09/04/2026
Good Shabbos World! Candle lighting time in New York City for September 4, Parshas Netzavim-Vayeilech is 7:05pm, Shabbos ends at 8:03pm.
❦ Our Underlying Unity ❦
Moses wrote down this Torah and gave it to the priests,the Levites, who carried the Ark of the Covenant of G-d, and to all the elders of Israel. (Deut. 31:9)
There is only one Torah; its lessons apply equally to all of us and we are all equally obligated in its laws.
Nevertheless, Moses wrote a copy of the Torah for each tribe, recognizing that each tribe, both due to its hereditary qualities and due to the unique environment in which it would settle, would develop its own sub-culture within the general culture of the Jewish people.
This flowering of the Jewish people into unique sub-cultures is reflected in today’s various Jewish communities – Ashkenazic, Sephardic, Yemenite, and so on. This celebration of diversity is a beautiful phenomenon, reflecting how G-d’s oneness expresses itself in infinite ways.
The underlying unity behind this diversity was reflected in the Torah scroll that Moses wrote for the Levites. This scroll was kept in the Temple, and all subsequently written scrolls had to conform to that authoritative copy.
We can learn from this to cherish both sides of the dichotomy: to celebrate our own culture while always remaining true to the underlying unity that is sourced in G-d’s Torah.
—From Daily Wisdom 3 available in-store and online at kehot dot org.
The New Year x
