“Life is full of cycles. Beginnings and endings encompass our whole existence. HaShem has masterfully designed everything in creation to work together this way. The rain falls to the land; it is washed down to the sea via rivers and streams; evaporation takes place and clouds form, and then the whole cycle repeats itself. Cycles produce cleansing. Cycles promote growth. With cycles also comes needed change of routine. In the absence of the numerous life cycles, our opportunities for development would be truncated, and our existence might seem rather boring and mundane.

The Torah of HaShem is a book full of cycles. Its pages are teeming with the beginnings and endings of men, families, nations and kings. As soon as one episode ends, another one is just beginning! It is never stagnant! This type of life-action flow makes for adequate challenge to the readers of the Torah, providing the necessary lessons and examples whereby we can shape our own lives into the person HaShem created us to be. It is with this introduction that we embark on the final parashah (portion) of the first five books of the Torah. As we shall see, even this “ending” is really just another “new beginning.””