D’VAR TORAH
There is one remarkable moment every year when a Jew holds the Torah in his arms, dances with it, completes it, and immediately begins it again.
Why? Didn’t we just finish? Didn’t we already read the whole Torah?
The answer reveals one of the deepest secrets of Jewish life: the Torah is not a book that we finish. The Torah is life itself. Just as a person would never say, «I breathed yesterday, why should I breathe again today?» a Jew cannot say, «I learned Torah last year, why begin again?»
On Shavuot, the Festival of the Giving of the Torah, we received the Torah from Hashem. On Simchat Torah, we embrace it and dance with it. And with Parashat Bereishit, we begin all over again, because Judaism believes in new beginnings.
The Torah contains five books, and each gives us a different lesson for life. Together, these five messages can help us enter a new year with greater strength, faith, purpose and love.
BEREISHIT: NEVER LET YOUR FAILURE DEFINE YOU
The Torah begins: «In the beginning, G-d created the heavens and the earth.» Hashem creates a perfect world and places Adam and Chava inside it. And almost immediately, humanity fails. Adam eats from the Tree of Knowledge.
This is astonishing. If the Torah wanted to inspire us, why not begin with perfect people who never make mistakes? Because the Torah is teaching us something essential: being human means that we may fall, but falling does not have to be the end of the story.
After Adam sins, Hashem asks him, «Ayeka?» — «Where are you?» Hashem obviously knew where Adam was physically. The question was much deeper. Where are you spiritually? Where are you emotionally? Where are you in your life? And most importantly, where are you going from here?
A person may fail in business. He may lose his temper at home or disappoint his children. He may make mistakes in his marriage or in his relationship with Hashem. But failure does not become your identity unless you decide to stay there.
The first book of the Torah teaches us that Hashem still speaks to a person after he falls. He still asks, «Where are you?» And as long as Hashem is asking the question, there is still a path forward.
Your past explains where you came from; your choices determine where you are going.
SHEMOT: REAL FREEDOM MEANS HAVING A PURPOSE
The Book of Shemot begins with slavery in Egypt. The Jewish people suffer under Pharaoh until Hashem performs great miracles and takes them out.
But Hashem did not bring us out of Egypt simply so that we could be free from slavery. He tells Moshe, «When you take the nation out of Egypt, you will serve G-d on this mountain.» The Exodus was leading toward Mount Sinai. Freedom was leading toward Torah.
Real freedom, then, is not simply doing whatever we want. A person can live in a free country and still be completely enslaved — to anger, to money, to jealousy, to social media, to public opinion, to his own desires.
A person may say, «Nobody tells me what to do!» But the real question is whether he can tell himself what to do. Can he control his anger? Can he close his phone and give attention to his family? Can he say no to something harmful even when he strongly desires it? Can he get up and pray when he is tired? That is freedom.
Torah does not make us slaves. Torah teaches us how not to become slaves to ourselves. Hashem did not only take the Jew out of Egypt; He wanted to take Egypt out of the Jew.
Freedom is not doing whatever you want; freedom is having the strength to do what is right.
VAYIKRA: HOLINESS BEGINS AT HOME
The Book of Vayikra speaks about korbanot, purity, the Mishkan and holiness. One might think that holiness belongs mainly inside the synagogue or the Beit Hamikdash.
But then the Torah tells us, «You shall be holy, because I, Hashem your G-d, am holy.» And immediately afterward, it discusses honoring parents, honesty, charity, proper speech and loving another person.
Why? Because real holiness is not measured only by how spiritual a person feels while praying. It is measured by how he treats people afterward. How do you speak to your wife when you are tired? How do you respond when your child makes a mistake? How do you treat an employee who cannot help you? Are you honest when nobody is watching?
There are people who want to reach very high spiritual levels but forget that their first spiritual test may be waiting for them at home. A warm word can be holy. Patience can be holy. Listening to your child without looking at your phone can be holy. Giving your spouse respect when you disagree can be holy.
The highest holiness is not escaping this world. It is bringing Hashem into the world we already live in.
Holiness is not only what you feel during prayer; holiness is how you behave after the prayer is over.
BAMIDBAR: YOU CAN GROW EVEN IN THE DESERT
The Book of Bamidbar tells the story of the Jewish people’s journeys through the desert — a story of difficulties, complaints, arguments, disappointments, delays and failures.
Why does the Torah devote so much attention to the desert? Because every human being will eventually experience a «desert.» There are moments when life does not look the way we hoped. A person struggles financially. A family faces a challenge. A marriage goes through a difficult season. A parent worries about a child. A person feels he has been traveling for years and still has not reached his Promised Land.
But the Torah teaches us that the desert was not wasted time. In the desert, the Jewish people received the manna. They were surrounded by the Clouds of Glory. They drank from Miriam’s well. Hashem was with them even there.
The Torah tells us that Moshe recorded every journey of the Jewish people. Every stop mattered; every stage had meaning. That means the difficult chapters in our lives may also be chapters of growth. Sometimes the places we would never have chosen teach us patience, humility, faith, compassion and strength we would never have discovered otherwise.
Not every delay is a failure. Not every long road is a wasted road.
Do not measure your life only by where you have arrived; measure it also by who you became along the way.
DEVARIM: SOMETIMES LOVE MEANS KNOWING WHAT TO BREAK
We now arrive at the final book, Devarim, and the final parashah of the entire Torah, V’Zot HaBerachah. Moshe Rabbeinu is about to leave this world. The Torah describes his greatness, his prophecy and the miracles he performed.
Yet the Torah ends with the words «before the eyes of all Israel.» Rashi explains that these words refer to one of the most dramatic moments of Moshe’s life: the breaking of the Tablets. The Torah ends with broken Tablets.
Why? Because Moshe understood that after the sin of the Golden Calf, giving the Tablets to the Jewish people at that moment would have brought terrible consequences. He was prepared to break something precious in order to protect something even more precious — the Jewish people.
What an incredible lesson. Sometimes a person becomes so attached to being right that he destroys the relationship. A husband and wife argue, and each one says, «But I am right!» A father grows angry with his son and says, «I must show him who is in charge.» A friend refuses to forgive because his pride was hurt.
Moshe teaches us that there are moments when we must be prepared to break our pride in order not to break another person. Sometimes you have to break the argument, break the ego, break the need to win. But never break the person standing in front of you.
Break the ego, not the person. Protect the soul — even if you must break the Tablets.
Why do we begin again?
And then comes the beautiful moment of Simchat Torah. We finish with «before the eyes of all Israel,» and immediately we begin, «In the beginning, G-d created…» There is almost no pause, because Judaism does not believe that an ending must remain an ending. Every ending contains the possibility of a new beginning.
Maybe last year we did not learn enough Torah or pray the way we wanted. Maybe we were not patient enough at home, or did not spend enough time with our children. Maybe there is someone we still need to forgive, or someone from whom we need to ask forgiveness. Simchat Torah tells us: begin again.
From Bereishit we learn to rise after failure. From Shemot we learn that freedom requires purpose. From Vayikra we learn to bring holiness into everyday life. From Bamidbar we learn that even the desert can become part of our growth. And from Devarim we learn to value people more than our pride.
On Shavuot, Hashem gave us the Torah from above. On Simchat Torah, we lift the Torah from below, hold it close and dance with it. It is as though we are saying: «Hashem, thank You for giving us Your Torah. This year, we do not only want to hold it in our hands. We want to bring it into our homes, our relationships, our businesses, our hearts and every decision we make.»
The Torah does not truly end when we reach V’Zot HaBerachah. The Torah truly begins when we close the Chumash and open our hearts.
May we be blessed with a year of new beginnings, peace in our homes, nachat from our children, good health, abundant livelihood, true Ahavat Yisrael, and the strength to live every day with the wisdom and holiness of Torah.
Chag Sameach and Moadim L’Simcha. May we begin Bereishit again — not only in the Torah, but in our lives.
Credit: Art by Sefira Lightstone/Chabad.org
By Rabbi Asher Vaknin