A Thought on Parshas V'zos Habracha

I am sending this out early in view of the fact that we will read this parsha on Friday of Simchas Torah in the Diaspora, and then Shabbos Bereishis follows the next day. I want to give a respectful salutation to the Panae'ach Raza whose works we have studied this past year and I do not want that lost in the rush of yom tov eruv Shabbos. So, I am going to provide this final Parsha Thought early so that all who have savored the great Panae'ach Raza can have a chance to say good bye, and still have some time to prepare to greet our new incoming commentary. "...af chovev amim kol kedoshav b'Yadecha...tuku l'Raglecha..." (33:3) "...You even loved nations, all their holy ones in Your hands...at Your feet..." This verse begins with a clause which is hard to translate, and harder to interpret. The word "af" generally means even, and the word "chovev" means to feel precious or fond feelings for, and "amim" means societies or groups of people. So, a literal rendering of the words would be "(You) even had precious feelings for societies". The object of the clause is not clear. Whom does HaShem regard so fondly? Why that fondness? Are there many peoples whom He has such love for? What is the "even"? Does it mean He has love even for those we would not expect Him to love? The Panae'ach Raza offers three perspectives. One is that the clause takes its context from the words which follow it, which read "all Your holy ones are in Your hands, under Your feet." This means that our clause refers to the nations of the world and portends that "even when Providence appears to favor other nations and the holy Jews are persecuted, we place our fate in Your hands, prepared to endure suffering for Your sake, and ready to sacrifice ourselves for Kiddush HaShem, placing ourselves in Your hands, ready to be trampled underfoot." The second interpretation he offers in the name of the Bechor Shor, whose writings we studied two years ago. That perspective is that the verse means "even when HaShem seems to favor other nations and the Jews are submerged within their ranks, subjugated by their powerful host nations, we continue to sanctify Your name. Although we may be a downtrodden small minority, the Jews perpetuate the ways of HaShem under the worst of circumstances and the world takes notice of our higher standard, making Your Name known." The last interpretation is in the name of "The Garden." Once before (parshas Re'eh a few weeks ago), he cited this source. At that time, I urged you to make note of it. Here he comes again, whomever or whatever he is. "The Garden" says that the verse means something very different. There are many nations across the globe. Each one of them offers up, spiritually, its holy ones, who find their way to Torah and convert. They are drawn to the Torah which was given to the Jewish nation, who stood at the foot of Mount Sinai and received Hashem's Holy Word. Our verse means "You have fondness for those nations who give their holy ones into Your Hands, where they merge with the Jews whose advantage was that they received the Torah from You at the foot of the mountain." According to this view, Moshe Rabbeinu in this verse is speaking about the Jews, including those who are destined to become Jews. This week, one of our good friends will be leaving LA to join his ba'shert who lives on the East Coast. He is a ger tzedek who was born in Japan, and made his way to Judaism. He has been learning Torah, fulfilling mitzvos, advocating for the Jewish people on a global scale, and will soon be building his own home in the Torah nation. We sadly and lovingly wish tzaetzchem le'shalom to Moshe Chaim ben Avraham Avinu. As we now understand our verse, HaShem looks fondly at the people of Japan, who have given us a holy soul to join with our own nation, who all serve HaShem through adhering to Torah from Sinai. ******************** This ends our year of study with Rabbeinu Yitzchak ben Yehuda HaLevi, the Panae'ach Raza. Many on our Parsha Thought group rank him among their favorites. He made his way into my heart and soul, particularly because he is at ease offering his own original approaches, which often fit perfectly within the actual wording of verses and are consistent with supportive teachings which he finds in the words of Chazal. He definitely took a more mystical or "remez v'sod" approach to these final parshios in Devarim, which some readers felt less drawn too. It may be that so much of Devarim is "review" or Mishna Torah, and so he offered herein this tangential flexibility, after the earlier four books of Chumash which he had addressed with more profound analytic thought. Regardless, I will miss the Panae'ach Raza and hope to return one day to delve further into his exciting work. Farewell my revered teacher and guide during this year's journey through Torash HaShem. I have learned very, very much from you, and your words will continue to inspire and enlighten me. So, as I write each year at this time, it is time to look for a new Rishon. We have merited study with Rashi, Ibn Ezra (short and long versions), Rav Saadia Gaon, Chezkuni, Rabbeinu Bachya, Rabbeinu Yona, Rabbeinu Avraham ben Rambam, Recanati, Radak, Seforno, Rashbam, Rabbeinu Efraim, Ralbag, Rosh, Rambam, Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel, Bechor Shor, Rabbeinu Avigdor, Panae'ach Raza... Let us see what parshas Bereishis brings to our weekly parsha emails, with the loving help of HaShem. Good Shabbos. Good Yom Tov. D Fox