V'zot Habracha + Simchat Torah 5787 - Forever changed since October 7 - Finding the blessings

being strong and courageous for justice and mercy; the blessings: Shekinah, totality, chazak z'ematz

I love Simchat Torah. I love the celebration, the community, the dancing, the unscrolling, the chance to be in physical contact with a sefer Torah, a beloved Torah scroll; I love the experience of completion and starting again, in community.

I love the Torah and I love Simchat Torah.

the author experiencing the honor and joy of carrying a sefer Torah on Simchat Torah 2022.

For me, Simchat Torah has been forever changed since this day in 5785, October 7 2023 on the secular calendar. Yes, I saw headlines flashing onto my phone that day; and yes, I knew instantaneously that nothing would ever be the same.

This is the third year that I am approaching Simchat Torah with a significant feeling of dread, and also - as always - hope.

Please see my commentary from last year:

Sukkot, Simchat Torah, Parsha Beresheit from 5784 to 5785 Still Praying for Peace - Reflecting on Sukkot, Simchat Torah, Parashat Beresheit, in 5784 and one year later, in 5785

Again, for the third year, my heart sinks with a particular heaviness as I study Parashat V'zot Habracha and its companion Haftarah, the first chapter of The Book of Joshua, as I search for blessings in addition to finding verses about enemies and domination.

V'zot habracha - וְזֹ֣את הַבְּרָכָ֗ה - "and this the blessing": what are the blessings we need at this particular tragic moment in human history? How can we be blessed, and how can we be blessings, at this time?

בראשית י״ב:ב׳

(ב) וְאֶֽעֶשְׂךָ֙ לְג֣וֹי גָּד֔וֹל וַאֲבָ֣רֶכְךָ֔ וַאֲגַדְּלָ֖ה שְׁמֶ֑ךָ וֶהְיֵ֖ה בְּרָכָֽה׃

Genesis 12:2

(2)I will make of you a great nation, And I will bless you; I will make your name great, And you shall be a blessing.

From our parsha:

דברים ל״ג:ז׳

(ז) וְזֹ֣את לִיהוּדָה֮ וַיֹּאמַר֒ שְׁמַ֤ע יְהֹוָה֙ ק֣וֹל יְהוּדָ֔ה וְאֶל־עַמּ֖וֹ תְּבִיאֶ֑נּוּ יָדָיו֙ רָ֣ב ל֔וֹ וְעֵ֥זֶר מִצָּרָ֖יו תִּהְיֶֽה׃ {פ}

Deuteronomy 33:7

(7) And this he said of Judah:
Hear, O ETERNAL One, the voice of JudahAnd restore him to his people. Though his own hands strive for him, Help him against his foes.

דברים ל״ג:כ׳

(כ) וּלְגָ֣ד אָמַ֔ר בָּר֖וּךְ מַרְחִ֣יב גָּ֑ד כְּלָבִ֣יא שָׁכֵ֔ן וְטָרַ֥ף זְר֖וֹעַ אַף־קׇדְקֹֽד׃

Deuteronomy 33:20

(20) And of Gad he said:
Blessed be the One who enlarges Gad! Poised is he like a lionTo tear off arm and scalp.

דברים ל״ג:כ״ז-כ״ט

(כז) מְעֹנָהֿ֙ אֱלֹ֣הֵי קֶ֔דֶם וּמִתַּ֖חַת זְרֹעֹ֣ת עוֹלָ֑ם וַיְגָ֧רֶשׁ מִפָּנֶ֛יךָ אוֹיֵ֖ב וַיֹּ֥אמֶר הַשְׁמֵֽד׃ (כח) וַיִּשְׁכֹּן֩ יִשְׂרָאֵ֨ל בֶּ֤טַח בָּדָד֙ עֵ֣ין יַֽעֲקֹ֔ב אֶל־אֶ֖רֶץ דָּגָ֣ן וְתִיר֑וֹשׁ אַף־שָׁמָ֖יו יַ֥עַרְפוּ טָֽל׃ (כט) אַשְׁרֶ֨יךָ יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל מִ֣י כָמ֗וֹךָ עַ֚ם נוֹשַׁ֣ע בַּֽיהֹוָ֔ה מָגֵ֣ן עֶזְרֶ֔ךָ וַאֲשֶׁר־חֶ֖רֶב גַּאֲוָתֶ֑ךָ וְיִכָּחֲשׁ֤וּ אֹיְבֶ֙יךָ֙ לָ֔ךְ וְאַתָּ֖ה עַל־בָּמוֹתֵ֥ימוֹ תִדְרֹֽךְ׃ {ס}

Deuteronomy 33:27-29

(27) The ancient God is a refuge, A support are the arms everlasting—Driving out the enemy before you By a command: Destroy!(28)Thus Israel dwells in safety, Untroubled is Jacob’s abode, In a land of grain and wine,Under heavens dripping dew.

(29) O happy Israel! Who is like you, A people delivered by GOD,Your protecting Shield, your Sword triumphant! Your enemies shall come cringing before you, And you shall tread on their backs.

"Your enemies shall come cringing before you, And you shall tread on their backs." To paraphrase verses from Isaiah we heard as the Haftarah reading on Yom Kippur a little more than one week ago: is this the blessing we desire? How can we be a blessing when this is our worldview?

As a student of human nature, a long-time psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, and at that time a rabbinical student, my understanding of collective and intergenerational trauma told me that the archetype of vengeance would be activated and unleashed in the Israeli psyche - as indeed, it has been. Within hours, Israeli leaders were referring not only to Hamas partisans but to all Palestinians with the same dehumanizing language that the Third Reich applied to Jews one hundred years prior (Mein Kampf was published in 1925.)

In his initial recorded address on the afternoon of October 7 2023, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel was in a war rather than a routine military operation. Within that speech, he addressed actions directed at Hamas infrastructure: "All of the places which Hamas is deployed, hiding and operating in, that wicked city, we will turn them into rubble. I say to the residents of Gaza: Leave now because we will operate forcefully everywhere...We will take mighty vengeance for this black day." Israel vows 'mighty vengeance' after surprise attack

Two days later, on October 9 2023, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced a complete siege of the Gaza Strip, stating during a military assessment that Israel was fighting "human animals" and would "act accordingly".
Defense minister announces ‘complete siege’ of Gaza: No power, food or fuel

"In a new [2022] linguistic analysis of dozens of Nazi speeches, articles, pamphlets and posters, researchers show how this process of anti-Semetic dehumanization, which began before the Nazis took power and helped fuel the party’s popularity, was modulated to justify atrocity." How Nazi propaganda dehumanized Jews to facilitate the Holocaust.

So: we arrive again at Simchat Torah, the powerful spiritual moment in the Jewish year.

v'zot habracha - וְזֹ֣את הַבְּרָכָ֗ה - "and this the blessing": what can be our particular blessing at this particular moment? How can we be blessed, and be blessings, at this moment in history?

דברים ל״ג:א׳

(א) וְזֹ֣את הַבְּרָכָ֗ה אֲשֶׁ֨ר בֵּרַ֥ךְ מֹשֶׁ֛ה אִ֥ישׁ הָאֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל לִפְנֵ֖י מוֹתֽוֹ׃

Deuteronomy 33:1

(1)And this is the blessing with which Moses, the man of God, blessed the Israelites as he faced his death. (my translation)

An emphatic and evocative start to the last parsha in our Torah: and this is the blessing...let us search for a teaching here that will lift us up.

and this. What is "this" זֹ֣את (zot)? It is the feminine form of the demonstrative pronoun (the masculine form is זֶהzeh): it means "this" - something right in front of us. "Look at this."

In Kabbalah, the traditional Aramaic text frequently uses this Hebrew word זֹאת zot to explicitly signify the Shekhinah, the divine indwelling feminine presence, corresponding to the tenth and final sefirah, Malkhut. Scholars of the Zohar (such as Daniel Matt in The Zohar: Pritzker Edition) note that while upper realms of God are described as Hu ("He/It"—remote and hidden), the Shekhinah is usually referred to as זֹ֣אתzot - "this", immediate, accessible, and right here, the dimension of the Divine experienced directly in human life and in the unexpected present moment.

The primary source for mapping the Hebrew word zot directly to the Shekhinah (Divine Presence) is Sha'arei Orah, or Sefer HaOrah, (‎שערי אורה‎) written in medieval Spain (c.1260 – c.1300 CE) by Rabbi Joseph ben Abraham Gikatilla (1248–c. 1305), a foundational medieval Spanish Kabbalist and philosopher. Rabbi Isaac Luria called this work "a key to understanding the mystical studies." It discusses 300 ‎names of God and is organized into ten chapters, one for each sefirah. In the first chapter or "gate" (dedicated to the lowest Sefirah, Malkhut or Shekhinah) Gikatilla illuminates 49 of the 300 names of God, and one of them is zot. He explains that Zot is a sacred "code name" or gateway for the Divine Presence.

Exploring the letters that make up the word זֹ֣את zot: Kabbalah teaches that this word expresses the culmination of totality. It begins with the letter ז zayin (the 7th letter, representing the seven lower sefirot - the building blocks of our reality - or the seven days of the week and thus of creation ) and ends with א aleph and ת tav (the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet). This is understood to signify that Shekhinah contains and manifests the entire spectrum of creation and divine energy from beginning to end.

Furthermore, at the start of our parsha we have וְזֹ֣את v'zot - and this. There are discussions in the Zohar (for example see Zohar I, 15b-16a) that explore the letter ו vav representing the vertical conduit of divine light. Therefore the addition of this single first letter vav (ו), to zot completely changes the spiritual dynamics expressed. Zot (זֹאת) standing alone represents the Shekhinah in her receptive state, considered to be a vessel and at times restriction, a vessel without light, likened to the moon waiting to receive the sun's illumination. With the addition of the letter ו vav, the vertical channel to the upper sefirot, we now have a term that represents a state of total mercy (rachamim), absolute protection, and the active downpouring of blessings.

So we see that the very word v'zot is a blessing in itself, teaching about the presence of Shekhinah and the connection between the upper and lower worlds, between the blessings of God and the blessings that we can be.

Let's find the blessing in our Haftarah: In Parashat V'zot Habracha's Haftarah reading (Joshua 1:1-18) we read the phrase חֲזַק וֶאֱמָץ "be strong and courageous/ resolute" in a number of contexts.

יהושע א׳:ו׳-ט׳

(ו)חֲזַ֖ק וֶאֱמָ֑ץ כִּ֣י אַתָּ֗ה תַּנְחִיל֙ אֶת־הָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֔ה אֶת־הָאָ֕רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־נִשְׁבַּ֥עְתִּי לַאֲבוֹתָ֖ם לָתֵ֥ת לָהֶֽם׃

(ז) רַק֩ חֲזַ֨ק וֶאֱמַ֜ץ מְאֹ֗ד לִשְׁמֹ֤ר לַֽעֲשׂוֹת֙ כְּכׇל־הַתּוֹרָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֤ר צִוְּךָ֙ מֹשֶׁ֣ה עַבְדִּ֔י אַל־תָּס֥וּר מִמֶּ֖נּוּ יָמִ֣ין וּשְׂמֹ֑אול לְמַ֣עַן תַּשְׂכִּ֔יל בְּכֹ֖ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר תֵּלֵֽךְ׃

(ח) לֹֽא־יָמ֡וּשׁ סֵ֩פֶר֩ הַתּוֹרָ֨ה הַזֶּ֜ה מִפִּ֗יךָ וְהָגִ֤יתָ בּוֹ֙ יוֹמָ֣ם וָלַ֔יְלָה לְמַ֙עַן֙ תִּשְׁמֹ֣ר לַעֲשׂ֔וֹת כְּכׇל־הַכָּת֖וּב בּ֑וֹ כִּי־אָ֛ז תַּצְלִ֥יחַ אֶת־דְּרָכֶ֖ךָ וְאָ֥ז תַּשְׂכִּֽיל׃

(ט) הֲל֤וֹא צִוִּיתִ֙יךָ֙ חֲזַ֣ק וֶאֱמָ֔ץ אַֽל־תַּעֲרֹ֖ץ וְאַל־תֵּחָ֑ת כִּ֤י עִמְּךָ֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ בְּכֹ֖ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר תֵּלֵֽךְ׃ {פ}

Joshua 1:6-9

(6) “Be strong and resolute, for you shall apportion to this people the land that I swore to their fathers to assign to them.

(7) But you must be very strong and resolute to observe faithfully all the Teaching that My servant Moses enjoined upon you. Do not deviate from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.

(8) Let not this Book of the Teaching cease from your lips, but recite it day and night, so that you may observe faithfully all that is written in it. Only then will you prosper in your undertakings and only then will you be successful.

(9) “I charge you: Be strong and resolute; do not be terrified or dismayed, for the ETERNAL your God is with you wherever you go.”

We first encounter this powerful expression in the previous Torah portion, Parashat Ha'azinu, as Moses transfers his leadership to Joshua:

דברים ל״א:ז׳

(ז) וַיִּקְרָ֨א מֹשֶׁ֜ה לִיהוֹשֻׁ֗עַ וַיֹּ֨אמֶר אֵלָ֜יו לְעֵינֵ֣י כׇל־יִשְׂרָאֵל֮ חֲזַ֣ק וֶאֱמָץ֒ כִּ֣י אַתָּ֗ה תָּבוֹא֙ אֶת־הָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֔ה אֶל־הָאָ֕רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֨ר נִשְׁבַּ֧ע יְהֹוָ֛ה לַאֲבֹתָ֖ם לָתֵ֣ת לָהֶ֑ם וְאַתָּ֖ה תַּנְחִילֶ֥נָּה אוֹתָֽם׃

Deuteronomy 31:7

(7) Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel: “Be strong and resolute, for it is you who shall go with this people into the land that GOD swore to their fathers to give them, and it is you who shall apportion it to them.

Let us all be strong and resolute as we champion peace and mercy and justice.

Let us cultivate new ways of understanding that "the land" is not necessarily referring to a geographical place.

Let us be strong and courageous as we take action for the Torah values we hold dear: protection of life, welcoming the stranger, protection of the weak, the laws of war (which include not cutting down fruit-bearing trees in a time of siege). Let us have the strength and courage to call out collective punishment and genocide and injustice.

Please see my earlier commentaries (among others):

Vayera 5785 Abraham and Collective Punishment | The Innocent Along With the Guilty - Abraham argues with God; did he pass the test in Genesis 18? Considering Vayera 5785 through the lens of collective punishment.

Shoftim 5784 - The Narrow Place of a Siege - "Rules of siege" - How besieging others brings us into a narrow place.

Shoftim 5785 - Rules of war: Are Jewish lives more valuable than others' lives? Shoftim at the start of Elul 5785: are Jewish lives more valuable than others' lives? Rules of war, siege, olive trees, starvation, life.

What sort of blessing will I be, will you be, will we all be, as we move into this new year of 5787, as we navigate this third Simchat Torah since October 7, and we begin our Torah cycle anew?

May we be morally "strong and courageous", as is so urgently needed at this moment in history, as Jews and as human beings. May we reconnect with the joy of pursuing justice.

Simchat Torah

Rabbi Anita Josefa Barzman MD Founder, micro-mishkan.net

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