Books For Life - Hei Tevet 5785

Happy end of Chanukah!  May the light of this holiday permeate our entire year and dispel all the darkness.  In a few days we will celebrate another holiday - the Fifth of Tevet, this Sunday.  I will start with some background.

How would you define the word “book?”  I looked up a few dictionaries, and got some interesting definitions.  A common one is something like this:  “a set of written, printed, or blank sheets bound together between a front and back cover.”  

In Judaism, our holy books are much more.  The holy Tablets that Moshe brought from heaven were more than just stones containing words.  The stones themselves were considered holy because they contained the Ten Commandments.  Even after the tablets were broken, the pieces were kept in the Holy Ark along with the second, unbroken tablets.

A Sefer Torah (Torah scroll) is our most sacred item.  That includes the parchment, not just the content.  If G-d forbid a Torah scroll is burned, we tear our clothes, similar to one who mourns the passing of a relative, but we make two tears, one for the words and one for the parchment.

The same concept, though on a somewhat lower standard of holiness, applies to all our holy books.  Books that contain Torah content are treated with extreme care.  They are never put on the ground, are not left open unattended, are kissed when we close them and are buried, not just discarded, when they rip or are no longer needed.  

It is also a great Mitzvah to fill our homes with holy books.  It is customary as part of a child’s education to keep holy books in their room beginning from a very young age.  The idea of reading books to children and introducing them to books from a young age is universal.  That is in order to start them on a solid path of education.  What I’m talking about here is taking it to another level.  Holy books have an spiritual impact on a person.

This is related to the whole purpose of Torah - to permeate the physical world with the light of Hashem.  The Torah teaches us, and gives us the guidance, inspiration and tools, to bring together the physical and the spiritual, and this is expressed in the books themselves.

The first word of the Ten Commandments that Hashem spoke to us at Mount Sinai is “Anochi” - “I am.”  Our Sages taught that the four Hebrew letters of Anochi - Alef, Nun, Chaf and Yud, are an abbreviation of the words “Ana Nafshi Ketavit Yehavit” - I have written and put myself in it.”  Hashem told us, at the moment He revealed Himself to our people, that He put Himself in the Torah.

As Torah scholars brought the Divine teachings of the Torah from generation to generation, they emulated this and “wrote themselves” into their books.  The contents of a holy Torah book express the holiness, wisdom, knowledge and personality of its author.  Just as we respect our Torah scholars as the teachers of Hashem’s will and wisdom, so we respect the books they wrote.

This can explain why there was such a great dispute in the late ‘80s, when a relative of the previous Chabad Rebbe started stealing precious books and manuscripts for the famous Chabad library and selling them as his own property.  The ‘Rebbe took it very seriously and fought a tremendous legal battle, eventually winning the case with the judge ruling that the books are the property of the Jewish people.  You can read all about it here.

One issue here was the question of what is a book.  Is a book defined as the first two dictionary entries I quoted?  That was the claim against the library - this is a personal possession with monetary value,  The Rebbe stated very clearly and repeatedly that these books contain the life of Judaism, the Torah and holiness that was passed down from generation to generation by their authors.  The books and manuscripts were lovingly collected by the leaders of the Jewish people for the sake of the Jewish people, a spiritual treasure that preserves our great heritage.

The victory of the judge’s verdict happened on the fifth day of Tevet, 5787 - in 1987.  This day was established by the Rebbe as a “holiday of books.”  It is a day to remember the significance of our holy books and our relationship with them.  It is customary to purchase some new holy books on or around this day.  I recommend these publishers who have major sales in honor of this day - kehotonline.com and sie.org.