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Sent: 	 Tuesday, October 14, 1997 11:27 PM
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Subject: Torah Weekly - V'zos Habracha
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From:          "Ohr Somayach" <ohr@virtual.co.il>
To:            " Highlights of the Torah weekly portion" <weekly@virtual.co.il>
Subject:       Torah Weekly - V'zos Habracha
* TORAH WEEKLY *
Highlights of the Weekly Torah Portion
Parshas V'zos Habracha
For 24 October 1997/22 Tishrei 5758 in Israel
 25 October 1997/23 Tishrei 5758 Outside Israel
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Overview

The Torah draws to its close with V'zos Habracha, which is the only Parsha 
in the Torah not read specifically on a Shabbos.  Rather, V'zos Habracha 
is read on Shmini Atzeres/Simchas Torah, when everyone in the synagogue 
gets called up to the Torah for an aliyah -- even boys who are not yet Bar 
Mitzvah.  The Parsha is repeated until everyone has received an aliyah.

	Moshe continues the tradition of Yaakov by blessing the Tribes of 
Yisrael before his death.  Similar to the blessings bestowed by Yaakov, 
these blessings are also a combination of the description of each Tribe's 
essence, together with a definition of its role within the nation of 
Israel.  The only Tribe that does not receive a blessing is Shimon, because 
they were central to the mass immorality of worshipping the idol ba'al 
pe'or.  Another explanation is that this Tribe's population was small and 
scattered throughout the south of the Land of Israel, and would therefore 
receive blessings together with the host Tribe amongst whom they would 
live; i.e., Yehuda.  Moshe's last words to his beloved people are of 
reassurance that Hashem will more than recompense His people for all of the 
suffering they will endure.  Moshe ascends the mountain and Hashem shows 
him prophetically all that will happen to Eretz Yisrael in the future, both 
in tranquillity and in times of oppression.  Hashem also shows him all that 
will happen to the Jewish People until the time of the Resurrection.  Moshe 
dies there by means of the "Divine Kiss."  To this day, no one knows the 
place of his burial, in order that his grave should not become a shrine for 
those who wish to make a prophet into a god.  Of all the prophets, Moshe 
was unique in his being able to speak to Hashem whenever he wanted.  His 
centrality and stature are not a product of the Jewish People's "blind 
faith," but are based on events that were witnessed by an entire nation -- 
at the Red Sea, at Mount Sinai and constantly during 40 years of journeying 
through the desert.

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Insights

What Goes Around

"And this is the blessing that Moshe, the man of G-d, blessed the children 
of Yisrael." (33:1)

	The perfect circle.  Complete.  The circle unites the beginning and 
the end.  There is no beginning nor end to a circle.  If you take one point 
and call it its beginning, when you get to the end you will find yourself 
back where you started.

	On Simchas Torah, we finish reading the Torah and immediately start 
again from the beginning.

	In our joy at having completed the Torah, we dance with it in a 
circle.  Specifically in a circle.  The Torah is endless.  When we reach 
its end, we are already back at its beginning.

	The final words of the Torah are: "in the eyes of all Yisrael."  
And its first words:  "In the beginning."  The circle dance of Simchas 
Torah joins the end to the beginning, that "the eyes of all Yisrael" should 
be fixed on the "beginning."



Spending and Saving

"The Torah that Moshe commanded us is the heritage of the Congregation of 
Yaakov." (33:4)

There is a great difference between an inheritance and a heritage.

             An inheritance is the sole possession of the one who inherits it.  
It is his to do with as he pleases:  To consume, to invest or to squander.  
However, a heritage must be cherished and preserved and passed on intact to 
the next generation.

	The Torah is our heritage -- not our inheritance.  We must pass it 
on to the next generation as we found it, and not abridged, altered or 
adulterated.



Seeing and Believing

"...before the eyes of all Yisrael." (34:12)

	These are the final words of the Torah.  The entire Jewish People 
were witnesses to all the miracles that were wrought through Moshe 
Rabbeinu.  With their own eyes they saw, and "seeing is believing."

	In other words, their believing came from seeing; their faith in 
Moshe came from daily contact with miracles.

	These miracles were witnessed not by a small group who then 
convinced others through charisma or coercion.  Rather, the entire nation 
-- the eyes of all Yisrael -- were witnesses to the miracles.  They all saw 
the dividing of the Red Sea, the Voice at Sinai, and the manna.

	Manna was the miraculous food that the Jewish People ate every day 
for forty years.  Forty years, day-in day-out.  They saw it with enough 
regularity for it to have become mundane.

	This was the seeing that founded the rock-like faithfulness of the 
Jewish People throughout the long night of exile.  With their own eyes they 
saw that Moshe, the prophet of Hashem, was authentic, and his Torah, the 
Torah of the Living G-d, was Truth.

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Haftorah - Shmini Atzeres/Simchas Torah:  Yehoshua 1:1


	Immediately when we finish reading the Torah, we start again "In 
the beginning of God's creating the heavens and the earth..."  In this way 
we remind ourselves that immersing ourselves in the truths of the Torah is 
an eternal task, without beginning or end.  The Haftorah states "And Hashem 
spoke to Yehoshua bin Nun, Moshe's lieutenant, saying `Moshe my servant is 
dead.  You arise and cross over the Jordan...'" to remind us that the work 
of the Torah is not that of a human being, not even the highest, but it is 
Hashem's work that began with the revelation at Sinai, and its 
accomplishment is not dependent on the personality and life of any man, 
however great and sublime he may be.

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Sources:
o  What Goes Around - adapted from Rabbi Shlomo Yosef Zevin
o  A Brick of Sapphire - A Plank of Wood - Rashi; 
o  Rabbi Yerucham Levovitz; Zale Newman; Moshe Averick
o  Spending And Saving - Rabbi Nachman Bulman
o  Seeing And Believing - Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh
o  Haftorah:  Adapted from Dr. Mendel Hirsch, based on the words of his
   father, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch
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