V’Zos Ha’Beracha: Beauty of the Broken Pieces

Dear friends, welcome to this week's virtual dasha and not on this shabas but in a few days from now we go to complete the cycle of to complete the cycle of with the reading of parab on sometimes you know I've always felt doesn't get its its real due because such a day of beautiful but yet spiritual cacophony so much going on Labor Day gets dancing. It's incredible. It's beautiful. And in the midst of all of this, there is this monumental event of the completion of the Torah. There's this monumental event of reading visa, one of the most beautiful and meaningful and moving pario. And most of all, it's the end of the era of Mosher Rabenu. Although that's not totally true because the era of Moshabenu has continued each and every day since Mosha went up on Hari. Even before that, since he let us out of Egypt. Even before that, since he was brave enough to encounter at the burning bush, before that, since he was brave enough to strike down the Egyptian who was striking the Jew, Mosha's legacy continues to endure and to inspire. But Mosherenu's last days in this world come at the end of paras. And amazingly enough, the Torah itself delivers a eulogy, a husb of the Torah is devoted to speaking about Mosha. Literally translated, the strong hand, the awesome and dramatic reverence. Mosha performed in front of all of and it's an interesting because the P is alluding to something incredible and dramatic that Mosher did but only one problem. The Torah is not exactly telling us what Mosherenu did. It's talking about this strong hand this overwhelming and massive event that Mosha performed in front of everyone. Only one issue. What is it? What? What what is the Torah referring to? What is this last event that the Torah is highlighting eulogy? And says something amazing. Rashi says it's referring to an incredible event. Mosha broke the tablets. We know the story. Moshabu comes down after being on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights. Mosha says, "I didn't eat bread. I didn't drink water. I was more malik more angel than man during that time and I sat in direct beautiful holy communion with and came down with the luos came down with the tablets but upon descending from the mountain sees that the people have lost their way we built the golden calf takes the tablets and smashes them down and says that is the event that is being referenced in these what is this the strong hands refers to mo lifting up the The great and overwhelming event that Mosha performed first to smashing down and Moshabu did this. Everyone saw it. Everyone saw it because he came down the mountain. Everyone saw him descending. He took the and he smashed them down on the ground. broke the lus and goes on to say ultimately felt that did the right thing by smashing the and is obvious these are the last words the Torah has to say about and this is the event that you're referencing th this is like the crown like in other words this is a this is eulogy so the hav of eulogy is to highlight the greatness of the person so there are so many things you could said about Moshenu he faced down Pharaoh he split the sea he advocate ated for us in the aftermath of the sin of the golden calf s of the spies. He charged us with the notion of destiny, the notion of vision, hope and optimism. Mosh taught us about chuva. He taught us about everything. And this is the event. This is how we're going to end the last thing the Torah records about Moshabenu. The final words about Moshau's eulogy over Moshenu. Ultimately, he broke the lus. Why? Why? Why is that the last thing? And Ra whose yard sight is today of Res whose yard sight is today says something so incredibly beautiful. I want to quote to you from the Reb. The Reb says, "Sometimes it's only through breaking something that you could truly fix it. Even though broke the lus, it was only through the breakage that became home. And the Reb goes on and he explains because the first set of lucos paved the way for the second set of tablets. And it was the second tablets that ultimately remain in the ark, remain in the aon, wherever the aron is to this very day. says that sometimes in life you have to break things in order to make them whole. And that says is what Mosher taught us. Perhaps his greatest lesson to us as a people was not something that he said but rather something he did. Sometimes you have to be willing to break something in order to go ahead and make it whole. You know there's a beautiful Pik in Cohelis which will read this shabus the Pik says this is in paraglim in Cohelis you know this is like the ace per there's a time for this and a time for that and writes there's a time to plant and there's a time to uproot that which you have planted now if you look at the textual symmetry it shouldn't really read that way because think about this right right before the There's a time to be born and there's a time to die. There's a time to kill and there's a time to heal. A time to cry and a time to laugh. So therefore, if you were writing the you would say there's a time to plant and there's a time to reap, there's a time to harvest. But it's not what says there's a time to plant and there's a time to uproot that which you have planted. is teaching us an incredible and profoundly swed that sometimes the hardest thing but the most important thing in life is the ability to go ahead and uproot that which you have planted. Sometimes in life we create things, we create lifestyles, we create personalities, we create approaches and then we realize at some point in time that they're flawed. May maybe they're just flawed. Maybe they were inherently flawed from the beginning or maybe at some point in time earlier in my life it worked but now it doesn't. Now I need something new. That we become so embedded and so vested in that which we have planted that we just continue to go with it even though it's not the right thing anymore. says that in life you have to have the courage to plant and you also you have to have the courage to uproot that which you have planted because maybe what worked once upon a time in life doesn't work now maybe the attitude maybe the approach maybe the midos that worked for me at an earlier stage in life they don't work anymore or maybe they never worked I thought they worked and even though I know they don't work I'm still vested in I've been living my life a certain way for so long that I just can't really get myself out of say find the courage to uproot and that's what says what was saying about Mosha the greatest accomplishment of Mosha was that he had the willingness and the courage to break but not breaking for the sake of breaking breaking so he could take the pieces and reconstitute them into something different you know the Reb goes on and he says The Reb says so beautifully that sometimes we're so nervous to go ahead and uproot that which we have planted or to break that which we have built to deconstruct in order to reconstruct because we feel like a failure. I failed. I failed. I didn't get it right. The Reb says there's no embarrassment in failure. Most of us can't get things right the first time in life. We just don't get it right the first time. You know the medish brings down this coming also. But then next says who created thousands upon thousands of worlds before he created ours. And asks, I don't understand, you could get it right the first time. So why are you creating thousands upon thousands of worlds? Just get it right the first time. And says was modeling for us that it's okay not to get it right the first time. It's okay to build something then say, you know what, I tried, but this this is not good. This is not what I need or it's not what I need now. Maybe it suited my needs once upon a time, but it's not what I need now. I need something different. Models this for us. He created and he said, "Nah, this is not the right one." Deconstructed created deconstructed thousands upon thousands of times to teach us like says it's hard to get things right on the first time. I'd even say a little bit differently. It's virtually impossible to get it right on the first time. So, if I've created things in life that no longer work, there's no shame in smashing them and then taking the pieces and rebuilding. There's no shame in uprooting that which you have planted in order to create something new. There's no shame in starting. Not only is there no shame, but when you do that, you're actually being divine. didn't get it right the first time either and he started over and over again and if could do it then I could certainly do it as well and this is Rabbi is why the Torah ends off with this event by Mosha Rabenu because the greatest lesson that Mosha taught us in his 40 years of incredible overwhelming dynamic spiritual leadership was find the courage to break the things you've built so that you could build something even better for your future. Sometimes you have to smash the first set of luos so that you can get the second set because those are eternal. Those are even more beautiful. Those are even more incredible. Find the courage to break so that you could build something new. Find the courage to uproot that which you have planted recognizing no one gets it right the first time around. Even and there is no shame in starting again. More there's honor. There's covet, there's glory, there's kadusha in breaking and then rebuilding. And what a profound lesson for us to go into. For the last two years, our people have accomplished so much, but there's a piece of us that has remained broken since October 7th. And to think that hopefully and I think we'll approach this with guarded optimism that maybe the breakage maybe in the next couple of days we will be za to gather up the pieces the l were broken October 7th to two years ago and perhaps with this deal with this ceasefire with this hostage deal maybe maybe was giving us the opportunity to gather all the pieces. Each one of our brethren in captivity, those who are alive and those who are no longer alive are broken pieces of our first set of lus. They're the broken pieces. And perhaps now we will be za to bring home those pieces. And with those pieces, we will be za to build something even more beautiful. There's beauty in the breakage. Sometimes that which you can build when you uproot that which was planted, that which you can build with the broken pieces of the lus is even more beautiful. May we be hashem to bring home every single one of our broken pieces of and with those broken pieces may we as a people, as a nation, and as individuals have the courage, the strength, the wisdom to build something even more beautiful. Wishing everyone a good night of shabas, a good mid, a beautiful shabus keshm. Let us all hear bestovos for all of our misra.