Vezos HaBracha and Shemini Atzeres/Simchas Torah



This is in the merit of my grandmother Esther bat Mazal. May she have a speedy and complete recovery.



A note: Comments within double brackets, [[abc]], are notes I write for myself so that when I look back later on the topics I discussed, I see all the sources I looked at and how I understood them. Readers are encouraged to skip them.





Question:



Jacob and Moses both blessed the tribes before their death. (Jacob actually blessed his sons who fathered the tribes.)



Jacob said: "Young lion, Judah, you have risen from prey, my son. He crouches, lies like a lion, like an awesome lion, who will dare rouse him ?" (Genesis 49:9)

Moses said: "To Dan he said: Dan is a young lion, springing from the Bashan" (Deuteronomy 33:22)



Why are both Judah and Dan referred to as young lions, and why the former by Jacob and the latter by Moses ?







Clinging to G-d in Support of Torah



"To Zebulun he said: Rejoice Zebulun in your excursions, and Issachar in your tents" (Deuteronomy 33:18).



Why are both Zubulun and Issachar mentioned together? And what are these "excursions" and "tents" referred to ?



Rashi answers both questions. First, he explains, based on a medrish, why both are mentioned together:



Rejoice, Zebulun, in your departure, and Issachar, in your tents Zebulun and Issachar entered into a partnership [with the following agreement]: Zebulun would dwell at the seashore and go out in ships, to trade and make profit. He would thereby provide food for Issachar, and they would sit and occupy themselves with the study of Torah. Consequently, Moses mentioned Zebulun before Issachar [even though the latter was the elder of the two], because Issachar's Torah came through [the provisions of] Zebulun. — [Gen. Rabbah 99:9]



Thus, the next two Rashis explain that Zubulun's "excursions" refer to business ventures and Issachar's "tents" refer to study halls.



Zubulun supported Issachar's study and was thus placed first which implies that supporting Torah study is in some ways more important than actually learning it. Why should this be the case ? Certainly, we could say Issachar could not learn without Zubulun but would the Torah be studied at all without Issachar? Why is Issachar second?



[[Issachar could not learn without his brother may or may not be implied from Rashi. However, R. Dr. Yehudah Levi (Torah Study, page 47) cites a medrish (MRT VaYechi 11) which says this explicitly. One can also ask according to Juggler and the King (p 69-70) that while in real life water supports trees, the tree is supporting the water. (What is MRT ?)]]



I think the answer is because Zebulun accomplishes two things:

1 – He allows Issachar to learn Torah

2 – He himself supports Torah



Our question was based on the assumption that supporting Torah only has value in so far as Torah is learned. However, supporting Torah is intrinsically valuable.



[[See also Chinuch and Torah Temimah about mitzvah of writing a sefer Torah. Also R. Dr. Levy part 1 section 6]]



For example, the Talmud (Kesubos 111b) says that we "cling to G-d" by supporting Torah scholars. However, why would supporting Torah scholars be classified as clinging to G-d ?



I think the answer is that, by learning and living Torah, one becomes Godlike (but not G-d!) and by supporting one who resembles G-d is like cleaving to G-d Himself.



[[Es Hashem… to include Torah scholars. Also, Maharsha on Kesubos 111b classifies the methods and based on what he says there, we could say that supporting Torah scholars is also a fulfillment of loving G-d with all our means – money. If I remember correctly, Maharal (Derech Chaim 1:5) explicitly says supporting Torah scholars is loving G-d]]



According to this, while there is great importance in supporting Torah learning, perhaps the ideal is to specifically support a Torah scholar. These scholars will, eventually, become leaders of the Jewish people, utilizing their scholarship and piety to serve others.





We finish and begin again the Torah this Simchas Torah. While we should certainly rededicate ourselves to learning, each of us on our own level, among the other important causes which need funding, we should allocate some money to supporting Torah scholars.





Food for thought and discussion:

We begin to pray for rain again on Shemini Atzeres (which really is the same holiday as Simchas Torah). Why pray for rain and restart the Torah reading on the same day ?





Have a Simchas Torah full of joy and a good Shabbas
Mordechai