It is customary in many different commentaries to attempt to connect the end and beginning of different weekly Torah portions. Rashi begins his commentary on many portions of the Torah in this way. Therefore, there are a host of various explanations connecting the last and the first words of the Torah, which we read on Simchat Torah.
The last words of Zot Habracha, the final portion of the Torah read: “And by all the strong hand and awesome power that Moses performed before the eyes of all Israel.” The first words of the Torah read: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Many commentaries take the last and first few words and read them: “In the eyes of all Israel God created the heavens and the earth.” This reading is connected to Rashi’s comment regarding the first letter of the Torah which is usually read as “in [the beginning].” Rashi instead explains the letter to mean not “in” rather “for the sake of.” He continues by saying that God created the world for the sake of Torah, which is called the first of His ways, and Israel, the first of his produce.
When God created the world He took council with the souls of tzaddikim, the righteous. The obvious question is: who are these souls of the righteous, as we are speaking of a “time” even before time and space, or anything other than the Oneness of God. These tzaddikim were the future souls of Israel, who were at that time completely unified within the very essence of God.
This will help us understand the custom to stand at night during kiddush, the sanctification of Shabbat. At that time we stand as if we were giving testimony as witnesses that God created the heavens and the earth. In the Shema, the cardinal statement of faith in the Torah of our belief in the Oneness of God, two letters are written large - the ayin and dalet, which spell the word ed, “witness.” It is the mission of the Jewish people to be the witnesses to the whole world of the unity of God and that He is in truth the Creator. Yet a question arises - is it possible to give testimony as witnesses without being able to confirm first hand its truth? Therefore when we stand at kiddush on Shabbat it is as if we are saying: “In the eyes of all Israel God created heaven and earth.” In some deep, almost unfathomable way our souls were there!
Another aspect of the connection between the last and first words of the Torah is derived from Rashi’s comment on what exactly was it that Moses performed “in the eyes of all Israel.” Very cryptically Rashi comments that it was the breaking of the two tablets of the law which God Himself agreed to and actually applauded him. Without this Rashi we certainly would have thought of all the various miracles Moses performed before the people and not the tragic incident of the Golden Calf, which caused the breaking of the tablets. So what then is being alluding to here.
According to the Arizal, and discussed above, there was before this present world of rectification a cataclysmic “breaking of the vessels.” Only after this cosmic event could the world of rectification begin. By way of allusion we can understand that the breaking of the tablets spoken about here as the final idea in the Torah alludes to the “breaking of the vessels” and comes as an introduction and direct connection to the beginning of the Torah and creation.
The last letter of the Torah is a lamed, while the first is a beit, spelling the word lev, “heart.” Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai once asked his students which is the proper way for a person to cling to. Of all the answers of his students he choose “ a good heart,” in that it included all the other answers as well (Pirkei Avot 2:13). The Torah here hints to this as we roll the Torah on Simchat Torah from the end to the beginning and start all over again, this time with hopefully a new heart.
“There is no vessel as whole as a broken heart” (Degel Machaneh Efrayim; Parshat Vetchanan). Before true repentance and real personal change can occur there must be a breaking, a crisis in identity and purpose. As light is stronger when dispelling a previous darkness, this world is preceded by the breaking of the vessels, which paradoxically paves the way for true and lasting rectification.
We are taught that teshuvah, true repentance was one of the things created even before creation itself. This too is alluded to in the connection between the end and beginning of the Torah. For if there was no teshuvah there could be no rectification, which is the underlying purpose and fabric of all creation. As we begin a new cycle of reading the Torah we take with us all the broken moments of sincere teshuvah created from the deep introspection of the holidays and from that very breaking create our world of rectification.
