V'zos Habrachah: Saying Goodbye
What does the word "goodbye" mean?
It's a funny expression. Good. Bye.
If you say it wrong, it doesn't sound nice.
Of course we mean it nicely, normally. But what exactly do we mean?
The Talmud in Brachos says one should always depart from their friend (when leaving for on a journey, for example) with words of Torah, comfort and blessing. Perhaps the Gemara learned this from Moshe Rabainu.
Just as Ya'akov did for his sons on his deathbed, Moshe Rabainu first revealed secrets and gave guidance to the Jews as we discussed in Parshas Ha'azinu, and now leaves them with blessings, each tribe appropriate to its character and mission.
When someone leaves us we do not have to forget them, and even that thought alone is enough to keep them with us, at least in spirit. The question is, what spirit of them will our memory keep?
When we take our leave of someone and leave them with something good to remember us by, a good-bye, a really good one, we allow them to remember us with a positive energy that keeps us in their mind, for good.
There is no author who has ever lived, no teacher who has ever taught, no political leader or king of his people, no Shepard who ever tended his flock with more care and self sacrifice than our beloved teacher Moshe Rabainu.
He lives forever in the hearts and minds, not only of the Jewish People, but of every human being who has looked into the words he brought from heaven and found enlightenment there.
People say that religion causes war. That is the most ridiculous thing in the world if we but remember that in the Ten Commandments it clearly states: Do not murder! And as well, as our Rabbis have tried to drill into us time and time again - the entire Torah can be summed up in one Mitzvah: Love your friend as you love yourself, for I am God.
It is not guns that kill, but people. It is not religion that kills, but tyrants who abuse the people's desperation and cloak themselves in holy missions that kill.
Love your friend, I am God.
The verse has two connotations, one for the laws between humans, and one for those between a human and their Maker.
Love your Friend can refer to people, but God is also called our friend, as Rashi on the famous Gemara where Hillel the Elder helps the potential convert by explaining the Torah while he stands proverbially "on one foot." (See there for the Rashi, it's worth it).
By the way - as I love a tangent like tapioca pudding... sometimes I'll even end an essay with one, like now!
What is that story about? Let's paraphrase it.
A Babylonian fellow wishes to convert, but only if he can have the whole shebang reduced to one principle.
Ok.
He goes to one of the great Houses of Study and asks Shammai the Elder to convert him. Shammai pushes him away with stick used to measure bricks when building houses.
Mr. Babylonia then goes to Hillel the Elder, who tells him "what you hate done to you, don't do to anyone else!" That's the whole Torah - now GO LEARN! For goodness sakes!
Let's ask a few questions about this story.
Why did Shammai the Elder push him away in the first place, and what's with the stick? And whatever Shammai the Elder's reasoning was, why did Hillel disagree, and how was he able to reduce the Torah to one principle when Shammai, who was a great great Tzadik and perhaps even a greater scholar, could not?
And lastly, if Hillel the Elder is able to reduce the Torah to one concept, why doesn't he quote the obvious verse, "Love your friend as yourself, I am God" just as Rabbi Akiva does for essentially the same purpose?
The answer to all this is that Mr. Babylonian was not a Jew, yet.
For a Jew we can reduce the Torah to the verse, which is stated in the positive, "love your friend" etc. because for a Jew what "love" is, is well defined by the Halacha.
But for a non-Jew wishing to become Jewish, just saying "go with love, friend" will not give him sufficient guidance to live as a "convert" without sufficient study and training. It is not easy to be a Jew.
So Shammai the Elder, finding no verse that could help the poor Babylonian, pushes him with a building measure.
Why?
He was making a sharp point, as was his way. One cannot build a house without a foundation. One does not want to move into a house when there are renovations taking place, let alone having to start from the very basement!
So why did Hillel disagree? Because although he agrees that there is no verse for the not-as-yet Jew to begin his Torah journey, there is however an application of the same exact verse that he can apply, without knowing any halacha. A very brave posek indeed!
What is that principle? Use your experience of pain to know how not to hurt the other guy.
Anyone can do this. You do not need to know any Jewish law to know how not to hurt the other guy (or girl!).
And so it perhaps fitting that we say goodbye to our Parsha book with this thought, campers.
In the words of Hillel the Elder: What is hateful to you - do not do to others. That is the entire Torah, the rest is simply commentary.