Torah reading
Torah readingצילום: Kupat Hair

Our holy parshanim (commentators) sweeten our festival month of Tishrei, with many drashot, as to the ‘messages’ to be adduced from there being two parshiot read on Shemini Atzeret: first, the concluding parasha of the Torah: parashat Vezot Habracha, AND, immediately thereafter, from the first parasha of the Torah: parashat Breishit.

The ‘other name’ by which this festival has come to be known: Simchat Torah, may assist us to suggest an answer to this matter.

The Chatam Sofer offers the following ingenious insight:’Our Sages say: Every passage that was beloved to David Hamelech, he opened with אשרי, and he concluded with אשרי.
‘And herein lies an allusion to the Torah!

How so?

‘The opening word of parashat בראשית contains the letters of אשרי- with the additional letters ב and ת; the concluding word of parashat Zot Habracha: ישראל, also contains the letters of the word אשרי, with the additional letter ל.

׳Might we not suggest that this alludes to how beloved the Torah, from its first letter to its last letter, should be in our eyes?!

Further, the additional letters: ב ת and ל, also allude to the Torah, as they, when re-arranged, spell לבת: flame, alluding to the ‘form’ in which Moshe, who merited to receive the Torah, first ‘encountered’ Hashem: in the flaming bush.

‘Might this not be an eternal message, which is at the heart of the festivities of Simchat Torah, of התלהבות, passionate, burning love of Torah’.

With your leave, let us also suggest that the opening and concluding letters of the Torah, allude to the order of the festivals of Tishrei, culminating in Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah.


And who but the Sfat Emet could provide the answer: The first three festivals of Tishrei: Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Succot, respectively allude to the three ‘branches’ of the Kriat Shm’a: ‘with all your heart’, ‘with all your soul’, and ‘with all of your werewithal’.

‘Thanks to this work of ours on the three festivals of Tishrei, we can now (as we have previously mentioned ) merit the blessing of the following words of the Shm’a: ‘and these words’ - the Torah - ‘shall be on your heart’.’

How wondrous: this is alluded to by the two letters we mentioned: the ל which concludes parashat Vezot Habracha, and the ב, the opening letter of parashat Breishit- together: לב.

Therefore, by the reading in this order the two parshiot on Shemini Atzeret, we allude to the תכלית of the Shm’a - that the Torah should be inscribed on our hearts - and this is a direct result of our work during the three opening festivals of Tishrei.

And so we return to the beginning of this, our humble offering: truly, we may say that our festivals of תשרי culminate in אשרי: our boundless joy and gratitude to Hashem, for the gift of His Torah- from ת, the concluding letter of the alphabet, to our new beginning: א- and might we not add ‘another’ אשרי to the prescribed ones

: אשרי העם שהתורה שלו.

How rewarded is the nation that has the Torah.