Parashas Vayeilech

Our Parsha this Shabbos which falls between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur during the Ten Days of Repentance is Parashas Vayeilech and the Haftorah for this Portion is Hosea 14:2-10;Joel 2:11-37; Micah 7:18-20 . The Haftorah is very suited to this period of the Ten Days , with a subject of Repentance, very much its theme and also, in the Haftorah , is the Shofar that we blow at this time of year in the Jewish Calendar, mentioned in the Haftorah .
This Parsha takes place on the last day of Moshe's life. The date is the 7th of Adar 2488 years after Creation .This is the date that Moshe was born and on this date , exactly to the day , minute and second , 120 years later, was to be the day and moment of Moshe's passing . In this Parsha , Moshe has finished his speech to the people that covered most of the book of Devarim , just under 40 days and now HaShem Told Moshe that Behold , his time had come to take leave of the Children of Israel . Thus Moshe says , that he can no longer ' go out and come in , ' not because he was physically unable to , for he says clearly later that his eye was not dimmed and his strength unabated, but he couldn't go out and come in , because HaShem Had Ordered him not to , and he found that his words to the people , were no longer able to be grasped , for he had become spiritually so high that he could no longer explain the Torah depths to the level of the people . The time had come , for the Children of Israel to go over the Jordan , and now , the time had come for Yehoshua Joshua to take over as leader . So on this last day for Moshe , Moshe went from Tribe to Tribe to bid his farewell. He related the battles about Sichon and Og and Moshe summoned Yehoshua and , before the eyes of all Israel , announced his leadership .
On that last day , with the Miracles of HaShem , Moshe wrote in one day , 13 Torahs, one for each Tribe and a 13th Torah , which he gave to the Kohanim , the sons of Levi , the bearers of the Ark , to keep for safe-keeping at the side of the Ark of the Covenant , to ensure that there will always be a Torah that will be there so that any other Torah ever written will have Moshe's Torah to stand as HaShem Instructed It to be , word for word , letter for letter and space for space .
Moshe commands that at the end of seven years , in the Sabbatical year , during the Succos Yom Tov , that the king of Israel is to read from the Torah and that all are to attend , men , women and even little children and the stranger in our cities . Though the very small children couldn't totally comprehend , as our Rabbi have said , the parents could thus get kavod for bringing the children and fulfilling this Mitzvah .
HaShem Summons both Moshe and Joshua and has them stand in the Tent of Meeting and HaShem Appeared in a pillar of cloud and HaShem Tells that after Moshe passes on , the people will stray to idol worship and HaShem Will Conceal His Face From us , not because HaShem Is Wanting To Turn Away From us , but HaShem Is Pained at how we hurt Him and , as our Rabbonim say , HaShem Doesn't Want to Look at the punishment we will get , for HaShem Loves us and does not Want to see us hurting .
HaShem Instructs Moshe to write the song of Haazinu ( in the next Parsha ) , to stand as a witness that HaShem Warned us not to stray and what will happen if we do , Chas Ve Shalom , that if any punishments come upon us , it was fore-warned , should we go against HaShem , and that we only have ourselves to blame . For when we do get punished , we as humans tend to ask HaShem Why , without always looking at ourselves . Now the song of Haazinu will stand as a testimomy to how we brought it upon ourselves , by our own disobedience .So ends the Parsha .
How interesting it is , that this Parsha is called " Vayeilech , " - " Went , " where Moshe went to speak all these words to the people . Usually , a leader of other nations is one to whom people go to him, but not humble Moshe . Moshe cared so much for his people , that even to that last moment of his physical life as Moshe , he was still " Vayeilech , " - " G " out and serve his people . He was a totally unselfish man , even right up to the moments of his last breath .
To the truly Righteous , passing on , is not the end , but a continuation of the journey of True Life . Life in reality does not end at death . That is just ( in true reality ) another part of ' True Living . Thus Moshe was continuing " Vayeilech , " - " Going " on his journey toward his path of living in the form of True Spiritual Growing Living . Death is not an end , but simply a part of the journey of True Spiritual Life , to the next stage of Growing . True growing , is growing toward the ' Heart of HaShem and His Will . ' If we look deeply into the word " Vayeilech , " the very same letters can also spell , ' Ki Leiv ' ( where Vav and Vet are interchangeable in one of the ways of Hebrew interpretation ) , which means ' Because of the heart , ' so whose heart is being referred to ? HaShem's Heart and Seat Of Emotions , as well as ours . So where was Moshe " Vayeilech , " - " Going ? " To ' Ki Leiv , ' closer to the Heart and Will of HaShem .
So must each step that we make , also be towards the Heart and Will of HaShem's Wish ( not ours ) . Each step we take must be one of growing higher . If we remain Religiously and Spiritually stagnant , without growing holier every day , we haven't truly lived . Moshe , every day , " Vayeilech " - " Went " higher and higher towards HaShem . That is True Life - True Living . So the fact that he was passing on , was not an end to his journey , Chas Ve Shalom , but on the contrary , just a continuation of the journey his neshoma started , at Creation . And now it was time for him to continue on his Spirtual growing path . This is one of the reasons , why he couldn't , as he Moshe put it , ' go out and come in anymore , ' for he had reached as far as he could Spiritually in this present form . So the only way to keep growing , was to pass on to the next level of Growing toward HaShem and HaShem's Will and Heart Wish of Emotion . So is it with those we dearly love and lose . They are also on a continuing journey of Spiritual Climb toward HaShem ( as are us all ) . We know this is true , for so often in Torah are those that are mentioned who are going to pass on , are mentioned as ' The Life of ' or ' Lived , ' as is the case with the Sedra of Sarah passing on , being called " Chayei Sarah , " - " The life of Sarah , " even though she was to die ". The same is for Jacob in the Sedra that talks of his passing , and that Sedra is called " Vayechi , " ( which means ) - " Lived ," even though it was the Sedra of his passing . This is the real way of a righteous person . Even though they are passing away , Torah still refers to it as ' Living ' for that is exactly what it truly is - a continuation of the True Living that started at the beginning of Creation , where all of us are always on a path towards True Spiritual Growth . Our Matriarchs and Patriarchs knew this . That death is not a finality , but a continuation of the Journey of Life . The same is with Moshe . Though his time to " Vayeilech " - " Go " had come , it was not the end for him , but a continuation of his Journey Towards True Life . As HaShem Told Moshe , when Moshe was pleading with HaShem not to have to go , in The Torah , when HaShem Said " It is enough , " this also meant that Moshe had now done enough as Moshe , and it was time to take the next step in Moshe's journey and continue on Growing in his next stage of True Living and do something for himself for a change , where Moshe had spent his whole life caring only for others . Only what a beautiful Neshoma was our beloved Moshe So is it the same for every step we each take in this World . Each move we make , is part of the journey . When we " Vayeilech , " - " Go out " from our own personal wishes , and live only to fulfill the Wishes Of HaShem , we too will be headed towards holiness. The operative idea , is to rise above our own self-wanting self fulfilling desires , that are of little worth , and " Vayeilech , " - " Go out " from ourselves , only fulfilling The Wants and Needs Of HaShem , Creation's One and Only True Creator , Who Knows all and Is Totally Selfless .
As we approach Yom Kippur , during these Ten Days of Repentance , let us really think about our lives and what will bring it true lasting and eternal value . It is Only HaShem and it is Only HaShem's Torah and Laws , that will put us on the path to holiness. The Path towards HaShem's Will and Emotions of Heart . Every day HaShem Gives us , is never to be wasted . This World is our opportunity to grow . Its tests and challenges are there for us to become more holy .At this time between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur , we need to really work on ourselves and ask ourselves , ' Are we really Spiritually where we wanted to be this year ? ' For the most part , I would imagine the answer will be ' No . ' Here we are on the threshhold of a New Year , just a few days after the True Historical Day of Rosh HaShanah ( The First of Tishrei ) , on which day , HaShem Created people in Creation . Should we not use this period of time to reflect and do sincere Teshuvah and get this World back on track with HaShem 's Will . Most definitely we must . Everything Moshe did , had a reason, not just for us and those around him whom he constantly prayed for , but even for his own growth . There is an opinion , that Moshe was the Gilgul of Noach . We know that for 40 years , while Moshe was leading us b, under HaShem , in the Wilderness , Moshe was forced to continue praying for us and our forgiveness . What was the deeper reason for this , where Moshe is concerned ?
We find a deeper answer to this in the actions of Noach . When Noach was told that HaShem Would Send a flood to wipe out the people , Noach did not pray for them , but built the Ark , wanting to strictly obey HaShem's Word . HaShem Tells us in The Torah that the rain was upon the Earth for forty days and forty nights . How interesting , that this number 40 appears here , for Moshe too , had to pray for us and beg HaShem continually for 40 years for us in the Bamidbar - the Wilderness . So was Moshe making up for his action as Noach , by this time having to continually pray for the people . Sounds very deeply possible . Interesting , how Moshe was called Moshe , which means ' Drawn out , ' of the water , where HaShem protected and saved Noach and his family from the flood waters . How interesting it is , that Noach's Ark was called a " Teivah " in Hebrew and the Basket that Moshe was put into , in the Nile was also called a " Teivah . " So every thing that Moshe did and had to do had a deeper reason . HaShem Is So Beyond our capacity and limit to understand and we see only a glimpse of it all . We were told in Parashas Va'eschanan that Moshe pleaded with HaShem 515 times ( the Gematrical value of the word Va'eschanan ) to be let into the land . If we take the year of Moshe's passing , it was the year 2488 . If we take the 515 times that Moshe prayed for himself to be let into the Land of Eretz Yisrael, and times that number by 7 for the number of years in a Sabbaical year , we get the number 3605 . If we add the number 3605 to the number 2488 ( the year of Moshe's passing ) we come to the number 6093 , the date on which Moshiach is due to come and no later . Thus when Moshe was pleading for entry into the land , something else spiritually was going on . Moshe was actually covering us all with his prayers right up until the End of Days . HaShem Is Truly So Deep , that we can't possibly fathom a speck of the full picture . How interesting it is , that also within the word Va'eschanan , are the Hebrew Letters ' Nun ' and Ches , ' which spell " Noach . " Within the word " Va'eschanan , " is the word ' Chanan , ' which means Compassion ' and ' Va ' and ' Et ' means ' And To or Toward So put together , it means ' And toward compassion . ' Thus even though Moshe had prayed so many times and been turned down , HaShem was still doing an action toward compassion , both for Moshe's Spiritual Growth and for us all , in Moshe having then prayed for us till the End of Time . Oh HaShem , How Mighty And Powerful , Wise And Merciful Thou Art .
So every " Vayeilech " - " Going " that we do , has a reason in the scheme of things , a reason that we can't possibly understand right now . But every step we take in " Going " is a continuation of our True Life towards HaShem . Whether it is the passing of the soul to the next phase or level , or whether it is Going on with each step of life every day , each step towards HaShem , is a Climb of destiny towards HaShem and the HaShem's Pathway towards the End of Days and the Destination of Creation . So we must have full faith and Emunah in HaShem , for every step we take in the direction of Holiness and Torah , is a step closer to G-D .
I wish HaShem with utmost Love , a Truly Sweet and Beautiful Shabbos Kodesh With Love , and to all my fellow Jews , and to all of Creation , a Very Sweet and Holy Shabbos Kodesh With Love and to my fellow Jews , a Meaningful Fast on Yom Kippur .