Rabbi's Message

It was wonderful to have the whole TBS mishpaha together on Rosh Hashanah, in person and online.  We are looking forward to being together again on Yom Kippur next week.  These days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are known as the Aseret Yemai Teshuvah – the 10 Days of Repentance, and this first Shabbat of the new year is known as Shabbat Shuvah, the Shabbat of Return.  It is a time to reflect on our lives and to recommit ourselves to our values.  

The Torah portion we read this week, Vayelekh, helps us to do this.  It begins with the words Vayelekh Moshe – “And Moses went.”  The commentaries ask an obvious question: Where did he go?  According to the 12th-century Spanish commentator Ibn Ezra, Moshe went to each and every tribe to say goodbye.  He knew the end of his life was coming, and he wanted to personally reassure each and every person that everything would be ok.  To do this, he took the time to speak to everyone – men, women, and children – to ensure that, as they moved forward into the land of Israel, they would be confident in their future.  Vayelekh is an appropriately titled parashah for the beginning of the new year.  

We are moving forward into a new year, and the commentary’s question applies to us: where are we going? How are we going to do better, to be better, in the new year?  These are the questions that are on our minds during these Aseret Yemei Teshuva, the Ten Days of Repentance that lead up to Yom Kippur.  

How will you answer?