The first Shabbos after Succos has a special name – ‘Shabbos Beraishis’. Why? One answer given is that during the special days of the High Holidays; days of introspection, we all have surely taken upon ourselves some ‘new year resolutions’ – but now comes ‘Shabbos Beraishis’ – ‘the Shabbos which is the beginning’ – to remind us that now we have the opportunity to put in to place those resolutions. Now, this first Shabbos of the year must be utilised as a display of our new beginning – our turning over of a new leaf.
In this week’s Parshah one of the main characters we meet is the ‘Evil Inclination’, a.k.a the primeval snake. After wrecking havoc – a job that he is particularly good at – he is given his curse, “I will put enmity between you …. and her offspring. He will pound your head (Rosh), and you will bite his heel”. Of course the simple meaning is that mankind will kill snakes by striking their heads, yet the snake will attempt to take down man by biting at the heel as he walks along. But there is also an allusion in this verse about how to tackle the evil inclination. How can we overcome the snake? Only if we put great emphasis on the ‘Rosh’ – the head i.e. the beginning. If from the outset we are all fired up, blazing on all fronts to confront and overcome, then we will be victorious. If not, if our beginnings are shaky, then not far down the line we will loosen our grip and in the end – at the heel – we will be taken down.
In fact the Zohar tells us that “Beraishis” can be split to be read as the letter Bais and ‘raishis’, meaning “two beginnings”. Each one of us is given the opportunity to ‘restart’ and make a new beginning – we must just make sure to restart with a firm unwavering commitment to our second beginning.
Let me share with you an amazing story I heard which shows how powerful a fully accepted new-year-resolution can be.
R’ Itche Meir (Rabbi Yossi Chazan’s uncle) was the Chabad shliach in Birmingham, Alabama and also the chaplain in Montgomery prison.
One Yom Kippur before Neilah he addressed the inmates. He spoke about Yom Kippur being a day that we live in a higher realm, and he asked them all to shut their eyes, remain quiet for thirty seconds and accept upon themselves to perform a Mitzvah in its entirety over the coming year.
After Ma’ariv, Steven, who had joined the ‘shul’ for the first time this Yom Kippur came over to R’ Itche Meir asking him for a couple of minutes of his time. “Please teach me the laws of Saturday” he asked innocently. R’ Itche Meir taken aback explained to Steven that Shabbos was not something that could be explained in one short conversation, and how in fact it would probably be too much for Steven to take Shabbos on overnight. He suggested that perhaps for the moment he take something ‘smaller’ on like wearing Tzitzit. “Rabbi”, said Steven “I am in this prison because I did not keep my word. The only mitzvah I had ever heard of was Shabbat. I accepted to keep Shabbat – I gave my word to G-d, teach me Shabbat”. R’ Itche Meir promised he would be in touch the following week, providing him with the necessary information.
Forty years ago there were not many books for beginners in English, and the only English book on Shabbos the Rabbi could get hold of was Rabbi Shimon D. Eider’s halachic work on Shabbos – not a book written with beginners in mind. But, being that there was no option, just before Sukkos R’ Itche Meir presented Steven with Rabbi Eider’s book. When R’ Itche Meir returned the next week Steven had a notebook of Halachic questions to ask him! He was taking it seriously. He gave Steven his time and patiently over a few hours answered all his questions. The next visit was a repeat. Again, Steven had a notebook full of question and again R’ Itche Meir spent the rest of his visit clarifying the Halachah.
The next week when R’ Itche Meir visited the prison he could not find Steven. After searching for a while, one of the other Jewish inmates explained what had happened. After Yom Kippur, Steven had casually mentioned that he had accepted upon himself to keep Shabbos. This other Jewish inmate who was more observant than Steven told him of the Gemora that if the Jews keep Shabbos properly for two weeks they will merit their final redemption. Upon hearing this, Steven decided that this may refer to him on an individual level as well, namely, that if he keeps Shabbos properly for two weeks he will merit his own redemption. From that point on, he spent every day – the entire day learning Rabbi Eider’s sefer.
The Monday after the second Shabbos, Steven was called in by the head of the prison. A new invention had come out called electronic tagging, and a pilot project was to be carried out, experimenting with three prisoners from across North America. Out of the 250,000+ inmates in the prisons across North America, Steven had just been “randomly” selected. He was told to pack his bags. Later that day he was home; he had merited his personal redemption.
Every Erev Yom Kippur following this story, R’ Itche Meir and Steven would have a custom of speaking to each other and taking on a new Mitzvah. Nowadays, Steven is observant and lives in Jerusalem with his wife and family.
The power of a new-year-resolution that was kept.
Good Shabbos, Yaakov