pouring down from the heavens, but without a “something” on earth to catch it, it flows on. There needs to be a vessel to collect it, like a reservoir for rain and flood water. We are that reservoir; we are that vessel. It is perhaps no coincidence that we are made of “dirt”, of the material most used for pottery. We can hold. We can sustain. We can collect, then share.
Kids in Israel sometimes say (or used to say?) שברו את הכלים ולא משחקים – “the vesses are broken and we can’t play”. I used to think of it as just a silly kids’ rhyme. Some say it’s about the proximity between כלים (kelim, vessels) and כללים (klallim, rules) but then, I realized, that maybe it says that when our vessel is cracked or broken, for any reason, we can’t “play”, we can’t participate. Because, after all, we do not and cannot create or bring this bounty from scratch; that’s not on us. But we can bring the vessel to hold it and give it on.
And our “vessel” needs prep. There are times when we’re grumpy or haughty; too much or too little of anything and we can’t “be”; We might think, ‘ah, no worries, I’ll just be “ready” when I need to without all this work on the way’, but it’s not possible, no more then it’s possible to jump out of bed with a beautiful fig or sheep and run to the Temple. Not unless we did all the necessary steps long beforehand. Even then, there is no guarantee, but without it, so much less.
It is customary to read Ki Tavo before Rosh Hashana, during this month of Elul which is intended for reflection because Ki Tavo can help us think back about where we’ve done well, where we’ve erred, and how to proceed in our relationships with others and with G-d. According to the Torah, blessings and curses don’t just happen randomly. They are like signs along the way for us, how to maximize or minimize our chances.
The Torah includes another strange statement in this week’s reading: ושמחת בכל הטוב אשר נתן לך ה’ אלוהיך… then you will be happy with all the good that Hashem your G-d has given you (Deuteronomy 26:11). Is that a mitzvah or a simple statement of facts? Yes. And… Maybe it’s an expression of how we feel in those moments when we just “are”, in what some now call “flow”, moments of pure simcha, joy, moving about knowing where we’ve come from, where we’re going to and what we’re here to do.

Shabbat Shalom.