Thank God for new beginnings! This week, we celebrate Simchat Torah, the last of the holidays in the month of Tishrei (Libra), a month in which, through our connections, we have been made new. We have enhanced our connection to the divine Light, the source of all that is good in this world, and have been made better for it. Now, at last, we are afforded the opportunity to begin again. It is the luxury of all human beings that we are allowed to forget, to start fresh, and to perhaps see things and experience life differently than before.
It is no coincidence that we also begin the Torah again this week, returning to the first portion of Beresheet, which translates literally to mean “in the beginning.” The first letter of the first word (Beresheet) found in the Torah is the Bet, which many learned scholars explain represents Bracha, blessing. This is true, of course, as the Torah is both the blueprint and the tool from which we can receive the utmost blessings in our lives.