Shabbat Shalom Weekly

Torah Portion:  Nitzavim – Vayelech

Discovering Ourselves
by Rabbi Shraga Simmons

The Talmud says that Moses, before his death, wrote 13 Torah scrolls – one was kept in the Holy Ark, and the remainder was distributed one to each of the 12 tribes. This was an ingenious way to safeguard the integrity of the Torah text, so that all future copies could be checked against the original scrolls written by Moses.

It’s interesting that this parsha lists the final of the 613 mitzvot – that everyone is obligated to write their own copy of the Torah. Even if someone inherited a scroll, he must still write his own.

The commentators explain that, today, we fulfill this mitzvah by amassing a library of Torah books – to create an environment with the resources conducive to Torah study.

Yet there’s a deeper idea here. The mitzvah to write your own Torah scroll means that we have to internalize the Torah. To get an emotional relationship with Torah, so that our thoughts and actions are always filtered through the prism of Torah. The Torah has always provided Jews with an approach, an outlook, on everything from business to marriage, from tragedy to celebration.

As Rabbi Emanuel Feldman writes:

“Beyond all the good, rational reasons, Torah is the mysterious bridge which connects the Jew and God, across which they interact and communicate, and by means of which God fulfills His covenant with His people to sustain them and protect them.

“When we study Torah, we are not studying an abstract and arcane text of the ancient world. We are studying the way in which God wants us to live on this earth… (We) are in fact engaged in discovering the essence of Judaism, which is to say, the essence of ourselves…”

 

Eradicating The Bitter Root
by Rabbi Abba Wagensberg

This week’s parsha is always read close to Rosh Hashana, which indicates it has a connection to this great and awesome day. How does this week’s portion help prepare us for the Day of Judgment?

I find that many of us are filled with trepidation as Rosh Hashana approaches. We know that we are about to enter the courtroom where our fates for the year – regarding health, finances, spouse, children, etc. – will be written and sealed. The seriousness of this time of year often causes us to scramble for “tricks” that will guarantee a sweet future for ourselves. I would like to share one fundamental idea that, although simple to put into practice, can have far-reaching results in our lives.

In order to positively impact our future, it is crucial that we learn how to be “defense attorneys” on behalf of the Jewish people. The Talmud (Sotah 8b) teaches that the way we measure other people is the way that we are measured by God. In other words, if we refrain from criticism and accusations, and instead are careful to say only positive things about our fellow Jews, God will reciprocate in kind. We must learn to emphasize the good we see in Jewish individuals, communities, and in the nation as a whole, if we are to create a positive impression in the upper worlds.

We demonstrate this idea on Rosh Hashana by blowing the shofar. The holiness and purity of the shofar blast causes many of us to feel chills up and down our spines, or even to be moved to tears. This reaction is no coincidence. Our mystical tradition teaches that the sound of a shofar is, in fact, the collective voice of the Jewish people. No matter who we are or what we do, quivering deep inside of us is a pure and holy voice that is calling out to God and wanting to fulfill His will.

Keeping this thought in mind can add a new dimension to the way we listen to the shofar this year. The sound of the shofar testifies that every Jew is a beautiful person, who, deep down, wants to do the right thing. If we can cultivate this awareness, and lovingly excuse other people’s mistakes, then we will succeed in defending the Jewish people – whereupon God will reciprocate by accentuating our own positive behavior and finding justifications for our own mistakes.

One hint to this idea can be seen in Deut. 29:17, “Lest there be among you a root that produces haughtiness and wormwood” (Pen yaish bachem shoresh poreh rosh v’la’anah). The Mayana Shel Torah points out that the initial letters of the last four words of this verse (SH-oresh, P-oreh, R-osh, V-la’anah) form an acronym of the word SHOFAR. In his view, this teaches us that the shofar blasts can remove any bad “root” that may be found within us.

We could also suggest an additional understanding of this verse. Even if our actions, speech, and thoughts have been negative, we still contain within us the holy and pure sound of a shofar that is calling out to be close to God.

It is important to defend the Jewish people by speaking positively about others instead of articulating their shortcomings. Involving ourselves in this exercise is the ideal preparation for Rosh Hashana, since the primary mitzvah of the day is the blowing of the shofar, which reminds us of our inner purity and holiness. May we be blessed this year to see only the positive and to recognize the shofar’s voice hidden inside each and every one of us, so that we all receive an overabundant downpour of happiness, health, and wealth.

Please Forgive Me
by Nesanel Yoel Safran

From this week’s Torah portion:

When people mess up and then apologize, how should we react? In this week’s Torah portion (30:2-3) we learn that God forgives those who strayed from Him once they sincerely apologize. We can learn from here to forgive other people, too.

In our story, a boy fights, then fights to forgive.

“And an evil flying giant destroys the entire city!”

Josh looked on in horror as his friend, Mike, took a flying leap and came crashing feet-first onto the beautiful sand castle they’d been working on together all morning, completely destroying it.

“Jerk! I can’t believe you did that!” Josh yelled out over Mike’s loud cackling laughter.

“Come on, it’s funny!” Mike insisted.

But Josh was not amused. He was so not amused that he wouldn’t talk to Mike or even look at him.

“C’mon, it was just a joke!” Mike said.

Josh turned his head away and didn’t respond.

“Barbecue’s ready, guys!” Josh’s dad called out. Their two families had gone on the lakeside outing together and as they sat down to eat, Josh made it a point to sit himself as far away from his ex-friend as he possibly could. Mike edged closer to him.

“Look, I’m sorry,” he said. “If I knew you’d get so mad I wouldn’t have done it.”

Josh ignored him, picked up his plate and walked over to the far side of the campsite.

A few minutes later, Josh’s brother, Ken sat down next to him.

“Hey, what’s going on?” he asked.

“Nothing,” Josh shrugged.

“Don’t tell me it’s ‘nothing,'” Ken said, “when two guys who are usually closer than a burger and a bun are suddenly colder than the dry-ice pack in the cooler.”

Josh eyed his brother then blurted out the whole story. “…So why in the world should I accept the kid’s apology? I’d been working for hours making that sand castle! Does he think he could wreck something that took so long to build and just expect it to be all right?”

Ken nodded and Josh felt sure he understood and agreed with him. Then the older boy turned to him and said, “How long are you and Mike friends?”

“You mean used to be friends. I dunno, five years or so, why?”

“I was just wondering why it’s so bad to wreck something that took hours to build but it’s okay to wreck something that took five years to build?”

“What do you mean?” Josh asked.

“Think about it,” Ken said and walked off.

Josh did think about it. It was true he and Mike had been friends a long time and that Mike had felt bad and apologized. But did that mean he had to forgive him?

After lunch, Mike was sitting by himself, bored, tossing some flat rocks, skipping them over the surface of the lake.

“Hey, nice triple-skip. Okay if I join you?”

Mike turned his head and was surprised to see Josh.

“Josh? Yeah, sure. You mean you’re not mad anymore?”

“Nah, why should I stay mad about a few grains of sand, when I have a friend who’s worth his weight in gold!”

Discussion Questions

Ages 3-5

Q. How did Josh feel about forgiving Mike at first?
A. He was mad and didn’t want to forgive him.

Q. How did he feel in the end?
A. He felt like their friendship was worth a lot and forgave Mike.

Ages 6-9

Q. What life-lesson do you think someone could learn from this story?
A. When someone does something mean or thoughtless to us and then regrets and apologizes, we can feel like not forgiving him. However, it’s usually better for us and for him, when we do.

Q. What do you think Josh’s brother meant about ‘wrecking something that took five years to build’?
A. A true friendship isn’t something that happens overnight. It gets built up over time through the experiences that friends share – sometimes even the difficult ones. Good friendships are something special and we should work not to let them fall apart.

Ages 10 and Up

Q. Should we forgive those who don’t regret or apologize for what they did?
A. To the extent that forgiving them in our hearts will help us move on in our lives, it can be a positive thing. However, we needn’t and probably shouldn’t express this forgiveness to such people and we should certainly do what we can to protect ourselves from them in the future.

Q. Is there a spiritual outlook that can help us to forgive?
A. It is a spiritual fact that nothing can happen to us and no one can do anything to us unless it’s God’s will. It is also so, that God only sends us what is for our ultimate best (even though we can’t see it that way). Therefore, if someone says or does something unkind to us, we can remember he is only an ‘agent’ of God’s will and therefore it will be easier to forgive.

 

Quote of the Week

“Don’t be afraid of discovering that the ‘real you’ may be different than the ‘current you.'”
— Rabbi Noah Weinberg

 

Joke of the Week

Little Moishie was caught by his teacher Morah Ruth using a bad word.

“Moishie,” Morah Ruth said, “you shouldn’t use that kind of language. Where did you hear it?”

“My Abba said it,” Moishie responded.

“Well, it doesn’t matter,” explained the teacher, “you don’t even know what it means.”

“I do, so!” Moishie corrected. “It means the car won’t start.”