Midway between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, on the first Shabbat of the year, we read the last mitzvah in the Torah, according to the count in Sefer Hahinuch (anonymous, 13th-century Spain). On Deuteronomy 31:19, “Therefore, write down this poem,” Sefer Hahinuch writes that the 613th commandment is for “each person in Israel to have a Torah scroll. If one writes it themself, it is praiseworthy and… Scripture credits them as if they received it at Mount Sinai. But one who is unable to write it themself must pay someone to write one for them. The author goes on to emphasize two reasons for the commandment: 1) people attach more importance to things they prepare for themselves, and 2) Torah should be accessible to everyone and available in every home. Therefore, someone who inherits a Torah scroll but has the means to write or buy one, should lend one of the copies to someone who cannot afford one of their own.
The Torah
ends and the year begins with an emphasis on the accessibility of the Torah,
the importance of active study and sharing within the community.
In my opinion,
nothing could be more appropriate.
We
are not only between the Day of Judgment and the Day of Atonement and
forgiveness, but also, according to the Oral Torah, between the first giving of
the Torah and the second. “In the third month after the Israelites had gone
forth from the land of Egypt” God revealed Godself “on Mount Sinai, with
thunder, and lightning, and a dense cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud
blast of the shofar” (Exodus 19:16). Moses then ascended the mountain to
receive the written Tablets of the Covenant. When his return was delayed, the
people weakened. Aaron met the needs of the hour and created the Golden Calf.
At the sight of the Israelites dancing around the calf, Moses broke the tablets
written with God’s finger. According to the midrash in Pirkei D’Rabbi
Eliezer, that day was the 17th of Tammuz (which later became
a fast day). The covenant between God and the people almost unraveled. After
heavy punishment and great effort by Moses, God relented and on the first of
the sixth month (which we know as “Elul”), Moses sculpted new tablets and again
ascended the mountain to the sound of a shofar. At the end of another
forty days, on the 10th day of the seventh month, Moses descended
with the second tablets, the fruit of a collaboration between God and Moses. On
Yom Kippur, the Torah was given a second time.
Following
this chronology, Rabbi Nathan Laufer, in Rendezvous with God: Revealing the
Meaning of the Jewish Holidays and Their Mysterious Rituals, claims that
the Day of the Shofar Blasts – which we know as Rosh Hashanah and about which
the Torah tells nothing of its essence – was intended to reenact the revelation
at Sinai, to return the people to the sense of wonder and awe they felt at the
time, so they would ready to receive the Torah again in ten days. The Torah did
not elaborate, because for people who had been there the message was clear. Words
were unnecessary.
For
those who weren’t there, words help. Therefore, one of the oldest Rosh Hashanah
prayers, Seder Shofarot, begins “You were revealed in a cloud of Your
glory to Your holy nation to speak to them” and concludes “In thunder and
lightning You revealed Yourself to them, and amid the sound of the shofar,
You appeared”[1]
before quoting three verses from the account of revelation in the Book of
Exodus. Rosh Hashanah is not the anniversary of the giving of the Torah but an
opportunity to remember not only the impressive moment of revelation but also
the fragility of Torah given without human participation.
On
the first day of Rosh Hashanah, Naomi Leitner challenged us to move beyond the
Coronavirus crisis (when the time is right) with eyes open to see a new world,
to look forward with imagination, momentum and daring. She is correct, but
there is something I would like to add. A new world deserves to be built on
stable foundations.
Therefore,
Rabban Yoḥanan Ben-Zakkai chose Yavneh and the scholars there to help revitalize
the people after the destruction of the Second Temple. After Rabban Yoḥanan
Ben-Zakkai, leadership of the Beit Midrash was transferred to Rabban Gamliel, who
imposed strict acceptance requirements for potential students. When his
colleagues deposed him (for reasons that are not important at the moment), his successor
Rabbi Elazar Ben Azaria changed the admission criteria and several hundred new
students joined the Beit Midrash. Moreover, the Babylonian Talmud (Berakhot
27b-28a) records that on the same day, all of the outstanding agenda items
facing the rabbis were resolved.
Broad participation in Torah, both learning and teaching, is the key to our continued
existence as a people. Opening the doors wide in order to bring in as many
positions and varied life experiences possible revitalizes Torah and
strengthens it. As Naomi emphasized, technology has opened new doors for us in
all areas of life. Learning Torah included.
If not
now, when?
If the future of the Jewish people as a unique entity,
and the State of Israel as a Jewish society are important to us, we must take personal
responsibility for Torah, to learn and to keep, so the our movement forward
will be firmly grounded.
