Vayelekh

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D​elicious irony of timing​:​ God say​s​ ​​'I will hide My face​"​​ ​while ​​there is the greatest manifestation of the divine presence​, ​via the anan (cloud of Glory of God) on top of the entrance to the mishkan, the total opposite of hiding!​​​ ​

(​​'I will hide My face​" =​​'haster astir et panai": Deut 31:17,18 ​; ​mentioned also later on in ​the next ​parshat​, ​Ha'azinu)

​The reason for this ironic juxtaposition ​(​of the greatest closeness and mention of later estrangement​)​ is that we are be​in​g taught that a time of closeness in a relationship is an opportunity to create mechanisms to overcome later inevitable periods of distance.

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In last week's​ Torah​ portion​ and in the reading for Rosh Hashanah​ we pointed out an expression of deep closeness - that in some sense ​God promises to do teshuva (so to speak)​,​ ​opening us up to return to God ​​- specifically, ​God encourages us via the prophet Jeremiah that in times when we are feleing distant to pray ​​​"Hashiveni ve'ashuva" "return me to You and I will return to you.​"​

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Our portion this week, Parshat Vayelech, warns of a time of estrangement, and clearly God is preparing for that time: God tells Moses to write a love song between God and the Jewish People, to be read in those times of distance, estrangement, to remind the Jewish People ​a​​t that time of God's desire to be close! And the Torah then says that Moses indeed wrote it down (and we ​will​read it in the parsha coming very soon), teaching us that when there is love and closeness, it is necessary to prepare THEN for the inevitable eventuality of loss of the closeness, in order to be able to bring about its re-establishment.

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Whenever we feel estranged, may we remember in our hearts that the other side wants so much to re-establish the closeness, and has whispered this to us when we were close....in preparation for this very time.

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'Fear' & 'appear' in this parsha

Two very similar roots, though the exact same form dos NOT appear in both contexts... the vowelization is different, but the letters as written in the voweless parchment, are they ever identical? Ask baal Koreh: is it ever confusing as to which is meant?

At various junctures in the Torah we see words which are similarly spelled and pronounced but have very different meanings (and in technical terms, different 'roots') appearing in a story. Presumably this is a device used by God, meant to teach us something.  

For example, in several places the words for "fear" and "saw" (or "appeared") are juxtaposed, and since the Scriptures are written (on parchment) without punctuation etc, only the letters', these two words can be written identically as here: 

ה  וַיַּרְא שָׁאוּל, אֶת-מַחֲנֵה פְלִשְׁתִּים; וַיִּרָא, וַיֶּחֱרַד לִבּוֹ מְאֹד.

5 And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly.

Without the dots and lines under the letters the words (ofr 'fear' and 'see' or 'appear') are identical, and that's the way they appear in the scrolls.

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Parshat Vayelech: Deut. Ch 31: 5-13: 

1. The Torah says lo tirah - don't fear - twice, re the upcoming wars; once it is said by Moses to the Jewish People, the next time to Yehoshua; ie we are told that because God is with us, we need not fear;

2. Then the Torah speaks of succos, yovel(Jubilee) & hakhel (the assembly) and Moses relays God's words regarding coming annually "layro’os panai" "to see my face" where "to fear/be in awe" and "to see" are is basically the same word,  same letters;

3. A few passages later the Torah says two times to fear God

4. Then again (31:14-15) it says God appeared to them via the cloud of glory using the term"vayera""appeear" again. 

The above four are shown below:

ו  חִזְקוּ וְאִמְצוּ, אַל-תִּירְאוּ.  {ס}

1)  passage 6:    Be strong and of good courage, fear not,

ח  .... לֹא תִירָא, וְלֹא תֵחָת.

     passage 8: ...fear not,....

 בְּבוֹא כָל-יִשְׂרָאֵל, לֵרָאוֹת  

2)   11: when all Israel is come to appear before the LORD  

יב ... וְיָרְאוּ אֶת-ה'

3) 12: and fear the LORD 

יג לְיִרְאָה, אֶת-ה'

13 ... to fear the LORD  

טו  וַיֵּרָא ה'

4)  15: And the LORD appeared in the Tent in a pillar of cloud

When the words are in different tenses etc the spelling changes slightly, but one sees the "רָא" in all, with either yud or vav or heh: two roots "ירָא" and "רָאה" in various forms  such as "רָאוֹ" or both yud and vav:"יָרְאוּ"   

We can see this deliberate usage of the same word in various meanings as perhap intending to tie it it all into the same theme. For example: When God presents the Jewish People with a mission, we shouldn't  fear the mission, we should fear God and there will be success (see a similar relationship in these words, in the account of the Jewish midwives in Egypt.who saved the Jewish babies from Pharoah's death-decree; and Moses at the burning bush).

I leave it to anyone to come up with their own understanding, below is mine:

When we come to the Temple to see (lir'ot) God’s presence, this induces yirah/awe-fear, and then God's presence will appear. But in general how do we get to see God's presence? 

Moshe Rabenu (Moses)  was the greatest anav (most humble person who ever lived), and these very passages relate how he voluntarily gave over - in public - the reins to Yehoshua, a great act of humility; God instructs him to come to the ark and bring Yehoshua there, and that's when the glory of God was revealed. Perhaps it was this lowered ego state of Moses which brought forth - or revealed the ever-present - shchinah via the anan (cloud of Gory of God) .

which was itself a manifestation of "lir’os panai" "to see my face" (as would happen on festivals as described in the passages here), which itself then induces yirah, and in that state we need not be afraid of anything because God is with us.

So too if we lower our ego, we will be rewarded by seeing the Glory of God shining, and we will not need to be afraid..

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MESH

 Says lo tirah twice re war, bec oGod is with us so don’t fear, then fear god twice, but in middle is re succos yovel hakhel says layro’os panai, and again re anan vayera, so this ties it into same theme, when see god’s presence it induces yirah, and how get there? MR was anav, gave over in public the reins to Yehoshua, and this lowered ego state brought the shcinah, anan manifested, and this is lir’os panai which induces yirah, and in that state we need not be afrain of anything bec God is with us.

insert in the below vortL

And there is the theme of panai, layraos panai, then haster astir panai, and says that in the future ‘ufanu’ to toher gods etc.

So yirah and vayera, and panai, and vayelch and nitzavim are all interrelated.

Then haazinu, it is interesting which senses are mentioned when: re’eh’, later ‘ha’azinu’, (ktoret is smell).

And a few parshas speak of vehalachta bidrachav, and veshamata lekolo, so there is ‘going’

Also: haidosi..shamayim vaaretz, haazinu hashamayim vehaaretz’ towards end of torah, and beginning is breishis,,,shamayim ..haaretz’.

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MR says ‘lo uchal latzes velavo’ sound strange, but there are two earlier parshiyos with these names! So the ki tetzeh lamilchama and the ki tavo take on added significance, so tht is maybe why chazal chose there to start parsha. And this explains the order, otherwise we would expect MR to say lavo velatzes! (or bec MR uses this order, for some deep reason, therefore Hashem gave the parshiyos in this order, or etc)

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nitzavim & vayalech (& Ki Setzey , KiSovo)

Names of the parshos

 R Machlis asked re why some parshiyos are so brief, nitzavim and vayelech are aobut 30/40 psukn only. I was thinking about the names of parshiyos, and his question got me thinking, I later told him re the following conneciotn between the names and the length, ie where chazal chose to start a parsha.., he said Chabad rebbe (recent) wrote a lot about this (AR: I should look it up).

 Add to elswhere that I found this type of remez:

 In vayelech : speaks of god telling MR & Yehoshua to assemble in mishkan, tityatzvu, and maes a point of saying vayityatzev moshe, so this means the word is significant, so when in an earlier parsha MR says “atem nitzavim hayom kulchem….’ (Yeshno po and also future) so it is a formal assemble of giving over and mediated via shchinah etc, so it makes sense that parsha name is nitzavim, it is not just an insig word, and maybe it is why chazal chose this pasuk to begin a parsha!

Also: when MR comes at God’s behest, it says ‘vayelech Moshe vayityatzev’ so the ‘going’ is significant, and indeed in earlier parsha , vayelech, ibn ezra says it is ‘vayelech mimachaneh yisroel lemachaneh shchinah’, so it makes sense bec here indeed re MR & Y it states ‘veyelech moshe vayityatzev’ so this has implication of shechinah and indeed they have an appearance ‘vayera’ and the anan is manifest! And this is connected to sucos layraos panai, where succos is the anan.  And by ‘veyated..’ the reason is that shchinah mithalechet, (and also ‘va’olich etchem’) so ‘going; has a significiance (vayithalech chanoch et hashem etc). And a few nearby parshas speak of vehalachta bidrachav.

So maybe that’s why chazal chose this pasuk, becausee of the word  ‘vayelech’ as the beginning of a parsha.

An, so it is not that they chose the story to begin the parsha, and this pasuk begins the story and this word begins the pasuk so they chose this word as the name of thr parsha, but rather it is the reverse: this word was chosen as the beginning of the parsha bec it is so significant, and so it was also fo course chosen as the name of the parha.

email Oct 2019

Chumash: for parshas vayelech: shabbos shuva, or right before Yom Kippur: yk: (and nitzavim before, plus ha'azinu after) haazinu

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To machlis, spoke, (he gave me a long build up that I can speak in a way that is interesting for people at didff levels and etc)  spoke on parsha & YK.

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Said at machlis in Hebrew, people liked it (even the tough customers)

previous parsha, Nitzavim,  says 'veahavta et H' twice and we know it is reciprocal (ve ahevcha, banim atem etc)  AND WHNE THERE IS LOVE, AND ARE CLOSE, NEED TO PREPARE FOR TIME WHEN NOT CLOSE.

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vayelech: or shabbos shuva, or right before Yom Kippur: 

 (and nitzavim before, plus ha'azinu after) haazinu 

Add/MESh with other version of this

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Sh: to machlis. spoke on YK parallel to G Eden ad also sucos joy after YK reconnection, purpose is reconeting, and kaparah is guaranteed, not like in world where people judge base don results achievemnt not effort, so if make the internal effort kaparah is guanranteed, hence it is called YK iand is a day of joy, then leading to succs (and the parsha[vayaech]  mentions succos and annan) people liked it.

previous parsha, Nitzavim,  says 'veahavta et H' twice and we know it is reciprocal (ve ahevcha, banim atem etc)  AND WHNE THERE IS LOVE, AND ARE CLOSE, NEED TO PREPARE FOR TIME WHEN NOT CLOSE...

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