Join us each week as we journey across the United States and gather words of Torah from rabbanim representing each of the fifty states. This week we are pleased to feature divrei Torah fromRabbi Chaim Wilansky from Bangor, Maine.
The Shelah Hakadosh teaches that the parshiyos are not randomly laid out throughout the year. They have a connection to the Yomim Tovim and calendar days with which they are associated. As Parshas Vayelech is not always read on Shabbos Shuva, when it is, we ought to find a common theme.
There are two mitzvos addressed in this week’s parsha: Hakhel and that of writing a Sefer Torah. These two mitzvos share a common theme – achdus.
The mitzvah of Hakhel requires everyone, men, women, children and even infants, to be present in the Bais HaMikdash on the Sukkos following a Shmitta year. (This year is in fact a Hakhel year.)
We find that the name “Yisroel” is an acronym for “Yesh sheeshim ribu osios LaTorah – there are 600,000 letters in the Torah.” In actuality, there are only about 305,000 letters in the Torah. The meaning of this teaching is that the totality of Bnei Yisroel (represented by the number 600,000) is interlinked with the totality of the Torah. Just as a Torah is incomplete without every single letter being present and intact, so, too, Bnei Yisroel are not complete unless every single Jew is present and intact.
We find, then, that both mitzvos emphasize the necessity of participation and connection for every Jew, regardless of his or her station – spiritually, emotionally or financially – or his or her maturity. This level of achdus sits at the core of what makes us the Jewish People, and is only real when it includes everyone.
So, what does this have to do with teshuva?
Consider this: Why should Hashem accept our teshuva when we often repeat the same aveiros year after year? Would we be so forgiving if someone wronged us in the same way over and over again? Well, if we were to consider this question honestly, the answer would be: It depends on whom. If the person involved is your child, brother or parent, someone with whom you share an essential and eternal bond, you are more likely to be forgiving even after many repetitive inappropriate acts. By contrast, someone random, an acquaintance or casual friend, is unlikely to be the beneficiary of your forbearance more than once.
In that case, the key to our teshuva is being able to connect to the essence of our neshama which is inexorably connected to the essence of Hashem. At that level of connection, we are truly “one with Hashem” and Hashem blesses us with selicha and kapara.
The single most important step to accessing this aspect of our neshama is finding the connection to each and every Jew. For at the very core of every Jew is the point where we all become one. It is the recognition of the extent to which none of us is complete without a connection to every single one of our brothers and sisters. This, as we mentioned above, is the central message of the two mitzvos in the parsha.
In short, true achdus and true teshuva are one and the same. When you work on what it takes to truly achieve one, you are achieving the other simultaneously.
So, let’s get practical. There is not a single person reading this who does not know a Jew who is “not connected.” As you think of something special you can do this Shabbos Shuva, in this “Year of Hakhel,” focus on this person (or two or three people). See to it that these Jews become connected with you, Torah, Hashem and the Jewish people. Even if the connection is only a “jump start” – like getting them to put on Tefillin or light Shabbos and Yom Tov candles, or affixing a mezuzah in their home, or inviting them to join you in your sukkah – that one single act can change your life, their lives, and the destiny of all of creation.