This is a very unique Shabbos Shuvah.
There are no words to explain the difference everyone whose life was touched by the Rebbe feels between this High Holiday time season and those of previous years.
The response to such feelings is communicated by the name of this week's Torah reading: Vayeilech - to go forward, to continue to advance towards the goals the Rebbe set for us.
May the study of the Rebbe's teachings bring us a chasimah, and a g'mar chasimah tovah, that we and all of the Jewish people be granted a year of overtly apparent good and blessing, including the ultimate blessing, the coming of the Redemption, and the fulfillment of the prophecy, "And those who repose in the dust will arise and sing." [Isaiah 26:19]
Tzom Gedalia, 5755
Adapted from:
Likkutei Sichos, Vol. XIX, p. 298ff;
Vol. XXIX, p. 173ff;
Sefer HaSichos 5749, p. 5ff;
Sichos In English, Vol. 51, pg 161ff.
Our Rabbis speak of 53 weekly Torah readings.
[1] The Hebrew word "gan" means "garden." [Gan is the numeric equivalent of 53.]
Like a garden which affords a person material pleasure and relaxation, the Torah endows us with spiritual satisfaction.
To develop the analogy:
A home provides shelter, and a field enables a person to produce his life necessities.
A garden, by contrast, does not exist for a necessary, functional purpose. Instead, it is designed to afford a person a place for repose and enjoyment.
Similarly, a person's connection with the Torah is not merely required for his spiritual survival; it should serve as a source of inspiration and vitality that endows his life with meaning and satisfaction.
There is, however, a basic difficulty with the above concepts: A count of the weekly Torah readings produces a sum of 54 readings, not 53.
One of the resolutions offered for this is that the parshiyos Nitzavim and Vayeilech are counted as a single Torah reading, thus reducing the sum to 53.
We find a suggestion of this concept in the allusion cited [2] to discern when Nitzavim and Vayeilech are read together, and when they are read on separate weeks.
That allusion is taken from a phrase in the Book of Daniel: [3] "pasbag hamelech".
This phrase is interpreted non-literally to mean that when hamelech, i.e., Rosh HaShanah, when we crown G-d as King of the Universe, [4] begins on bag, i.e., Monday or Tuesday, the second or third day of the week, pas, a division is made, and Nitzavim and Vayeilech are read separately.
If Rosh HaShanah begins on other days, i.e., Thursday or Shabbos, the two are read together.
Pas, making a division, implies that we are concerned with a single entity, the combined reading Nitzavim-Vayeilech.
In certain years, however, this one reading is divided into two portions. [5]
The conception of Nitzavim and Vayeilech as a single reading is, however, problematic, for the two names appear to have opposite connotations.
Nitzavim means "standing," and implies the adoption of a firm and unswayable position of strength. [6] Vayeilech, meaning "and he went," by contrast, points to the need for constant progress, to "go from strength to strength" [7] in our Divine service.
It can be explained, however, that this fusion of opposites reflects the very foundation of our observance of the Torah and its mitzvos.
For, the Torah and its mitzvos are the avenues of communication between an unchanging G-d, and mortals who are subject to constant vicissitude.
As such, there are certain elements of our Divine service which are unchanging (Nitzavim), reflecting the Torah's ultimate G-dly source. And there are other elements which teach man to utilize the condition of flux which characterizes our lives in a positive sense, and to continually progress in our Divine service (Vayeilech).
To emphasize that these thrusts are complementary, in most years, Nitzavim and Vayeilech are combined as a single reading. In other years, each of the concepts is underscored individually by having a separate Torah reading devoted to it.
Thus reading Vayeilech as a separate entity highlights the need for ongoing growth.
This concept is reflected in the narrative which begins the Torah reading.
The subject of the verb Vayeilech is Moshe.
Although Moshe Rabbeinu was 120 years old and had attained the highest peaks of Divine understanding, he was not prepared to "rest on his laurels." Instead, he understood the imperative for continued progress, and on this last day of his life, strove to go on to new horizons.
Whenever Vayeilech is read separately, it is read on Shabbos Shuvah, the Shabbos of repentance.
There is a thematic connection between the two.
For, in a full sense, Vayeilech implies not merely gradual progress, but radical change.
Just as "going" means changing one's place, similarly, its spiritual parallel involves rising to a level of Divine service of which one could not conceive previously.
In a like vein, teshuvah involves leaving one's previous spiritual rung, and beginning a new phase of Divine service.
For teshuvah involves a firm decision to abandon one's previous mode of conduct, [8] and on a deeper level, to remake one's personality.
As the Rambam explains, [9] a baal-teshuvah should feel that: "I am another person; I am not the same individual who performed these deeds."
When speaking about the need for constant progress, the verse [6] states: "They shall go from strength to strength, and appear before G-d in Zion," implying that the ultimate goal of our spiritual progress should be the Redemption, when we will again appear before G-d in Zion.
Teshuvah also shares a connection to the Redemption.
Our Sages teach: [10] "The Torah promised that ultimately Israel will turn [to G-d] in teshuvah towards the end of her exile and she will be redeemed immediately."
It must, however, be emphasized that the Era of the Redemption will not reflect a cessation of activity, for "the righteous have no rest, neither in this era, nor in the World to Come." [11] We will continue to progress spiritually.
The difference is, that the internal and external tension which accompany our spiritual growth at present will cease, and our advances will be characterized by harmony and peace. [12]
Notes:
- (Back to text) Zohar, Vol. II, p. 206b; See Likkutei Sichos, Vol. XIX, p. 298 fn. 3 and sources cited there.
- (Back to text) Tur and Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chayim 428:4).
- (Back to text) 1:13, 15.
- (Back to text) See the essay entitled "At One with the King" (Timeless Patterns in Time, Vol. I, p. 3ff).
- (Back to text) See also the Siddur of Rav Saadia Gaon and the Avudraham which speak of Parshas Nitzavim as a single reading.
- (Back to text) See the previous essay entitled "Standing Before G-d" in which this concept is explained.
- (Back to text) Psalms 84:8.
- (Back to text) See Tanya, Iggeres HaTeshuvah, ch. 1.
- (Back to text) Mishneh Torah, Hilchos Teshuvah 2:4.
- (Back to text) Ibid.:7:5.
- (Back to text) The conclusion of Tractate Berachos.
- (Back to text) Sichos Shabbos Parshas Reeh, 5749, and the adaptation of these concepts in the essay entitled "A Time to Take Stock" (Timeless Patterns in Time, Vol. II, p. 147).
Nitzavim 5754