Dear ones, there are many questions that are reverberating in this sanctuary right now. I take the liberty to challenge you one last time, one last question, at this last moment before you are called up to receive your title as "rav u'moreh / morah b'yisrael":
Is this a moment of "V'zote Ha'bracha" or is this a moment of "B'reishit"?
Is this a V'zote Ha'bracha moment – the closing torah portion of the Chumash. V'zote Habracha – "and this is the blessing". A moment when you say ‘I've concluded my studies, I've concluded this journey, it is time to say a closing blessing, a closing prayer, and walk my way".
Or, is this a "Breishit" moment. An "in the beginning" moment. A moment pregnant with all of creation, a vessel that holds all of the unknown before it even unfolds.
Do you stand here as students? As teachers?
The glory of our tradition is that every conclusion of the torah brings with it a new beginning. we never read V'zot Ha'bracha without B'reishit. The dance of rav /talmid, teachers and students, is the ultimate dance of Simchat Torah, of rejoicing with the torah.
And yet, you may say to me, "but we do read B'reishit without V'zote Ha'bracha!". It is indeed true that the Shabbat after Simchat Torah we read not only the initial story of creation but the totality of the Torah portion, the totality of B'reishit.
So indeed it may be that we are actually at a "B'reishit" moment.
The Midrash, in Seder Raba D'Breishit, that Rabbi Artson and I learned together in chavruta, (and i bless you as you journey into the world as rabbi's, that you find blessed chavruta's to learn with, as I have) teaches that the word B'reishit is an acronym for 6 words that entail God's stand in the world, and as we mirror that image ourselves, entails our stand in the world as teachers:
The Midrash says:
B'reishit: There is no B'reishit other than six attributes of the acts of an artisan / governess, and these are:
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Bet – B'niyut / building
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Reish – R'kimut - embroidering
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Alef – Amitzut - steadfast-holding / strengthening
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Shin – Sharshut - rooting
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Yud – Yeshivut - sitting / stabilizing
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Tav – T'michut – supporting / upholding
The Holy-One Blessed-Be-S/He said: B'reishit, I built, I embroidered, I strengthened, I rooted, I sat/stabilized, I upheld, the heavens and the earth."
Building – will your students walk away greater than when they walked in?
Embroidering – will your students have the tools to weave together parts of themselves that previously felt disconnected?
Steadfast-holding / Strengthening – will your students turn away feeling held? Will they feel that they are walking in God's world with a loyal partner?
Rooting – What part of yourselves, as teachers, and of God's world, will you plant in their hearts?
Sitting / Stabilizing – In this ever-evolving reality – will you offer your students a sense of stability, security and freedom that enables them to go out and explore freely?
Supporting / Upholding – will your students know that no matter where they find themselves, no matter how far or low they wander, you, their teachers, will find them and nurture them to resilience and independence?
This is what it means to stand here, tonight, as a B'reishit moment.
And yet, I pray for you, for me, for all of us here tonight, for all those that you will encounter on this magnificent journey of life in the rabbinate, that in this moment of B'reishit you hold on to God's initial intention of creation – the intention of a world that sustains "shnei m'orot g'dolim" – the two great lights. Not the world as we know it – a world of sun and moon, of a great light and a small light, but rather a world of two great lights. I pray that you walk away from every encounter not knowing whether you were the rav or the talmid / the teacher or the student. Or maybe even better yet, that you walk away from every holy encounter as both the teacher and the student. Both the rav and the talmid.
As we stand so close to receiving the Torah in 2 weeks from now, on Shavu'ote, let our dance as teachers and students, students and teachers, lead us together to the foot of har Sinai.
May we share the glory of ‘V'zote H;abracha' – may we point at you and say, ‘this is the blessing'
May we pray for B'reishit – that you stand here with the promise of b'reishit.
May we share hearing the voice of God echoing, reminding us of our mission in the world: ‘anochi Hashem eloke'cha' – God is asking of us, of you, to remind everyone we meet that they are the beloved children of God.
Mazal tov and I love you very much.