Why Read the Same Stories Over and Over?

Question: When you heard the words bubble, spike, and corona last year what image did they evoke?

Every Jewish calendar year, we begin reading the Torah anew on the Shabbat following Simchat Torah.

But aren’t we already familiar with the Torah’s stories, laws and lessons?

Why read it again each year?

In true Jewish fashion let me answer this question by asking another.

Have you ever reread a book you read as a child and it seemed like a very different book than the one you read in your childhood?

And yet not one word has been changed!

You see, the reason we read the Torah anew each year is not because the Torah changes, but because we do.

You see, the reason we read the Torah anew each year is not because the Torah changes, but because we do.

We are not the same people we were a year ago, and the world and reality we inhabit, and its accompanying anxieties, fears, hopes and aspirations, vary greatly from year to year.

Take a year ago from today, Lockdown was a term we associated with prison, Zoom was a word we associated with a camera lens, and masks were what we wore on Purim.

But due to the events of the past half a year, those words have taken on profoundly new meaning.

And the same is true experientially for hugs, handshakes, and hospitality; things we took for granted a year ago, which we now avoid like the plague.

So when we read the story of creation this year during this era of uncertainty and disruption, we are reminded of the spiritual truth that our world has a divine creator, and history a hallowed author and sacred storyline.

And during this period of greater restriction, when we read again about the first sin of mankind who chose to focus on the one tree in the Garden of Eden unavailable to them rather than on all the rest which were, we are reminded that true happiness is not derived from having the things we want but from wanting the things we have.

And during this period of induced family closeness or claustrophobia, when we read the fratricidal story of Cain and Abel we realise how easy it is for nuclear families to “go nuclear” unless they possess and foster a healthy family culture and value system.

And so on.

So as we renew the Torah cycle this Shabbat, choose a story or section from this week’s Portion that has special resonance to you this year, and seek out it’s personal relevance and message for the person you are today.

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Mendel Kalmenson is the rabbi of Beit Baruch and executive director of Chabad of Belgravia, London, where he lives with his wife, Chana, and children.