Restoring the Light

Kadish must be recited with a Minyan. Kadish is cognate to the world kedusha, holiness and connotes a level of Divine energy that is detached from our realm of reality and accessibility. An individual cannot break out of his own reality and grasp something beyond his reach. Groups of ten—that represent the totality of the Jewish people—forms a new reality that is receptive to the otherness of G-d’s light generated by the kadish, Kedusha and the reading of the Torah.

Who Wrote the Last Eight Verses?

This parsha marks the end of the Five Books of Moses. And the end of the parsha—its last eight verses—describes poignantly the passing of Moses.

The Talmud (Bava Basra 15a) deals with the obvious question. The entire Torah was written by Moses. How then could Moses have reported his own passing, burial and eulogy?

The Talmud provides two answers, represented by two Talmudic Sages. According to the opinion of Rabbi Yehudah (according to another version it was Rabbi Nechemia) it was actually Joshua who penned these last eight verses and not Moses. Rabbi Shimon demurs and argues:

Is it possible that the Torah should be missing one letter? Does it not say, “Take this Book of Torah”

[implying that Moses had already completed the entire book]?”

Rather, Rabbi Shimon maintains Moses did in fact write these last eight verses. The only difference is that these verses Moses did not verbalize and that he wrote them with tears.

Practical Application

The Talmud then applies a practical ruling to these final eight verses:

“One individual reads these verses.”

Rashi explains that this means that it means that these eight verses cannot be split up into two sections to be read by two individuals. Thus, the meaning of “one individual reads these verses” should actually be interpreted as “all these verses should be read as one.”

Maimonides has a different way of interpreting these words: Since these verses were not transmitted in the same manner as the rest of the Torah (either because they were written by Joshua or that Moses wrote them with tears), one does not need a minyan (a quorum of ten men needed for the public reading of the Torah) to read these verses. They may be read even by an individual.

We must try to understand why these last verses would be considered inferior to the other verses of the Torah, since they are an integral part of the Torah. If even one letter of these last eight verses would be missing or written defectively it would invalidate the entire Torah. Why then could it be read by an individual in contradistinction to all the other parts of the Torah which require a minyan?

We also have to understand Rashi’s approach that these eight verses must be read without interruption, why would the fact that they were written by Joshua or that they were written with tears warrant not splitting up the reading into two parts?

The Filtering Process

To resolve the foregoing it is necessary to understand the two views as to whether Joshua wrote the last eight verses or it was written by Moses with tears.

Either scenario suggests that these last verses of the Torah were meant to link the exalted state of Moses’ generation and the generations to follow, which were of a lower level. Moses knew that future generations will need to have the powerful G-dly forces that the Torah generates condensed to make them accessible.

According to the Rebbe (see Toras Menachem, 5749 p. 43) the entire story of Moses’ passing is more than a description of the departure of his soul from his body in the classical sense of death. Moses’ death is actually a process where he allows for his brilliant light to be “diminished.” In this regard the Rebbe cites the Zohar: “One who falls from their level is called dead.”

Based on this analysis, one way of understanding Moses’ death/decline was his allowing for his intense light to be filtered.

However, there are two ways the transition can be made between Moses’ era and subsequent ones. In one scenario Moses’ light is reflected through Joshua and his teachings. Our Sages compare Moses to the light of the sun and Joshua his successor to the reflective light of the moon. There is nothing altered or introduced from a foreign source. True, the radiance is dimmed for it is only reflected light, but the moon does not reflect anything but the light of the sun, and Joshua reflected faithfully all the light that Moses radiated..

Moses, therefore, allows for the Torah to be completed by his successor. By doing so, Moses was able to link his own stature—since these last eight verses written by Joshua were incorporated within the corpus of the Five Book of Moses—with that of the more accessible approach of Joshua, who actually write these last eight verses.

Self-Limitation

Rabbi Shimon, however, provides for another solution to the problem as to who wrote the last eight verses. It is axiomatic that the Five Books of Moses are unique even in comparison with the other Biblical books because they are the product of G-d’s communication with the most transparent receptacle—Moses.

Rabbi Shimon therefore adopts the second scenario, in which Moses writes the words of the Torah, but it is written with tears. By writing it himself, the light that emerged from these letters were not merely reflected light. These were Moses words, albeit in a form that differed from the rest of the Torah.

According to some, writing with tears means that he used tears instead of ink to form the letters. Another interpretation understands it literally that as he was writing he shed tears. This was an indication that Moses was undergoing a transformation that represented the first stage in the process of “death.” Either way, Moses, in his last eight verses of narrative, was “diminishing” himself.

Moses recognized that a transition had to occur. But to preserve the integrity of the Torah even that transition had to be ascribed to Moses himself and not even to his trusted disciple Joshua. When a person limits himself, for example, it is not the same as when he is limited and reflected by others.

Minyan Power

We can now understand why these eight verses are different in regard to reading them in public. Since, these last eight verses constitute the bridge between the Five Books of Moses and the rest of the Torah revealed to future generations, the Torah’s radiance is somewhat concealed. When we read the preceding parts of the Torah that reveal the intense G-dly light that characterizes Moses’ writing, we must have a minyan to absorb that light. Only a collective body of people has the capacity to experience that intense light without being overwhelmed.

This explains why Kadish and other prayers cannot be recited by individuals except within the context of a minyan. The word kadish is cognate to the world kedusha, holiness. More precisely it connotes a level of Divine energy that is detached from our realm of reality and accessibility. An individual cannot break out of his own reality and grasp something beyond his reach. Groups of ten—that represent the totality of the Jewish people—forms a new reality that is receptive to the otherness of G-d’s light generated by the kadish, other prayers and the reading of the Torah.

By contrast, the diminished or filtered light generated by the eight last verses are indeed within reach of each and every individual as an individual.

No Pause Necessary or Desirable

We can also understand Rashi’s contention that these eight verses are singled out that they must be read without interruption. The reason for the interruptions in the Torah, Rashi tell us, was to give Moses time to reflect on and digest the words of G-d that were spoken to/through him. This was necessary because of the transcendent nature of these G-dly teachings.

The last eight verses, however, do not require the pauses because they were tailor made for those who were/ are on a lower level. The pauses are not only unnecessary, they can be detrimental. When we take something straightforward and uncomplicated and we dissect it and parse it too much it can actually cause its true meaning to be adulterated and distorted. Or, to use another analogy, when a potent drink is diluted with water it makes the drink drinkable. If however, the drink is already drinkable and water is added to it, it ruins its taste.

New Light

The transition from Moses to Joshua and subsequent generations wherein the radiance of Torah had to be dimmed was not a permanent situation. As we prepare for Moshiach and the final Redemption we are told that the process will actually be reversed. The Biblical prediction that “A new Torah shall emerge from Me,” (Isaiah 51:4; Midrash, Rabbah, Vayikra 13:3) is understood to mean that the same Torah we have now and we will have for all eternity will have its full radiance restored.

Moreover, even new dimensions that were contained subliminally in the Torah that were given to Moses but not able to be revealed even then, will also emerge from G-d through the teachings of Moshiach, The full potency and radiance of the light of Torah will be manifest for all.

Indeed, since the Ba’al Shem Tov and the emergence of the Chassidic movement with the innovative teachings of Chassidus we were afforded a foretaste of this new light of Torah.

If someone were to ask, why didn’t the great Sages of earlier years have access to this knowledge, the answer can be found in the last eight verses of the Torah. The radiant teachings of Moses were concealed even from the generation that immediately followed Moses’ generation. However, as we approach the Messianic Age, G-d allows for some of the hitherto concealed precincts of Torah to be revealed; and revealed to all across the spiritual spectrum.

The objective is to prepare us for the time when the light of Torah will shine totally unobstructed and when all that was utterly hidden from us will be in full view of all.

At that time, the tears Moses shed to allow for the Torah to become accessible to all of us will be erased together with the tears that we have shed throughout our long stay in exile. We will experience unmitigated joy!

From the book Light from the Future: Simchas Torah by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.