THE MAP
We have now arrived at the other end of the Elul – Rosh Hashanah – Yom Kippur – Succos – Simchas Torah period. We recited Psalm 27 twice a day, we blew the shofar daily, every day we woke up earlier than usual, we recited hundreds of selichos and walked round the Torah scrolls. With all that behind us we will now begin reading the Torah from it’s very beginning.
It kind of feels like going through a long car wash, the kind that washes the tires and the underbody, the upholstery, the windows inside and out with all kinds of brushes and soaps. We finally drive the car onto the highway of life.
It is noteworthy that our first reading of Breishis, the opening Parsha of the Torah, will not be on Shabbos. Rather, it was at the reading of, Zos Habracha, the very last Parsha of the Torah. Upon concluding the entire Torah on Simchas Torah, we immediately began reading Breishis. Never do we begin the next Parsha immediately upon the conclusion of the current Parsha, why this unique tradition?
In the days before GPS, people used road maps, a hard copy, and they knew before heading out on their journey exactly what and where their destination was. The To-rah is our road map. There is a beginning and there is a destination. There are many tolls that must be paid and roads and bridges, forests and plains that must be traversed. The last Book of the Devarim contains many landmarks and clearly identifies our destination and how we arrive at it.
As we travel along the path of life there are three types of travelers. There are folks who travel aimlessly trying to find the most pleasurable route, or at least what appears most pleasurable. They have no real destination. There are folks who have a short sighted destination that they will hopefully arrive at within the 80, 90 or hopefully 100 years of their life. These folks do not take the most pleasurable routes; they often take very difficult routes such as 12 years of medical school. And then there are the Jewish people. Not all Jews take the following approach, but as a people we take the following the approach. We have a very far sighted destination. We know that it will take 1000’s of years to arrive at, but we are committed to getting there. We know that there will be toll roads and difficult paths and bridges that must be crossed but we know our way. We have the hard copy of the map and we have the legend that explains it. We know what we will need for our journey and how to prepare for it. Eve-ry generation, every community, every family and every individual knows that they play an important role in arriving at that destination.
Every Shabbos in every shul, in every community around the world we review that road map and align ourselves to stay on its path. Every year, during this holiday period, we take in our car, the vehicle with which we travel, to get tuned up, polished and smelling nice and continue our journey.
Perhaps the reason we begin Breishis upon the conclusion of the Zos Habracha, is to keep our destination in focus as we begin reviewing the map from its beginning.
We have passed many landmarks indicating that we are close to reaching our destination. May this last leg of our long journey soon end as we pull into our final parking spot.
Have a wonderful Shabbos and a good winter.
Paysach Diskind