This article on the portion of the week was previously published in 2019.
Thank God for new beginnings! This week, we celebrate Simchat Torah, the last of the holidays in the month of Tishrei (Libra), a month in which, through our connections, we have been made new. We have enhanced our connection to the divine Light, the source of all that is good in this world, and have been made better for it. Now, at last, we are afforded the opportunity to begin again. It is the luxury of all human beings that we are allowed to forget, to start fresh, and to perhaps see things and experience life differently than before.
"Thank God for new beginnings!"
It is no coincidence that we also begin the Torah again this week, returning to the first portion of Beresheet, which translates literally to mean “in the beginning.” The first letter of the first word (Beresheet) found in the Torah is the Bet, which many learned scholars explain represents Bracha, blessing. This is true, of course, as the Torah is both the blueprint and the tool from which we can receive the utmost blessings in our lives.
However, I like to think of the Bet for bitachon, which comes from the word batach, which is to trust.
As we enter into these first weeks of the new year, all of us have certain ideas, resolutions if you will -- about the kind of person we want to be, the ways we wish to behave, and the goals we desire to achieve. For me, what the letter Bet is here to tell us at the starting point, is that we must begin with a trust in ourselves.
"We must begin with a trust in ourselves."
This is not to say that we shouldn’t have trust in the Creator; that Emunah, or certainty, is one of the founding blocks for us to survive in this world. And yet, one of the most powerful ways to build certainty in the Creator, is to begin to recognize that the Creator exists – within all living things, within all people, and yes that means also within you.
Trust in yourself. Trust in the spark of the Creator that is inside of you, and it will radiate from your being out into the world. With that, there is no dream too great to be realized. When it is for the benefit of others there is no goal too lofty to attain, no obstacle too challenging to overcome.
This week as we begin new, do not underestimate yourself. That picture you have in your head of the person you want to be, know that it is within your grasp to become it this year. It won’t happen overnight, and yes there will be moments where we will fall. But with a strong trust in the Light within us, we can pick ourselves back up knowing we will get there eventually, and that even a misstep it is still a step towards our destiny.
There is so much we will be able to do this year…, if only we know it can be done.
