Before Moshe is to take leave of this world, he blesses each of the tribes. Then he tells each tribe the key to its physical & spiritual success. Two of them are combined in one posuk, שמח זבולן בצאתך ויששכר באהליך, rejoice , Zevulun in your excursions, and Yissachar in your tents.
This partnership between Yissachar & Zevulun is the classic formula for the relationship between the supporters of Torah and the ones that engage in Torah study full time. Zevulun engaged in commerce to allow Yissachar to devote all his time to Torah study.
Why is Zevulun mentioned first in the posuk? Shouldn't it be Yissachar, who studied Torah full time, be mentioned first? The Yesod HaAvodah answers that the Torah gives preference to challenge; spending one’s life in the beis medrash does not put one’s spiritual mettle to the test in the same way that a business life does. Moshe therefore blessed Zevulun first that he should be able to keep the proper perspective: his financial success should be looked at as a means rather than a goal.
Reb Akiva Eiker shows us how to view our service to Hashem. The Torah begins with the letter ב & ends with the letter ל which spells לב, heart. If one looks at the letters before & after these letters in the alphabet, he will find כ before the ל and א before the ב spelling אך. Looking at the letters after those, we find after the ל the letter מ and after the ב we find ג spelling גם. There is a rule in the gemara that the word אך excludes something; the word גם includes something. The Torah is teaching us that, by putting the word לב to start & end the Torah, no matter how little one can accomplish in his Torah learning, like the אך or how much one can accomplish in his Torah learning like the גם all that matters is that it's done with the לב, as long as whatever one does is done with the whole heart trying to get close to Hashem.
During Simchas Torah in the year 1948 in the Ponevitch Yeshiva, the elderly Shamash was very moved by the dancing of the boys & the excitement they had for Torah. He started thinking "if only my children were still alive, they would surely be among these boys dancing so feverishly but alas they are buried under some patch of ground somewhere in Europe".
As he was thinking about his children that were brutally taken from him and about how much Torah they could have learned had they still been here, his heart felt like it was going to burst from the pain and he started crying hot tears. He ran to where the Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Kahaneman was sitting & cried "Rebbe, where are my children? Why were they taken from me? They could have grown & been giants in Torah & yiras shomaim. Why were they taken?
His cries tore the hearts off those who heard him & especially the Rav who also lost his family in the war. The Rav turned to him crying & said that, for them, we don't have to cry; they sacrificed their lives for Hashem. They are in a world now full of only good where they are learning in the bais medrash upstairs with all the holy people. Do you know why we need to cry?
We need to cry about ourselves! Where are we in the world? We are here and how much could we accomplish with every second that we are here? Every second we learn, we are getting life for eternity, reward that we can't fathom, and what are we really doing? Are we taking advantage? It’s our job to sanctify Hashem with life, to live a life of Torah & take advantage of every second.
As we finish this cycle of the Torah & prepare to start anew, what are our goals? How do we make this year better? Perhaps, if we realize that even though most of our time is spent out in the world, and most of our spiritual challenges consist of showing how a Jew is supposed to live & deal with people,
Nevertheless, if we could make the commitment to utilize the time we do have for learning & doing mitzvos, to take advantage of the time we are given here, that no matter how much or how little it is, if we do it with all our heart, it will be considered as if we lived a complete Torah life!
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