Simhat Tora

Be happy and rejoice on simchat torah - on the difference between SASSON AND SIMCHA

 [Translator's note: Contemporary Hebrew generally translates both simcha and sasson as 'joy, happiness']

Simcha occurs with the advent of something which makes one happy; sasson is present when that 'something' reaches its full and successful completion, as is written "Glad [s'meichim]as they [the celestial luminaries] go forth, exultant [sassim] as they return" (Artscroll translation). When they go forth to illumine the earth, they are glad, and when they come to the West, having completed their beneficent activity, they exult [...] if this be the case, why, on Simchat Torah, do we say "sissu" before "simchu"? The reason is because it is recited between the completion of the Torah reading, the conclusion of the Torah, and the immediate beginning from anew, with Bereishit; so we say "sissu" over the completion and "simchu" over the beginning.

(Quoted in "Taamei HaMinhagim U'mekorei HaDinim, attributed to the Gaon of Vilna))

           

Hadran for the fifteenth cycle of Shabbat Shalom

With this issue, we conclude the fifteenth cycle of "Shabbat Shalom".

Israeli society has undergone much during these years. We felt then that, despite the plenitude of flyers appearing in synagogues, there existed a need for one to proclaim a unique religious Zionist voice emphasizing the values of peace, justice and respect for humanity. It seems that today, ever more, in the light of the tendency towards nationalist extremism, with troubling phenomena of racism and xenophobia, we must continue to enunciate clearly the voice of the Torah of Life, whose ways are the ways of pleasantness and all her paths are those of peace.

During the years we tried to make this voice heard through quotations from Chazal and commentary which clearly expresses these values. We also have been blessed with a pool of fine writers who have offered unique readingsof the weekly parasha, of midrashim and commentary.

I wish to give heartfelt thanks to all who participated in this project:

*Daniel Lazare, who assiduously volunteers his attention to the graphic editing, to publishing and to placing the page on the internet;

*Harry Langbheim, who, with great devotion, volunteers original challenging graphic midrashim;

*Kadish Goldberg, dedicated and faithful translator and also to Jeff Green who volunteered translations of a few editions this year;

*Ben-Ben and the team of Graphos Print for the printing; and, most of all,

 *to my co-worker, Miriam Fine, who is responsible for raising funds to make our publication possible and the distribution in Israel, on our internet site and email.

And of course, to you readers and contributors, loyal partners in our project.

Chazak, chazak, v'nitchazak - my we grow ever stronger.

Pinchas Leiser, editor

 

"And no man has known his burial place"

Pinchas Leiser

The last of the Tishrei festivals, termed "The Period of Our Rejoicing" concludes with "Atseret" - "Assembly". Since the time when Jewish communities adopted the yearly (Babylonian) cycle of the Torah reading, this holiday has become "Simchat Torah" - "The Joy of the Torah", a climax of joy, characterized by many customs expressing that joy. It is interesting to note that in those moments in particular when we call to the Torah the Chatan Torah - "the Groom of the Torah", we read those verses which describe the death of Moshe and his burial. A short and dramatic chapter paints Moshe's ascent to Mt. Nebo, his passing and his burial, concluding with the passing of this major figure. From here on begins a new story; the entry of the Israelites into the Land of Israel will be told in the Book of Joshua.

Let us examine verse 6 in Chapter 34:

And he was buried in the glen in the land of Moab opposite Beth-Peor, and no man has known his burial place to this day.

The first part of the verse describes the location of Moshe's burial, but in the second, the Torah informs us that no man knows where Moshe is buried (according to Chazal in the Sifri and Tractate Sotah!!).

The Talmud in Sotah (Bavli Sotah 13b) discusses the paradoxical nature of the passage, without offering any explanation:

And he was buried [translator's note: The Hebrew for "he was buried" may, because of the lack of vocalization signs, be also read as "He buried"] in the glen in the land of Moab, opposite Bet-Peor" - Said R' Berechia: A sign within a sign, and despite this, "no man has known his burial place.

R' Hezkia ben Manoah, author of the Hizkkuni commentary, develops Chazal's reading into an explanation:

He buried him in the glen - The Omniscient gave three signs for the location of Moshe's burial place, as is written 'in the glen', and where is this glen? 'In the land of Moab', and where in this land? 'Opposite Bet-Peor', and despite all this, 'no man has known his burial place', to teach you that Moshe was not buried by man." (Hizkuni, Devarim 34:6)

The view that Moshe was not buried by man is buttressed by the lack of a clear designation of the clause's subject - who "buried"? This lack of clarity facilitates the possibility that Moses buried himself (Rabbi Yishmael in the Sifri on Naso, and Ibn Ezra). Rashi argues that the Holy One himself buried Moshe (also based on Chazal).

Obviously, none of these suggestions can be understood literally. R' Ovadia of Solferino, author of the Seforno commentary, adds:

If he buried himself, as some Sages suggest, it was his non-material soul [ha'nefesh ha'nivdelet], because he died on the mountain, the peak of Pisgah.

Here there is a clear differentiation between the flesh-and-blood Moshe and "his non-material soul."

The ambiguity surrounding the death and burial of Moshe prompted a Talmudic opinion that Moshe never died:

It has been taught: R. Eliezer the Elder said: Over an area of twelve mil square, corresponding to that of the camp of Israel, a Bath Kol made the proclamation, 'So died Moshe, the great teacher of Israel'. Some say that Moshe never died; it is written here, 'So Moshe died there' and elsewhere (Shemot 34) it is written: And he was there with the Lord. As in the latter passage it means standing and ministering, so also in the former it means standing and ministering. (Sotah 13b)

Here, too, we may assume that Chazal are referring to the "nefesh ha'nivdelet" of Moshe and not to the flesh-and-blood Moshe.

It seems to me that the confusion created by the Sages and commentators' readings of Moshe's demise and burial place in the Biblical narrative creates a unique mood, and comes to make a number of important points, which we will discuss later.

Our exegetes, of earlier and later periods, deal with the question of the location of Moshe's burial site in different ways.

The Talmud (Sotah 14a), according to the BaCH's version, attempts to answer the question "Why was Moshe's grave concealed?":

Said R' Hama bar Chanina: Why was Moshe's grave concealed? Because the Holy One knew that the Temple would some day be destroyed and Israel would go into exile, and that might they stand and weep and mourn over Moshe's grave, saying to him: Moshe our teacher, stand and pray for us, and Moshe would stand up and cancel the decree.

According to this understanding, God wanted to prevent the Children of Israel from arousing his mercies (Moshe's? The Almighty's?). by turning his grave into a place of prayer.

Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum (the Elder) of Sátoraljaújhely (Hungary) Chassidic author of the commentary "Yismach Moshe", uses the juxtaposition of our passage to the one following in the Talmud (Ibid., Soncino translation) for the following exposition:

R' Hama son of R' Hanina further said: What means the text: Ye shall walk after the Lord your God? Is it, then, possible for a human being to walk after the Shechinah; for has it not been said: For the Lord thy God is a devouring fire? But [the meaning is] to walk after the attributes of the Holy One, Blessed Be He. As He clothes the naked, for it is written: And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife clothes of skin, and clothed them, so do thou also clothe the naked [...] The Holy One, blessed be He, buried the dead, for it is written: And He buried him in the valley, so do thou also bury the dead. (Until here, the quote from the Talmud). I add my explanation, for it is known that they [the Sages] interpreted "Let them follow this order" [The reference is to the Thirteen Attributes of God] (Rosh Hashana 17b) 'Saying is not sufficient, but there must be action, they must act in accordance with the Thirteen Attributes (quoted above in the Haphtara of Tetseh). R' Hama bar Hanina's first exposition is problematic - Does the Holy One, blessed be He, hate Israel , forefend, that He devises stratagems to avoid cancellation of the decree [to live in exile]? But the solution is that His intention is to benefit them, for actually they could have themselves cancelled the decree with the Thirteen Attributes. But in order for them [the Thirteen Attributes] to benefit them, they must act in accordance with this order, therefore was Moshe's burial place concealed, so that they would be forced to act according to His attributes in order to cancel the decree. Thus, the second exposition 'follow His attributes', and this is His will as He cautions them to follow his attributes, therefore was Moshe's burial place hidden, so that they would be forced to act according to His attributes, thereby cancelling the decree… (Yismach Moshe II, 153b)

It is not desireable that Jewish prayers at Moshe's grave offer an effortless substitute for actions encompassed by "walking in His ways".

R' Hezkia ben Manoach, author of "Hizkuni", emphasizes the non-establishment of Moshe's grave as a place of worship, along with an additional reason:

Until this day: So that no one else be buried alongside, such as was the case in Bet-El, and so that inquirers of the dead not come with their requests.

RaLBaG, explains the secrecy of the grave's location similarly, but in greater detail (RaLBaG on Devarim 34:6):

The Lord did so [that no one know the location] because if the site were to become known, future generations may mistakenly make of him a divinity because of the famous wonders which he performed. Do you not see how the copper serpent which Moshe formed resulted in some of Israel erring because of the greatness of its creator (II Kings 18:4), and because God buried Moshe [secretly] as an omen, no one ever touched his grave.

R' Shimshon Rafael Hirsch also explained in similar vein:

Let us recall how rituals bordering on idolatry often developed around the graves of great men who did much for humanity, and thereby we can understand the greatness of this final stroke in the picture of Moshe's life.

R' Meir Simcha of Dvinsk took a slightly different approach:

No man has known: In the sense of has not recognized, i.e., had no relationship whatever to his burial place. This is because he was "a man of God in his lifetime, and very humble, and was not connected to, not involved, in the material and in general matters as are all men, and this is the meaning of "and no man has known" - not even Moshe.

Despite their shades of difference, the above explanations of the fog hovering over Moshe's grave move in one direction:

Moshe, the man (incidentally, when the Children of Israel demanded of Aharon "Rise up and make us a god" it was the concrete "the man Moshe" they missed) of flesh and blood, whose life was partially described in the Torah, died like every man. The Torah describes his plea to enter the Land. Chazal, too, in different sources, depict his longing to realize this dream and his desire for eternal life.

Moshe our teacher, man of God, greatest prophet of all time, "nafsho hanivdelet" in Seforno's words, did not die, because "the righteous, even in death, are considered alive". He continues to live within us through the Torah, written and oral, in which "every innovation of future distinguished scholars has already been presented to Moshe at Sinai". Therefore it is improper to desecrate his memory with idolatrous ritual. Rambam writes (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Mourning 4:4):

[...] monuments are not erected over the graves of the tsaddikim because their words are their memorials, and one should not go to visit the graves"

The living Moshe should not be replaced with inanimate gravestones. Perhaps Moshe our teacher teaches us even with his death and burial a most important lesson: Our Torah is a Torah of life, and has no interest in turning graves into ritual sites and 'holy places." Holiness is not found in the ground, in stones and graves, not even in the tablets of the covenant (see RaSHar Hirsch's last commentary on the Torah and the "Meshech Chochma" on Parashat Ki Tissah). It is to be found in Man's striving to sanctify his behavior during his lifetime.

Pinchas Leiser, editor of Shabbat Shalom, is a psychologist

 

Those with clean hands and pure hearts can ascend the Mountain of God yet not fall.

The reason we repeat, at the conclusion of the hakafot, "The earth is the Lord's and all that is therein, the world and all its inhabitants" is to say that even when we are engaged in worldly affairs, our heart is in Heaven. With regard to "Who may ascend [...] who may stand etc." (Psalm 24:3) I heard an explanation in the name of our saintly R' Menachem Mendel of Riminov of blessed memory, who said "So and so will ascend the mountain of the Lord", but the main thing is "who is the man will stand in His holy place" - and not fall because of his great accomplishment of having ascended the mountain of the Lord. For this it is required that he be of clean hands in action and of pure heart in thought, who has not taken false oath by his life--for that which is not sustainable is called false--but that his service be in truth, as is written (Proverbs 12:19) "Truthful speech abides forever".

(Yeitav Panim I, p. 215a)

 

The tension between unity and the struggle against idolatry

"Then He became King in Jeshurun": When below Israel is unified, His great name is exalted above, as is written: "Then He became King in Jeshurun" - when will this occur? "When the heads of the people assembled."

 (Sifri, V'zot Ha'beracha 346)

 

Rejoice, O Zebulon, on your journeys, and Issachar, in your tents.

Zebulon and Issachar entered into partnership; Zebulon will dwell by the sea, set out for trade in boats, reap profits and sustain Issachar, who sit and study Torah. Therefore did he place Zebulon before Issachar, because Issachar's Torah was made possible by Zebulon.

(Rashi, Debarim 33:18)

 

Zebulon by the sea will dwell. In his land, for he will inherit along the coast. And he [Jacob] prophesied regarding Zebulon the trader before Issachar the Torah scholar. And so Moshe our teacher, in his blessings, said "Rejoice, O Zebulon, on your journeys, and Issachar, in your tents" because one cannot study Torah without first obtaining his needs, as the Sages said, "If there is no flour, there is no Torah" and when one assists his fellow by providing him with sustenance so that he can study Torah, as they said regarding Zebulon, …the Torah study will be attributed to both of them, and this was the intent of the Torah in requiring the donation of tithes to the Priests and the Levites, that all the nation should help those who hold the Torah, the Priests and the Levites, as is written "They shall teach Your laws to Jacob" and all will merit everlasting life, as the Sages said :All Israel has a portion in the world to come".

(Seforno, Bereishit 49:13)

 

Our Rabbis taught: And thou shalt gather in thy corn. What is to be learnt from these words? Since it says, This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, I might think that this injunction is to be taken literally. Therefore it says, 'And thou shalt gather in thy corn', which implies that you are to combine the study of the words with a worldly occupation. This is the view of R. Yishmael. R. Shimon b. Yohai says: Is that possible? If a man ploughs in the ploughing season, and sows in the sowing season, and reaps in the reaping season, and threshes in the threshing season, and winnows in the season of wind, what is to become of the Torah? No; but when Israel performs the will of the Omnipresent, their work is performed by others, as it says. And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, etc., and when Israel does not perform the will of the Omnipresent their work is carried out by themselves, as it says, And thou shalt gather in they corn. Nor is this all, but the work of others is also done by them, as it says. And thou shalt serve thine enemy, etc.

Said Abaye: Many have followed the advice of Ishmael, and it has worked well; others have followed R. Simeon b. Yohai and it has not been successful.

(Bavli, Berahot 35b)

 

Whoever decides that he will engage in Torah study and not work and will live from charity, has desecrated The Name, and shamed the Torah and extinguished the light of the religion and has harmed himself and removed his life from the world, because it is forbidden to derive benefit from words of Torah in this world. The Sages said that whoever derives benefit from Torah removes his life from the world. And they furthermore commanded and said Make them not crown for self-aggrandizement, nor an axe with which to dig, and they further commanded and said Love work and despise being a master, and all Torah which is not accompanied by labor will ultimately be voided and incurs sin and this person will end up robbing people.

(Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Torah Study 3:10)

 

"Before the eyes of all Israel"- he decided to smash the tablets before their eyes, as is written (ibid. 9:17), "and smashed them before your eyes", and The Holy One, Blessed Be He, consented, as is written (Shemot 34:1), "asher shibbarta" - congratulations for smashing them. (A word play on "asher", Hebrew for "which". It sounds like "y'yasher". "Y'yasher koach" means "Congratulations! Well done!")

 (Rashi Devarim 34, 12)

 

 

About us

Oz Veshalom-Netivot Shalom is a movement dedicated to the advancement of a civil society in Israel. It is committed to promoting the ideals of tolerance, pluralism, and justice, concepts that have always been central to Jewish tradition and law.

Oz Veshalom-Netivot Shalom shares a deep attachment to the land of Israel and it no less views peace as a central religious value. It believes that Jews have both the religious and the national obligation to support the pursuit of peace. It maintains that Jewish law clearly requires us to create a fair and just society, and that co-existence between Jews and Arabs is not an option but an imperative.

4,500 copies of a 4-page peace oriented commentary on the weekly Torah reading are written and published by Oz VeShalom/Netivot Shalom and they are distributed to over 350 synagogues in Israel and are sent overseas via email. Our web site is www.netivot-shalom.org.il.

Shabbat Shalom is available on our website: www.netivot-shalom.org.il

For responses and arranging to write for Shabbat Shalom: pleiser@netvision.net.il