By Marco Del Monte
In the parashah of Vayelech, Hashem reveals a prophecy to Moses concerning what will happen after his passing: "Behold, you are about to sleep with your fathers; and this people will rise up and stray after the foreign gods of the land into which they are going, and they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them" (Deut. 31:16).
The Zera Shimshon (Parashat Vayelech, Ot Bet) asks what the connection is between the death of Moses and the sin of idolatry—Avodah Zarah. The Zera Shimshon answers that Satan, and therefore the yetzer hara, the evil inclination, has seven names, as stated in the Talmud in Tractate Sukkah (page 52a). To counteract this, five books of the Torah were given plus two portions within the Torah that count as two independent books, making seven books in total (Tractate Shabbat 116a). A name is a verbal label that represents and encompasses multiple qualities and tasks. Consider the names of angels; for instance, in Raphael, his mission is present within his name, namely Rofe-E-l, the healer of G-d. Thus, based on the seven names of the evil inclination, the phrase is spoken: "Seven times the tzaddik falls, but rises again." These are the seven trials to which he is subjected, which are determined by the seven missions included in the seven names of the Yetzer Hara. Rabbi Eliahu Amar Shlit"a, explaining the text of the Zera Shimshon, states that Moses knew he would not succeed in completely nullifying the inclination towards idolatry, which has seven names and contains seven barriers of impurity. These seven barriers of impurity are metaphorically represented by the seven peoples who resided in Israel and were to be destroyed by Joshua: each people represented one of the seven forces of impurity. Precisely for this reason, it was chosen to build a Menorah made of seven branches, to give strength to seven types of lights that would counteract the seven forces of darkness. And so too the Magen David, the Star of David, has six points plus the central part, just like the pattern of the creation of the universe in six days plus one, the time in which tikkun is accomplished, as Rabbi David Menashe Z"L explained to us. Precisely for this reason Hashem foretells to Moses that the people would be tested by these seven dark forces called Avodah Zarah, foreign worship, idolatry. Joshua himself would not succeed in completing this Tikkun; indeed, as can be seen in the Book of Judges (Shoftim), the people strayed after foreign deities. The nullification of the strong inclination towards idolatry will be accomplished in the days of Ezra the Scribe (Ezra Sofer); the Sages (Chachamim) ask: on which exact day did this happen? Rabbi E. Amar explains that it happened precisely on the day of Rosh Hashanah. Precisely because of this, these "special" parashiyot—such as last week's with the curses (kelalot), and this week's, which recalls the trial of idolatry—are read before Rosh Hashanah, precisely because the Holy One, Blessed Be He gives us the opportunity to constantly nullify these negative forces. It is not by chance that on Rosh Hashanah we say the phrase: "Tikhleh shanah u-kileloteha, tachel shanah u-virchoteha," meaning: "May the year end with its curses, and may the year begin with its blessings!" Hoping and wishing that we will no longer hear bad news, but only good news and many blessings (berachot)!
Shabbat Shalom and Shanah Tovah U-Metukah!
Translated from the Italian with Google Gemini. The Italian text is the original.