The Journey Itself

Avraham is told לך לך ... אל הארץ אשר אראך. Why does Hashem not immediately reveal Avraham's destination? One interpretation the Midrash says is that Hashem withheld the destination so that Avraham would receive reward for every step of the journey. Why should knowing or not knowing the destination affect the reward he receives for each step? Rav Baruch Povarsky explains that had Avraham been told where he was going, the journey itself would have been merely a hechsher mitzvah, a means of reaching the ultimate goal. The focus would have been on the endpoint, with the travel serving only as preparation. Since no destination was specified, however, every step Avraham took constituted a direct fulfillment of Hashem's command and therefore deserved its own reward.

In other words, Avraham's travels were not simply a journey toward a destination; the journey itself was the mission. Hashem did not tell Avraham to leave solely so that he could arrive in Eretz Yisrael. Rather, the very act of traveling, of moving forward into the unknown with faith and obedience, carried its own significance.

Why was this so important? Because the point is not to reach a destination but to constantly travel . Hashem was teaching Avraham that one cannot become fixated on a single picture of success and assume that once it is achieved, the work is done. There is always more growth to pursue, more to accomplish, and greater heights of character to attain. Life does not conclude with a definitive "The End." A person's spiritual journey is one of constant movement and continual development.

The Kedushat Levi adds another dimension. Since the destination was left undefined, Avraham was required to interpret Hashem's will through the circumstances he encountered along the way. This helps explain why he later descended to Egypt. Sometimes new paths emerge and unexpected detours become necessary. What may appear to be a deviation from the original plan can in fact be part of the journey itself.

New Creation

The Gemara in Zevachim (116a) states that there are two covenants: one that Hashem will never again bring a mabul of destruction upon the world, and another that He will not destroy the world by any other means. Yet the Rambam (Hilchos Teshuvah 3:2) rules that if the world, becomes guilty and deserving of punishment, Hashem will wipe it out. At first glance, this appears contradictory.

However, there may be no contradiction at all. There is a fundamental difference between a mabul and a punishment. The world may reach a state where its inhabitants deserve destruction as a consequence of their sins, and therefore be punished. The Gemara in Zevachim is teaching that Hashem will not destroy the world in the manner of a mabul. The Flood was not merely a punishment; it was a reset of creation itself. This explains why its destruction extended beyond humanity and affected the entire world. The mabul was more than retribution. It was a reboot of creation.

This understanding sheds light on the covenant made with Noach. The bris guaranteed that this new form of creation would never again be nullified. As the Ramban notes, the term bris in this context is connected to the concept of beri'ah (creation). Hashem's covenant ensured the permanence of the world as a created order, even if its inhabitants might at times deserve punishment.

This also explains the Gemara in Zevachim in its discussion of Matan Torah. The nations sensed that a new covenant was being established. Their concern was not that Hashem intended to destroy the world, but rather that He was creating a new framework, a new stage of creation, that would render them obsolete. Bilam reassured them that this could not be the case, because an essential component of the covenant with Noach was that there would never again be a destruction of the world on the scale and in the category of a mabul, a destruction that resets and recreates the world itself. Instead the bris of Torah was being input into the world. 

The Teivah As An Ir Miklat

The possuk says קץ כל בשר בא לפני כי מלאה הארץ חמס מפניהם והנני משחיתם את הארץ, then Noach is told to make a teivah and then it says ואני הנני מביא את המבול מים על הארץ לשחת כל בשר. Why is the commandment to make the teivah said before the fact the world will be destroyed, it should first say the world will be destroyed and therefore make a teivah?

The mabul was not just a punishment but was a reboot on the creation of the world. If so, nothing in the world can continue to exist. Therefore, the only way for Noach to be able to survive was that he was not considered living in the world, he was living is an oasis of the teivah which was considered its own creation. The Gemarah Zevachim (116a) uses the terminology of תיבה קולטתן -why the word קולטתן? Because the teivah existed like an ir miklat, a place different from the entire world around it, a separate existence.

The pessukim now read that Hashem told Noach I will destroy the world, there is no more existence left. So how will you survive? Make a teivah, a new existence. Whatever method of destruction is used, you need a new place of existence, a teivah. What is the method of destruction? A mabul of water (based upon what I saw in the name of R' Meir Solevetchik.)

For The Love Of Klal Yisrael

A chasid (מענה קודש כד-כו pg. 197) points out that Rashi at he beginning of every sefer of Chumash tells us that it is written to tell us of the great love Hashem has for Klal Yisrael. In other words, every book of the Chumash ratiates with the חביבות for Klal Yisrael. This is the message of the end of the Torah according to Rashi being a reference ending with the breaking of the Luchos. How is that a fitting ending for the entirety of the Chumash? Because it demonstrates that the continuity of Klal Yisrael ensured by the breaking of the luchos which spurred the path to forgiveness is  the point of the entirety of the Torah. The Torah starts with a ב and ends with a ל spelling לב that the love for Klal Yisrael is the signature of the Torah.

The Midpoint And The Circle

The Chasam Sofer (derashot second day Sukkkot) cites from the Rema M'pano that Atzeret is called חג related to the word חוגה, the midpoint that everything turns on for the kedusha of all the holidays stems from Atzeret. Why? For the holiday has no additional mitzvot, it is just about a התוועדות  with Hashem and Klal Yisrael. That is the root of all the מועדים  - to be a ועד - a time of meeting with Hashem. 

It is noted that the word for a circle, מחול, and the word for forgiving, מחילה are the same root.  On Yom Kippur we obtain forgiveness for our sins.  Rav Levi Yitzchak teaches that Sukkot is the time of teshuva from love when sins turn into merits.  We are then able to take the sins and turn them into a dance of a מחול on Simchas Torah.   

This also what the Gemarah says at the end of Taanis that the tzaddikim will be sitting in a מחול, the complete atonement and joy together. 

 From the sefer שישו ושמחו סימן מט:

Aravah And Arev

The ushpiz of Hoshana Rabbah is Dovid. The day of Hashana Rabbah is the day of the aravah. What is the connection between Dovid and the aravah? Many of the Chassidik books explain that Dovid is associated with malchus which is in a complete state of nullification to Hashem as the Zohar says מלכות לית ליה מגרמיה כלום. In the same vein the aravah is bereft of any natural advantages - אין לה טעם וריח and therefore is totally negated. The Sfas Emes (5648) says they both embody the avodah of צפית לישועה and it is specifically the avodah of those who don't think they have any maalot and purely look to Hashem for salvation that receive salvation. The Shem MiShmuel (5671) adds that it through the aravah's recognition of its lack of any self redeeming qualities that it merits a special avodah. 

The Tiferes Shlomo (Mikatz) says כי שורש ענין הערבות לקבל על עצמו חוב זולתו ולסבול עבור חבירו זה הוא בבחי' המלכות כיל"ח. With this idea he explains why it is Yehuda, the father of malchus in Klal Yisrael is the first one to be an ערב, to take responsibility for someone else -when he guaranteed the return of Binyamin. It is all a reflection of this same middah, of a lack of self absorption that allows room for others. 

The ערבות share the same root as the word ערב, a guarantor. It is paradoxically the aravah's total devotion to the other species that allow it to merit its own special treatment.

The Garbage Is Worthy

The Gemarah says חל שם שמים על הסוכה. Why is it the mitzvah of sukkah that merits this מגרגה? Why is the mitzvah to be fulfilled with פסולת גורן ויקב? Why are the remains of the worn out בגדי כהונה used for the torches at the שמחת בית השואבה? The lesson is that even when a person is not at his best, not at a time of peak performance, still, even the leftovers the worn out last energy a person has should and can be used for the service of Hashem. 

Of course, when able, it is best to use one's best capabilities for the service of Hashem. However, at times, this is not possible and using whatever one's capabilities, as lowly as they may seem to be it is also desired by Hashem. This is why the שם שמים is present on the sukkah. When a person uses his own hands to build a sukkah when one uses their own כחות, no matter what state they are in, that merits that it brings the שם שמים on the sukkah. 

Rav Moshe Wolfson says the end of maseches Sukkah is about מרים בת בילגה or the delaying משמר to teach us even those that were not doing the right thing find a tikkun in the sukkah. Even the פסולת people can find meaning in the sukkah.