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.
On Tuesday, we will celebrate Simchat Torah. We will read V'Zot Habracha and then immediately follow it with Bereshit, the first parsha of the Torah, and read about the creation of the world. As a result, we read the Torah anew, from beginning to end, year after year. And each time we do we glean new insights into these familiar stories.
A 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 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.
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