Friday, October 21, 2016

Shabbat Around the Table -- V'zot Habracha

This week we read the last parsha of the Torah, V'zot Habracha. Moses says good-bye to the Jewish people and then dies on the mountain and Joshua becomes the people's leader. 

midrash (or commentary on the biblical text) teaches us that the last letter of the Torah is lamed, and the fist letter of the first word of the Torah, Bereshit, is bet. Therefore, the last letter and the first letter spell lev, or heart. This is understood to mean that the Torah is the heart of the Jewish people. 

I shared this simple teaching with the children today during our Kabbalat Shabbat/Simchat Torah celebration. Please ask them about how they felt singing songs, dancing with the Torah, and waving their flags and if they remembered that the Torah is always in their heart.

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