“And now, write for yourself this song and teach it to the Jewish people” (Devorim 31:19)

 

These words were spoken by Moses on the last day of his life. He implored the next generation of Jews entering the Promised Land to keep the words of the Torah close to their hearts no matter where life would take them and no matter how many generations would pass.

This verse is also telling us that every Jewish person has an obligation to write a Sefer Torah, or participate in its writing. In fact it is the last Mitzvah in all of the Torah.

The Torah is the most illustrious and influential book in the world. Its words have inspired the greatest minds in history. The Ten Commandants are the foundation of every democracy on the face of the earth.

The Torah is the most precious article in Jewish life. Despite the Jewish people enduring centuries of upheaval and suffering, not one of the Torah's 304,805 letters has ever been lost or changed. The words we read in synagogue today are exactly those recorded by Moses. 

The first presentation was shown to Moshe by G-D, “Written in black fire over white fire”. Moshe transcribed from that Torah of fire, while G‑d dictated the words. This very Torah was placed in the Holy Ark and twelve additional Torah Scrolls were gifted to each of the tribes.

Our sages have taught that each and every Jew has a letter in the Torah which corresponds to his or her soul and spiritual identity. Just as each letter is an essential part of the Torah, so too each and every Jew is of utmost importance and constitutes an essential and integral part of K’lal Yisroel, the Jewish people.

By endowing a letter, word or sentence for yourself, family or friends, it is as if you have written your own Torah Scroll.

You can take your place in the unbroken chain of Jews who, in good times and the most difficult, held the Torah high, carrying its laws and values to the next generation.