The following is a brief summary of a thought said over by R' Frand in his shiur this evening. I have attempted to reproduce this vort to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistencies are the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.
In Devarim 31:19 the Torah mentions Moshe's final instructions to the Jewish people which includes a direction that they should write this shirah (song) and teach it to the children of Israel. Chazal learn from this pasuk the mitzva of writing a sefer Torah.
The Pnei Yehoshua brings a kabbalistic tie in between the mitzva of writing the sefer Torah and the commandment which occurs with the Jews on the precipice of entering the Land of Israel. He notes that there are six hundred thousand letters in the Torah and there were 600,00 Jews who left Egypt. He uses an acronym to teach this concept - Yisrael is comprised of Yud (for "Yesh") Shin (for "Shishim") Resh (for "Rivo") Alef (for "Osiyos") and Lamed (for "L'Torah"). He then mentions the Shlah and Zohar (among others) who teach that each Jew who left Egypt had a letter in the Torah that corresponded to his nishama.
R' Frand then said in the name of R' Asher Weiss that when you observe the celebration of a hachnasas sefer Torah (welcoming a new Torah to a synagogue) there is a great deal of happiness and celebration, despite the fact that the shul has quite a few sifrei Torah already. He explains that people get very emotionally involved in the celebration because each Jew has a connection between their soul and a particular letter in the sefer Torah.
R' Frand then mentioned the Gemara in Avodah Zara which talks about how the Romans killed R' Yosi Ben Kisma because he taught Torah to Jews in spite of the Romans ban on such teaching. The Gemara then describes how the Romans took him and wrapped him in a sefer Torah and set it on fire, while keeping wet cotton between him and the parchment to prolong his agony. The Gemara then related that when his students saw him in this state, they asked him what he saw. He responded that the parchment was burning, but the letters of the Torah were floating to the heavens. R' Frand postulated that they did not ask R' Yosi what he was actually seeing, but instead were asking what will be in the future. To this R' Yosi responded, they may burn us like the parchment, but the letters of the Torah are eternal and will never be destroyed.
R' Frand then finished with a little chizuk related to the concept of Teshuva [Ed. Note - there will be a R' Frand teshuva drasha broadcast on-line next Tuesday evening. I hope to reproduce some of his thoughts in my Tuesday Night post in place of the Thoughts on the Daf segment]. R' Frand mentioned that the blessing in the shmoneh esrei dealing with teshuva concludes with a statement that Hashem is "Harotzeh B'Tshuva" that Hashem wants us to do Teshuva. R' Frand then explained that if a person even takes the beginning step to repent, Hashem will assist him in receiving teshuva. This is a classic mussar concept as it taught "Haba L'taheir Misayin Oso" - one who wants to become pure, Hashem assists him. Similarly there is a statement that if we open ourselves to the level of the eye of a needle to the concept of teshuva, Hashem will assist.
R' Frand concluded with a story which I heard a variation of from R' Zev Cohen in Chicago a few Pesachs ago. As told by R' Frand - there is a boy who when he graduates high school announces to his parents that he wants to see the country. His father argues with him and tells him that he needs to go to college. The son disagrees and is adamant that he wants to travel cross-country. The father then says - if you leave, the door is closed to you forever.
The son leaves and begins to travel across the country, doing odd jobs to make money. Eventually he tires of touring and begins to hitchhike back to the east coast. When he is in Iowa he writes a letter to his mother asking her whether he could return home. He says that he knows that his father was upset, but if he has changed his mind and would allow him back, the son is ready to do so. He asks his mother to hang a white towel from a certain tree that adjoins the train track near his hometown if the father will take him back.
The son eventually gets on the train which will pass by his hometown. However, he is too nervous to look to see if the towel is in tree. He confides in the guy sitting next to him on the train and asks him to look whether there is a towel in the tree. After the train has passed the spot, the boy asks the other passenger whether there was a white towel in the tree. The man responds that there was not one white towel in the tree. Rather, there was a white towel hanging from every limb of the tree.
This story is symbolic of the Jews relationship with Hashem at this time of year. If we are willing to take the step of genuinely asking for forgiveness, Hashem will welcome us back with open arms.
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