I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU

“And now, write for yourselves this song and teach it to the children of Israel. Place it in their mouths, so that this song be a witness for Me with the children of Israel. For I shall bring them to the land that I have sworn to their fathers, flowing milk and honey, and they shall eat and be sated and grow fat, and they shall turn to other gods and serve them, and they shall spurn Me and break My covenant. And it shall be, when many ills and afflictions befall them, that this song shall testify before them as a witness, for it will not be forgotten from the mouth of their seed. For I have known its inclination, what it does today, before I bring it to the land that I have sworn. And Moses wrote this song on that day, and he taught it to the children of Israel.” (Devarim 31:19-22)

What is the song that the Torah is referring to in these verses? Rashi explains, according to the simple meaning of the text, that it refers to the song of Haazinu, which is the subject of next week’s parasha. The Sages, however, derive from this verse that it is a mitzvah (the final of the 613) to write a Sefer Torah and that the song in question is none other than the entire Torah (Sanhedrin 21b). God warns the Children of Israel that the Torah will serve as a witness, testifying to their abandonment of God and His mitzvoth.  Although we normally think of Torah, in general, as an abstract term and a Sefer Torah, in particular, as an inanimate object, here God speaks of it as if it is a living, breathing, sentient being. It lives in our midst and observes our behaviour. These words were said by Moshe 3298 years ago. How did he know that we, who live some three millennia later, would still possess the Torah?

In last week’s parsha, we find the following curse (Devarim 28:59): “Then Hashem will make extraordinary your blows and the blows of your offspring – great and faithful blows, and evil and faithful illnesses.” What are these “extraordinary blows”? The Talmud (138b):

“With regard to Torah, Rav Huna related that Rav said: The Torah is destined to be forgotten from the Jewish people. It is stated: “And the Lord will make your plagues astonishing…” (Devarim 28:59). This term of astonishment, I do not know what it is. But when the verse states elsewhere: “Therefore, behold, I will continue to astonish this people with wondrous astonishment, [and the wisdom of its wise will be lost, and the understanding of its men of understanding shall be hidden]” (Isaiah 29:14), you must say: This astonishment is referring to forgetting the Torah. The Sages taught [a similar idea in the Tosefta]: When our Sages entered the vineyard in Yavne, they said: The Torah is destined to be forgotten from the Jewish people, as it is stated: “Behold, days are approaching, says the Lord God, and I will send forth a hunger in the land, not a hunger for bread and not a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the Lord” (Amos 8:11). And it states: “And they will drift from sea to sea, and from north to east they will roam to find the word of the Lord, but they will not find it” (Amos 8:12). “The word of the Lord”; that is halakha. “The word of the Lord”; that is the end of days. “The word of the Lord”; that is prophecy. [All these will be lost from the Jewish people]. And what is the meaning of: “They will roam to find the word of the Lord, but they will not find it”? They said: It is destined that a woman will take a loaf of teruma bread and circulate among the synagogues and study halls to ascertain whether it is ritually impure or whether it is ritually pure, and there will be none who understands.”

This is a frightening curse! It describes a time when basic Jewish knowledge will be rare. Indeed, there have been periods like this. Such as during the reign of King Menashe of Judah who virtually outlawed Judaism from the Land of Israel and filled the country and Temple with idolatry. When his grandson, the righteous King Yoshiyahu, was informed that a Sefer Torah had been found in the Temple, he had it read to him and was so moved by its contents that he brought about a renaissance of Judaism in the land. In recent times, the Torah was almost forgotten in the aftermath of the Holocaust. The Nazis destroyed every yeshiva, beit midrash, Chassidic court and Jewish library they could lay their hands upon. Moreover, they mercilessly butchered hundreds of thousands of Torah scholars. The world of Torah learning was left bereft with only a small remnant of scholars to build anew from nothing. This somewhat mirrors the tragic death of Rabbi Akiva’s 24 000 students in the days of the Romans. At an advanced age, Rabbi Akiva found five new students and started to teach again (Yevamot 62b). All could have been lost but as a result of his herculean efforts, the Torah was revived.

In the same passage in the Talmud, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai brings the discussion to a close with a moving declaration, based on the words from our parsha, cited above: “Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai says: Heaven forfend that the Torah should be forgotten from the Jewish people, as it is stated: “[And this song shall answer to him as a witness], for it shall not be forgotten from his seed” (Devarim 31:21). Rather, how do I explain: “They will roam to find the word of God, but they will not find it”? It means that they will not find clear halakha and clear teaching together in one place.” Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, who dedicated his entire life to Torah study (see Brachot 35b), states proudly and confidently that the Torah will NEVER be forgotten by the Jewish people. The quality of Torah study, however, will deteriorate, leading to lack of clarity in almost every area. There will be substantial debate about the Halacha.

If one visits the tomb of Rabbi Shimon at Mt Miron, northern Israel, the words “For it shall not be forgotten from the mouth of their seed” are emblazoned on the archway leading to the tomb (see picture, below). There could be no more fitting a tribute to this great sage than the promise he made to the Jewish people that their precious Torah would always be with them.

Lee, Chani Merryl & Naomi join me in wishing you Shabbat Shalom! Rabbi Liebenberg.

This week’s YouTube message: https://youtu.be/hPTByB4gurA?si=5kSZQMYQTjbAedWg