This is the last verse of the Torah

My Interpretation:

“The Hebrew of “mighty hand” is ha-yad ha-hazakah—In the very last verse of Torah there is an amazing switch. It is no longer God’s mighty hand and awesome power –it is the hand of Moses. What is this mighty hand of Moses? Is it a fist? Is it when Moses smote the Egyptian taskmaster or hit the rock? Rashi, the 11th century Bible commentator, comments on yad hazakah that it means Moses received the Ten Commandments in his strong hand, either because the weight of the tablets required strength or perhaps his hand was strengthened by receiving the Torah Either way, to receive Torah, or anything for that matter, you need not a fist, but an open hand.

And the verse continues: “everything Moses displayed was before the eyes of all Israel/einai kol Yisrael.” What did Moses display before all of Israel? Rashi says this refers to one specific moment. “Before all Israel –this refers to the fact that Moses’ heart inspired him to shatter the tablets before the people,” referencing the time Moses descended from Mount Sinai to see the people worshiping the Golden Calf and smashed the tablets in anger. Rashi continues: “and we know God's opinion of this deed because in Ex. 34:1 God said of the tablets asher shibarta—literally which you broke—is to be reread as yishar kohakha sheshebarta—congratulations that you had the strength to break them.” In this interpretation, the tablets needed to be broken. In his very last comment on the Torah, Rashi says that Moses, not God, has a yad hazakah--a mighty hand—a hand that is mighty because he accepted Torah with it but also mighty because he had the courage to smash the tablets when necessary. It is an amazing concluding statement by Rashi--that we must receive the Torah but there are times we must break the tablets of that Torah. It is a fundamental statement about Judaism with which Rashi ends his commentary and therefore how he understands the greatness of Moses, the preeminent leader of the Jewish people. It is also the first example of Judaism disrupted!

The Sefer Ha-Hinukh lists each of the 613 commandments in the order they appear in the Torah. I’ve discovered a number of interesting teachings as I studied the book. This is the 613th commandment:

For everyone to write a Torah scroll for himself: That we were commanded that each person in Israel must have a Torah scroll. If he wrote it with his [own] hand, this is praiseworthy and very dear; and as they, may their memory be blessed, said (Menachot 30a), "If he wrote it" - meaning to say, with his hand - "Scripture attributes [it] to him as if he received it from Mount Sinai." But one who is unable to write with his hand must pay someone to write it for him. And about this it is stated (Deuteronomy 31:19), "And now, write for yourselves this poem and teach it to the Children of Israel" - meaning to say, write for yourselves Torah, which contains this poem…

And we were commanded - each and every one of Israel - to make efforts about this, even if his fathers left him one. [This is] so that scrolls proliferate among us and we can lend them out to the one whose hand is not able to purchase it; and also, in order that each and every one of Israel read from new scrolls, lest their souls be sick of reading in the old scrolls that their fathers left them. --Sefer Ha-Hinukh

“In all likelihood, in pre-modern times very few families had a Torah scroll. Books (all written by hand) were a luxury of the wealthy or of scholars. This commandment must have been largely aspirational, but I am very struck by the last line. Since Torah scrolls are exact copies of the Torah text, in what way would it matter if you were reading from an old scroll or a brand new one? The idea that a new generation’s soul might be sick of the old scrolls left to them by previous generations suggests a broader understanding of this commandment. The Torah of the new generation needs to be experienced as fresh by that generation. As Rav Kook, the 20th century theologian, wrote, “the old must be renewed and the new must be made holy.”

For me, a metaphorical understanding of this, the last commandment, is appropriate. In fact, we all write a Torah scroll—it is the story of our lives. We write it by our deeds and misdeeds. It is filled with hopes and disappointments. It is probably the only commandment that every Jew fulfills even if we do it without awareness. We leave the Torah we have written to family and friends to read and remember when we are gone. The author of the Sefer Ha-Hinukh is wrong. Those handed down Torahs enrich rather than sicken the souls of the living. They provide comfort and ongoing connection to those who are no longer alive. These Torahs will be repeated as long as memories endure.

A final text from Yoma 69b:

My interpretation:

This is a text about the Men of the Great Assembly, a legendary group of sages from the Second Temple period. The text tells how they came to be known by this designation. In the Torah, Moses referred to God as "great, mighty and awesome,” (Deut. 10:17) a phrase that later became a part of the central prayer of Jewish liturgy—the Amidah. Many years later, the prophets Daniel and Jeremiah refused to call God either mighty or awesome because in their time the Jewish people were persecuted and the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. The Men of the Great Assembly redefined these attributes, recasting the notion of God’s “might” as God’s willingness to be long suffering and God’s “awesomeness” as demonstrated by the very existence of the people of Israel through its many years of exile. Because they restored God’s reputation, they are called the Men of the Great Assembly. But the question then remains: how could Daniel and Jeremiah ignore the authority of Moses and omit the attributes “mighty” or “awesome” in their prayers? R. Eleazar replies: Because they understood God wants to hear the truth.

I was first taught this text my freshman year at Yeshiva University by Rav Aaron Lichtenstein, a Talmud scholar who died in 2015. He would periodically set aside the tractate of Talmud we were studying and teach about a larger issue. He used this text to respond to Elie Wiesel, who was just becoming well known as a powerful advocate for remembering the Holocaust. Wiesel famously asked the question on so many peoples’ minds: where was God during the Holocaust? Rav Lichtenstein recognized that Wiesel spoke from the truth of his terrible experience just as Daniel and Jeremiah did in their times. Nevertheless, he understood the text to say that despite tragedies we ultimately should not doubt the existence and power of God. Years later, I came to understand the text differently. The text seems to say the Men of the Great Assembly were correct to restore those attributes to the liturgy. Yet I noticed that the last word in the text is given to Daniel and Jeremiah. God wants the truth.

I believe that saying God wants the truth, not just piety, is an encouragement, perhaps even a requirement for us to speak from the truth of our experience. I have tried to do that in this book. I think the Jewish world would be strengthened if we all tried to do that.

I have taught this text a number of times. It was in the context of writing this book that I realized the significance of the third attribute of God—God as great/gadol. God’s greatness is not rejected either by Jeremiah or Daniel. Left unchallenged is the attribute of greatness. Most of all it is striking that that is also the attribute used to describe the Men of the Great Assembly. They are not called the men of the learned, important or wise assembly. When it is desired to distinguish them, they are called great.

Why?

What does it mean God remains great no matter what happens in the world? It teaches us that we, who are created in the image of God, are also great. The final meaning of being created in the image of God is that we have the potential for greatness. We are not completely limited by our mortality. We can think and create. We can open our hearts. We can encounter and embrace. That potential is what makes us images of the limitless God.

We are all part of the great assembly of human beings who seek to live our lives fully, lives brimming with possibilities. We bring connection as we assemble the sparks of holiness to be found everywhere in this world. Even as each of us experiences our own unique truths, we seek the oneness that underlies all creation, multiple truths, not one; a multitude of diversity that is ultimately one. Shema Yisrael/listen, you who wrestle with what you believe, God who created a world of diversity is like us, the many that is One, and the one that is Many. This is the Torah for our times.