Weekly D'var Torah

In this week’s Parsha, we learn the answer to the question: Just how many times did Moses go up Mount Sinai?

We know that the first ascent was on the Sixth of Sivan, the Festival of Shavuot.  That’s when we all heard G-d’s Voice giving the Covenant of the Ten Commandments.  After that, we had enough- G-d’s Presence was just too overwhelming.  So we told Moses to take all the time he and G-d needed to give us the Torah- we’d just wait down here in safety!  But don’t worry- whatever the Torah contained, we would do it! 

So Moses, after a short descent consecrating the nation, went up the mount for forty days and nights receiving the entire Torah.

Moses descended forty days later on the 17th of Tammuz only to find that Israel had given in to fear and built an idol: the Golden Calf.  The 17th of Tammuz, which was intended to be a holiday, became a fast day. 

Moses shattered the Tablets of the Covenant and burned the idol.  Then, as our Parsha tells it, he returns up the mountain to plea on behalf of Israel.  The nation joins in repentance and prayer and Moses again descends to try again.

Finally, after forty days of penitence and prayer, Moses returns on the 29th of Av (this year it falls on Labor Day).  Preparing the nation to receive the Torah truly at last, he re-ascends on the first of Elul which falls on September 4th. 

Forty days later, he descends with the Two Tablets of the Covenant- the final draft!  This time, rather than frightened escaped slaves dancing around an idol, he finds a holy nation, dressed in white, purified and fasting, awaiting this holy moment.

That day is the 10th of Tishrei, October 12th, Yom Kippur.  The true beginning of the Jewish journey.

If you look at the stories of the Torah, they all feature failure: from the Sin of the Garden of Eden to the Destruction of the Temple- it’s not about beginning, it’s about beginning again.

The Torah’s point of departure is that each of us is capable of greatness, or better, G-d demands that we each find and achieve our greatness. But before we can attain, we must fail.  Over and over again.

Of all of the presidential biographies, the one I find most inspiring is that of Abraham Lincoln.  Not because of all of his successes and the climb from the backwoods of Illinois to the presidency but because of the exact opposite: because of his many failures.  He failed in business not once but twice, lost eight elections, suffered a nervous breakdown, was rejected for the post of land officer, lost the nomination for vice president and… became the greatest president our republic ever had!

King Solomon in Proverbs says that the Righteous fall seven times but rise again; failing over and over and yet persisting is one of the central teachings of Rabbi Nachman, the great Hasidic master.  He wrote that starting again and failing and starting again was something he did almost daily. 

As we look to the New Jewish Year, 5785, let us resolve to keep rising, to turning each failure into just another rung on the climb up to spiritual ascendancy, to greater strength, skill, compassion and attainment.  All that is needed is to keep climbing.

Shabbat Shalom!