Shmini Atzeret & Simchat Torah
Jewish Celebrations Recommends Holiday Buys
To Be and Not to Be  - Contributed by Asher ben Shimon

One of the happiest holidays we have is Simchat Torah when we finish reading the entire Torah. We celebrate with singing and dancing for many hours. After all males (even little children) get called to the Torah, we finally get to the last few words after which we shout a loud Chazak!

What are those last sentences?
It tells us about Moshe being the greatest prophet ever to live. It describes how all the miracles in Egypt and later in the desert went through him. We reach the climax with the words ` le'einei kol yisrael'. -"In front of the eyes of the Jewish people". By now we should all be curious enough to ask: What is it that happened there? It refers to the story of the golden calf which we read about in this week's parsha.. After Moshe didn't come back from the mountain, the Egyptian converts decided to make an idol. When Moshe was notified in the heavenly court, he came down right away and smashed the luchot, the two tablets with the Ten Commandments "in front of the eyes of the Jewish people".

With these words we celebrate on Simchat Torah.

Forty days later Hashem tells Moshe to come up again to get a new set just like the one he broke `asher shibarta". 'Asher' can also be interpreted as `ishur'-to agree. Hashem not only told Moshe he was right for braking the first luchot, He also thanked him for doing so.

[file:///D:/0Websites/MazorNet/jewishcl/googlebox.htm]Why did Moshe break the luchot?

We find different reasons. Moshe said to himself: "if by the pesach offering, which is only one mitzvah, a non Jew is not allowed to participate, how much more so would it be a problem to give ALL the mitzvot to idol worshipers".

In other words he felt it wasn't nice for the Torah to be received by people who wouldn't keep its laws.

This is not a reason to BREAK them though. If he wanted to save the honor of the Torah, he should have returned it to Hashem or put it away till the people bettered their lives.

Another reason given is because the Torah is like a marriage contract. Moshe thought it would be better if the Jewish people were going to get punished as an engaged bride who cheated on her groom- to- be than as a married woman who cheated on her husband. By not giving them the marriage contract Hashem wasn't considered a `husband' yet so the punishment wasn't as severe as it could have been.

However, this again is not enough of a reason to BREAK the tablets. Holding on to them would have accomplished the same. Besides, this is not what the Torah tells us. It says that Hashem thanked Moshe for BREAKING the luchot, not for saving the Jewish people. When we take into consideration that the broken pieces were later put in the Aron, -the ark of the covenant- which was kept in the Holy of Holies in the temple, it appears that Hashem was actually happy with those broken pieces and didn't look at them as a reminder of a negative event.

The reason why Hashem enjoyed seeing the broken tablets is because the first tablets contained only the WRITTEN law. The second set had much more. It came together with the ORAL law- the Mishna, the Talmud, all the laws of shulchan aruch etc. etc. The purpose of the braking was in order to get more. That deserved a thank you from Hashem. This also explains why Hashem didn't thank Moshe right away when he broke the tablets. He waited with that till Moshe was invited to go up to heaven a second time to receive the new luchot. It was then that the PURPOSE of the breaking was being actualized.

If Hashem wanted to give us the Mishna etc. why didn't He do so the first time?

Obviously it took something that happened between the giving of the first set of tablets and the second that made it possible for the oral law to be given in addition to the written law.

Three times a day we say a prayer venafshi ke'afar lakol tihiye-ptach libi betoratecha.

Let my soul be like sand to everyone… open my heart to the wisdom of your Torah.

In order for a person to study Torah properly he first has to nullify himself. We don't ask to be nothing in Hashem's eyes; we ask to be like sand in the eyes of EVERYONE. The Torah was given in the desert to teach us to be like the sand that is stepped on by all.

Why does our entire being have to be nullified in order to receive the Torah? Wouldn't it be enough to put our egos on the side when it comes to serving Hashem? Why do we have to be like sand to all our fellow men too?

Hashem is infinite. So is his wisdom that is contained in the Torah. The same way we cannot comprehend G-d we can't comprehend Torah. Only by becoming like `sand to all', COMPLETE nullification of one's ego, it becomes possible to really study Torah.

When the Ten Commandments were given, the Jewish people became the chosen nation. It was at that point that Hashem decided that the Jewish people are more important and special than all the other nations. We were the only nation being addressed directly by the creator of the world. This made it impossible to feel lower than the rest of the nations. We were far from being like `sand to all.' [The fact that the souls were leaving the bodies from the overwhelming G- dly revelation doesn't change this. We were nullified in HASHEM's eyes and HE was doing it. It wasn't that WE were humble.] For this reason only the written law was given then. The written law has a certain amount of words and letters to which we are not allowed to add anything. It is finite. -What you see is what you got.

By breaking the tablets `in front of the eyes of the Jewish people' Moshe caused the people to be heart broken. Then it became possible to really get the entire Torah including the INFINITE oral law. Till this very day we continue to write new laws concerning modern day issues. (Based on the rules of the Torah of course). -We got what will be written next week.

Concerning Torah study we encounter a serious problem. On one hand we are supposed to understand with our own minds what we learn. We can't just believe that a question and answer in the Talmud are a question and answer. We have to understand why there was a problem and how it is being resolved. We are also supposed to try to come up with our own questions and answers. On the other hand we are asked to become totally nullified. How is this possible?

The answer we find in what happened to the luchot after they were given. The new luchot were put in the Aron together with the pieces of the first luchot. The letters on the luchot were engraved in stone. They were not ink added to paper; the stone itself formed the letters. When we study Torah properly our finite minds understand Hashem's infinite wisdom. We become completely one with Hashem. That is the message of the WHOLE luchot

At the same time we are reminded by the broken luchot that in order to reach this level of closeness with Hashem we have to completely nullify ourselves.

Since this is a contradiction we need the two to be combined in the aron. The aron, as we know, had to be certain measurements but didn't take up any space. (The Holy of Holies measured 20 cubits. When one would measure the space between the Ark and the wall it would be 10 cubits on each site. The 2 1/2 cubits of the Ark would miraculously not add to the measurement of the wall) -Something and nothing at the same time.

Every Jew has in his soul a level where existence and non-existence go together. With that it becomes possible to study Torah with our own intellect while at the same time be completely nothing.

May we soon merit the time when all mankind will be "only interested in knowing G-d" with the coming of Moshiach now.

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