I have long wanted to write a weekly blog of Divrei Torah but have never been able to discipline myself properly. Well, the beauty of what it means to be a Torah-believing Jew is apparent from the very first words of the Torah and, it is in sync with those words, that I undertake my task this year with joy.
The Torah begins with the iconic verse:
בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹ-הִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ׃
In the beginning, Hashem created heaven and earth.
There is a fascinating story in the Talmud (Megillah 9a):
דְּתַנְיָא: מַעֲשֶׂה בְּתַלְמַי הַמֶּלֶךְ שֶׁכִּינֵּס שִׁבְעִים וּשְׁנַיִם זְקֵנִים וְהִכְנִיסָן בְּשִׁבְעִים וּשְׁנַיִם בָּתִּים וְלֹא גִּילָּה לָהֶם עַל מָה כִּינְסָן. וְנִכְנַס אֵצֶל כׇּל אֶחָד וְאֶחָד, וְאָמַר לָהֶם: כִּתְבוּ לִי תּוֹרַת מֹשֶׁה רַבְּכֶם. נָתַן הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא בְּלֵב כׇּל אֶחָד וְאֶחָד עֵצָה וְהִסְכִּימוּ כּוּלָּן לְדַעַת אַחַת. וְכָתְבוּ לוֹ: ״אֱלֹ-הִים בָּרָא בְּרֵאשִׁית״
It is taught in a baraita: There was an incident involving King Ptolemy of Egypt, who assembled seventy-two Elders from the Sages of Israel, and put them into seventy-two separate rooms, and did not reveal to them for what purpose he assembled them so that they would not coordinate their responses. He entered and approached everyone, and said to each of them: Write for me a translation of the Torah of Moses your teacher. The Holy One, Blessed be He, placed wisdom in the heart of each and everyone, and they all agreed to one common understanding. Not only did they all translate the text correctly, they all introduced the same changes into the translated text. And they wrote for him: “Hashem created in the beginning…”
Instead of translating the verse as “In the beginning, Hashem created…” they reversed it and translated it as “Gd created in the beginning…” Why would they make such a change? Rashi, the great eleventh-century scholar, explains that:
שלא יאמר בראשית שם הוא ושתי רשויות הן וראשון ברא את השני
“So they should not say that Bereishit is the name of a deity and that there are multiple deities with the deity called Bereishit creating the second deity.”
That is how Greek literature was structured at that time. Therefore, the scholars changed it so that Ptolemy would not think the Torah is polytheistic.
I would like to suggest that there is another message implicit in the scholars’ altered translation.
Just a short time ago we recited, in the Yom Kippur liturgy, the story of the Assara Harugei Malchut, the Ten Martyrs. In it, we tell of the brutal murder of Rabbi Chanina Ben Teradyon. The poet tells is like this:
צִוָּה לְהוֹצִיא רַבִּי חֲנַנְיָא בֶּן תְּרַדְיוֹן מִבֵּית אוּלָמוֹ. וּבַחֲבִילֵי זְמוֹרוֹת שָׂרְפוּ גָלְמוֹ. וּסְפוּגִין שֶׁל צֶּמֶר שָׂמוּ עַל לִבּוֹ לְעַכֵּב עַצְמוֹ. וּכְשֶׁנִּסְתַּלְּקוּ מִיַּד נִשְׂרַף וְסֵפֶר תּוֹרָה עִמּוֹ
He commanded them to bring out Rabbi Chananya ben Tradyon from his house of study, and they burnt his body on a pile of twigs. Layers of wet wool were placed on his chest to prolong the agony, and when they were removed he was consumed immediately together with the Torah Scroll he held.
The liturgical poet is abbreviating the story. Who removed the wool and why was it removed? The Romans were not known for their kindness: on the contrary, they were incredibly cruel. The Talmud in Avoda Zara 18a tells the story more completely:
הביאוהו וכרכוהו בס”ת והקיפוהו בחבילי זמורות והציתו בהן את האור והביאו ספוגין של צמר ושראום במים והניחום על לבו כדי שלא תצא נשמתו מהרה … אמר לו קלצטונירי רבי אם אני מרבה בשלהבת ונוטל ספוגין של צמר מעל לבך אתה מביאני לחיי העולם הבא אמר לו הן השבע לי נשבע לו מיד הרבה בשלהבת ונטל ספוגין של צמר מעל לבו יצאה נשמתו במהרה אף הוא קפץ ונפל לתוך האור. יצאה בת קול ואמרה רבי חנינא בן תרדיון וקלצטונירי מזומנין הן לחיי העולם הבא בכה רבי ואמר יש קונה עולמו בשעה אחת ויש קונה עולמו בכמה שנים
They brought [Rabbi Chanina Ben Teradyon], wrapped him in a Torah Scroll with sopping wet wool soaked between himself and the scroll so he would not die quickly … The executioner said to [Rabbi Chanina Ben Teradyon] “Rabbi, if I increase the fire and remove the wool from your chest will you bring me into the World to Come?” He responded, “Yes.” “Swear it to me.” So, [Rabbi Chanina Ben Teradyon] swore it to him. He removed the wool from his chest, stoked the fire, and caused [Rabbi Chanina Ben Teradyon] to die quickly. [The Executioner] then jumped into the fire [and died.] A heavenly voice declared, “Rabbi Chanina Ben Teradyon and The Executioner are destined for the world to come.” Rabbi [Yehuda Hanasi] lamented and said, “There are those who can acquire their share in the World to Come in a moment and those who acquire it over many years.”
Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi makes my point: One is never so far removed from Hashem that redemption is impossible. The great lesson of this story, and messaged by the Rabbis of the Septuagint, is that Hashem’s first creation was the concept of a Beginning: at any time we can change who we are and undertake to do better. We have the ability, at any time, to start over and put our pasts, and whatever black marks we may have, behind us.
Hashem’s creation of beginnings is his greatest act of compassion.
At this time of year, as we complete the High Holiday season and celebrate the completion of a year’s Torah reading, it is appropriate for us to dwell on Hashem’s compassion. With Israel under mortal threat from Iran and her evil proxies, it may seem more difficult than ever to feel it but we should be guided by the prophet Jeremiah who wrote the saddest book in all of Torah, the book of Eichah, Lamentations. While shedding bitter tears over the destruction of the Holy Temple, he proclaimed:
חַסְדֵי יְ-הוָה כִּי לֹא־תָמְנוּ כִּי לֹא־כָלוּ רַחֲמָיו׃
Hashem’s kindness is not depleted, His mercies have not ended.
When we are in our darkest place is the time when we must work harder to remind ourselves that Hashem is truly compassionate. He is always there and we can always lean on him and let Him help us out of the darkness. Hashem recreates the world every day. We can leverage that into a new beginning at any time. That is his great gift to us.
It is in keeping with this basic concept of Judaism, that each day is a new opportunity to be better, that I undertake to write at least one Torah article each week. I am glad to have started and I hope I can maintain this through an entire Torah reading cycle. But, I will take it one week at a time.
If you have any questions or comments, you can email me. I look forward to hearing from you.
I would like to express my thanks to Sefaria.org. All Hebrew text was copied from Sefaria. Most of the translations as well.