#parsha of Nitzavim

[rickpoet]

Parenting...it's a whole thing, especially when they already know more than you ever will. (Check out the full text of this poem here: https://jewishpoetry.net/the-things-we-know-a-poem-for-parsha-nitzavim-aliyah-5/)

[eretzyisrael]

In the week of Rabbi Sacks zt"l's matzeiva (stonesetting), it is very fitting and a sheer coincidence that his Covenant & Conversation essay on this week's parsha of Nitzavim is entitled 'Defeating Death'.

In the essay, pasted in full below, Rabbi Sacks wrote the following:

"How then do you defeat death? Yes there is an afterlife. Yes there is techiyat hametim, resurrection. But Moses does not focus on these obvious ideas. He tells us something different altogether. You achieve immortality by being part of a covenant – a covenant with eternity itself, that is to say, a covenant with God. When you live your life within a covenant something extraordinary happens. Your parents and grandparents live on in you. You live on in your children and grandchildren. They are part of your life. You are part of theirs."

How true that has proven to be over the past nine months since Rabbi Sacks passed away. The outpouring of love for him, his teachings, and the Judaism he taught and personified has been so moving. 

As we approach Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, when we each take stock of our own lives, we can look to his example of what it is to live a life of meaning and purpose and to embrace, and be embraced by, the Shechinah.

On behalf of The Rabbi Sacks Legacy Trust, we thank you for your continued support and wish you and your families a Shana tova u'metukah.

---

DEFYING DEATH (NITZAVIM 5781)

Only now, reaching Nitzavim, can we begin to get a sense of the vast, world-changing project at the heart of the Divine-human encounter that took place in the lifetime of Moses and the birth of Jews/ Israel as a nation.

To understand it, recall the famous remark of Sherlock Holmes. “I draw your attention,” he said to Dr Watson, “to the curious incident of the dog at night.” “But the dog did nothing at night,” said Watson. “That,” said Holmes, “is the curious incident.”[1] Sometimes to know what a book is about you need to focus on what it does not say, not just on what it does.

What is missing from the Torah, almost inexplicably so given the background against which it is set, is a fixation with death. The ancient Egyptians were obsessed with death. Their monumental buildings were an attempt to defy death. The pyramids were giant mausoleums. More precisely, they were portals through which the soul of a deceased pharaoh could ascend to heaven and join the immortals. The most famous Egyptian text that has come down to us is The Book of the Dead. Only the afterlife is real: life is a preparation for death.

There is nothing of this in the Torah, at least not explicitly. Jews believed in Olam HaBa, the World to Come, life after death. They believed in techiyat hametim, the resurrection of the dead.[2] There are six references to it in the second paragraph of the Amidah alone. But not only are these ideas almost completely absent from Tanach. They are absent at the very points where we would expect them.

The book of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) is an extended lament at human mortality. Havel havalim… hakol havel: Everything is worthless because life is a mere fleeting breath (Ecc 1:2). Why did the author of Ecclesiastes not mention the World to Come and life-after-death? Another example: the book of Job is a sustained protest against the apparent injustice of the world. Why did no one answer Job to say, “You and other innocent people who suffer will be rewarded in the afterlife”? We believe in the afterlife. Why then is it not mentioned – merely hinted at – in the Torah? That is the curious incident.

The simple answer is that obsession with death ultimately devalues life. Why fight against the evils and injustices of the world if this life is only a preparation for the world to come? Ernest Becker in his classic The Denial of Death argues that fear of our own mortality has been one of the driving forces of civilisation.[3] It is what led the ancient world to enslave the masses, turning them into giant labour forces to build monumental buildings that would stand as long as time itself. It led to the ancient cult of the hero, the man who becomes immortal by doing daring deeds on the field of battle. We fear death; we have a love-hate relationship with it. Freud called this thanatos, the death instinct, and said it was one of the two driving forces of life, the other being eros.

Judaism is a sustained protest against this world-view. That is why “No one knows where Moses is buried” (Deut. 34:6) so that his tomb should never become a place of pilgrimage and worship. That is why in place of a pyramid or a temple such as Ramses II built at Abu Simbel, all the Israelites had for almost five centuries until the days of Solomon was the Mishkan, a portable Sanctuary, more like a tent than a temple. That is why, in Judaism, death defiles and why the rite of the Red Heifer was necessary to purify people from contact with it. That is why the holier you are – if you are a Kohen, more so if you are the High Priest – the less you can be in contact or under the same roof as a dead person. God is not in death but in life.

Only against this Egyptian background can we fully sense the drama behind words that have become so familiar to us that we are no longer surprised by them, the great words in which Moses frames the choice for all time:

See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil … I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse; therefore choose life, that you and your children may live. (Deut. 30:15, 19)

Life is good, death is bad. Life is a blessing, death is a curse. These are truisms for us. Why even mention them? Because they were not common ideas in the ancient world. They were revolutionary. They still are.

How then do you defeat death? Yes there is an afterlife. Yes there is techiyat hametim, resurrection. But Moses does not focus on these obvious ideas. He tells us something different altogether. You achieve immortality by being part of a covenant – a covenant with eternity itself, that is to say, a covenant with God.

When you live your life within a covenant something extraordinary happens. Your parents and grandparents live on in you. You live on in your children and grandchildren. They are part of your life. You are part of theirs. That is what Moses meant when he said, near the beginning of this week’s parsha:

It is not with you alone that I am making this covenant and oath, but with whoever stands with us here today before the Lord our God as well as those not with us here today. (Deut. 29:13-14)

In Moses’ day that last phrase meant “your children not yet born.” He did not need to include “your parents, no longer alive” because their parents had themselves made a covenant with God forty years before at Mount Sinai. But what Moses meant in a larger sense is that when we renew the covenant, when we dedicate our lives to the faith and way of life of our ancestors, they become immortal in us, as we become immortal in our children.

It is precisely because Judaism focuses on this world, not the next, that it is the most child-centred of all the great religions. They are our immortality. That is what Rachel meant when she said, “Give me children, or else I am like one dead” (Gen. 30:1). It is what Abraham meant when he said, “Lord, God, what will you give me if I remain childless?” (Gen. 15:2). We are not all destined to have children. The Rabbis said that the good we do constitutes our toldot, our posterity. But by honouring the memory of our parents and bringing up children to continue the Jewish story we achieve the one form of immortality that lies this side of the grave, in this world that God pronounced good.

Now consider the two last commands in the Torah, set out in parshat Vayelech, the ones Moses gave at the very end of his life. One is hakhel, the command that the King summon the nation to an assembly every seven years:

At the end of every seven years …  Assemble the people – men, women and children, and the stranger living in your towns – so that they can listen and learn to fear the Lord your God and follow carefully all the words of this law. (Deut. 31:12)

The meaning of this command is simple. Moses is saying: It is not enough that your parents made a covenant with God at Mount Sinai or that you yourselves renewed it with me here on the plains of Moab. The covenant must be perpetually renewed, every seven years, so that it never becomes history. It always remains memory. It never becomes old because every seven years it becomes new again.

And the last command? “Now write down this song and teach it to the Israelites and make them sing it, so that it may be a witness for me against them” (Deut. 31:19). This, according to tradition, is the command to write [at least part of] a Sefer Torah. As Maimonides puts it: “Even if your ancestors have left you a Sefer Torah, nonetheless you are commanded to write one for yourself.”[4]

What is Moses saying in this, his last charge to the people he had led for forty years, was: It is not sufficient to say, our ancestors received the Torah from Moses, or from God. You have to take it and make it new in every generation. You must make the Torah not just your parents’ or grandparents’ faith but your own. If you write it, it will write you. The eternal word of the eternal God is your share in eternity.

We now sense the full force of the drama of these last days of Moses’ life. Moses knew he was about to die, knew he would not cross the Jordan and enter the land he had spent his entire life leading the people toward. Moses, confronting his own mortality, asks us in every generation to confront ours.

Our faith – Moses is telling us – is not like that of the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, or virtually every other civilisation known to history. We do not find God in a realm beyond life – in heaven, or after death, in mystic disengagement from the world or in philosophical contemplation. We find God in life. We find God in (the key words of Devarim) love and joy. To find God, he says in this week’s parsha, you don’t have to climb to heaven or cross the sea (Deut. 30:12-13). God is here. God is now. God is life.

And that life, though it will end one day, in truth does not end. For if you keep the covenant, then your ancestors will live in you, and you will live on in your children (or your disciples or the recipients of your kindness). Every seven years the covenant will become new again. Every generation will write its own Sefer Torah. The gate to eternity is not death: it is life lived in a covenant endlessly renewed, in words engraved on our hearts and the hearts of our children.

And so Moses, the greatest leader we ever had, became immortal. Not by living forever. Not by building a tomb and temple to his glory. We don’t even know where he is buried. The only physical structure he left us was portable because life itself is a journey. He didn’t even become immortal the way Aaron did, by seeing his children become his successors. He became immortal by making us his disciples. And in one of their first recorded utterances, the Rabbis said likewise: Raise up many disciples.

To be a leader, you don’t need a crown or robes of office. All you need to do is to write your chapter in the story, do deeds that heal some of the pain of this world, and act so that others become a little better for having known you. Live so that through you our ancient covenant with God is renewed in the only way that matters: in life. Moses’ last testament to us at the very end of his days, when his mind might so easily have turned to death, was: Choose life.

[1] Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of Silver Blaze.”

[2] The Mishnah in Sanhedrin 10:1 says that believing that the resurrection of the dead is stated in the Torah is a fundamental part of Jewish faith. However, according to any interpretation, the statement is implicit, not explicit.

[3] New York: Free Press, 1973.

[4] Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Tefillin, Mezuza, VeSefer Torah 7:1.

The Rabbi Sacks Legacy Trust 

[torahgalus]

Nitzavim

you are standing here this day, all of you, for the last time-- breathe in, look around. lower your head and feel your great-great-great-granddaughter’s breath tickling your neck. look around at your proud, huddled masses.

you are standing here this day, to hear Torah you will only ever live by half.

when this is over, when you have heard the Torah that is not in Heaven, you will stumble away like calves,  learning to walk on solid ground.

[soyouwannaconverttojudaism]

I was studying this week’s parsha (Nitzavim) and came across this satisfying commentary from the Talmud:

“the snake came upon Eve,i.e., when it seduced her to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, it infected her withmoral contamination,and this contamination remained in all human beings. When the Jewish people stood at Mount Sinai, their contamination ceased,whereas gentiles did not stand at Mount Sinai,and their contamination never ceased. Rav Aḥa, the son of Rava, said to Rav Ashi: Whatabout converts?How do you explain the cessation of their moral contamination? Rav Ashi said to him: Even though theythemselves were not at Mount Sinai, their guardian angels were present, as it is written:“It is not with you alone that I make this covenant and this oath, but with he that stands here with us today before the Lord our God, and with he that is not here with us today” (Deuteronomy 29:13–14), and this includes converts.”

-Shabbat 146a:1, from The William Davidson Talmud via Sefaria

[parshapoem]

Nitzavim

Today we all stand, here and elsewhere. Secrets belong to God but today is ours.

Wherever you turn, you will find today— not in heaven nor beyond the sea but in your heart and on your tongue. We return.

[oneshul]

Nitzavim: You Have A Choice

[jewish-education]

Elul 28

This coming Shabbat we will read parsha Nitzavim which contains Deuteronomy 30:11-14:  

In what ways has teshuva been closer than you expected this month? In what ways has it been farther? What do you still need to work on as you enter the Ten Days of Awe (time between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur) and the new year beyond?

[shiradestin]

Parashat Nitzavim (נִצָּבִים) 5782: Rule of Law -It's Not Across The Ocean, Folks.

Parashat Nitzavim (נִצָּבִים) 5782: Rule of Law -It’s Not Across The Ocean, Folks.

    This week’s Torah portion,Nitzavim (נִצָּבִים),  is the 51st (51/53 or 52, depending on the year: this year, it’s 53…) reading in the annual cycle.  It’s the 8/10th parashah in the book of Dvarim,  (although this parsha is normally read on the same Shabbat as Parashat VaYelech…) with the full reading in Dvarim/.  Nearly the end of the year. I love how Moshe basically tells people, in the…

[thejewishlink]

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks zt"l - Why Judaism? - NITZAVIM • 5775, 5782

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks zt”l – Why Judaism? – NITZAVIM • 5775, 5782

This week’s parsha raises a question that goes to the heart of Judaism, but which was not asked for many centuries until raised by a great Spanish scholar of the fifteenth century, Rabbi Isaac Arama. Moses is almost at the end of his life. The people are about to cross the Jordan and enter the Promised Land. Moses knows he must do one thing more before he dies. He must renew the covenant between…

[scottstiles]

in the spirit of losing followers for no reason, and because the new year is almost upon us, and because i haven’t done so in awhile, here is a post about the weekly parsha (torah reading):

this week we read nitzavim, 4 parashot away from the end of the book. it’s a short chunk, but one that contains a fair amount of pretty well known phrases. so while i was studying last night/early this morning, with nobody to talk to about this (as usual, because who else the fuk is awake at that hour), i had some thoughts. (under the cut for sermon length ramblings)

one of the famous phrases in nitzavim is this one:

“i have set before you life and good, death and evil. (later on) i have given you life and death, the blessing and the curse. and you will choose life, so that you and your descendants may live.”

as i was reading it i was a bit struck by the fact that my memory bank knew this translation as “i have set before you life and death, good and evil, so you may choose life.” but in all my years of reading the hebrew i never realized just how wrong that translation is? because order is important. every word and its place in the torah has its own meaning and reason. why does the text say “life and good” and then “death and evil”? is life more important than being good? certainly one may think that death is preferable to being evil, but is it more important to be alive or to be good? that made me think of one of the most important commandments in the entire torah- choose life. also right here in the same paragraph. tradition tells us that there are only a few commandments that we are not actually required to violate, if it means saving a life. shabbat? not as important as life. keeping kosher? not important. fasting on yom kippur? definitely not as important. if someone’s life (or our own) is in danger we are obligated to break any commandment to save it. except three: idolatry (i.e. forced conversion), murder (for example someone holding a gun to your head telling you to kill someone else or they’ll kill you), and sexual immorality- incest/rape/bestiality/etc (all things directly connected to the ancient primitive polytheistic worship practices of the time). in those cases, death is preferable. so the order is clear- stay alive at all costs, except if the cost is the essence of your good humanity. and always, always, choose death over evil. life-->goodness-->death-->evil. traditionally we’re taught that the commandment to choose life is a direct result of all the other commandments- if you do these things you will live. because the things you’re commanded to do are for good, and blessings are the manifestation of your good actions in the world. and if you choose to do the opposite, the result is death/evil/curses. rejecting the goodness of this way of life is a slippery slope to the opposite end. now, if you’ve read this far, you might think (if you’re thinking hard)- this doesn’t sound like a very ‘religious’ thing? because it’s not. i think this concept is pretty universal and relates closely to the idea of karma (as i know it, which is to say not in great detail). do you think this makes sense? i’d love to hear your thoughts.

another great line in this parsha is this one:

“when someone hears the words of this oath (the law from god) and blesses themselves, saying “i will have peace if i follow the vision of my heart, so that the dry may be made moist.” what does the concept of dry/wet have to do with the temptations of the heart?

here are the rabbis interpretations of this incredibly difficult to translate verse:

'to fulfill the desires of my freethinking' (Ralbag); 'to add desire even when he is satisfied' (Rambam; Chizzkuni); 'to let his desires satisfy his craving' (Sforno)

this verse jumped out to me thanks to the ridiculous way my vocabulary has been enhanced by this website- how many of you “thirst” after celebrities? how many of us feel and ache/hole/hunger in the chest when we can’t satisfy our base urges and desires/habits? when we slake this kind of thirst, we allow the body to take over the mind. again, something i’m all too familiar with- the slippery slope of addiction. how can we avoid getting to the point where we believe that satisfying our desires are more important that being good people or following “the law”/morality? and can we come back from it? the following sentence tells us no. god will “blot out” such a person “from under the heavens.” BUT, elsewhere in the torah, and especially on the high holy days, we read over and over again that if we return- god is waiting to welcome us back. mixed messages. 

because of its placement in the parsha, the previous description of the person “thirsting” after the desires of their heart is referring to a person who abandons god’s law to worship other deities instead, which is clarified then by this sentence:

“and they served foreign gods, and bowed down to them, gods they didn’t know, that were not their portion (given to them).” 

these two words “chalak lahem” “their portion” is so huge. it’s not the only place in the torah where we read about the righteousness of other nations. what this phrase is saying is that god is our (the jewish people’s) portion, and that other people have their portion (i.e. other gods to worship- this doesn’t mean that god concedes to polytheism- rather it refers to their practices and beliefs, which they are absolutely allowed to have). the rabbis emphasize that non-jews are not required to follow the commandments of the torah (other than the 7 noahide laws) and therefore there is nothing wrong with that.. if you are not jewish. “abominable” practices and such as they are referred to in the torah are specifically referring to the ancient canaanite and other religions which practiced things like child sacrifice, and not to the later polytheistic religions such as in ancient greece and rome. according to judaism, all the righteous of every nation have a place in the world to come- not just jews. so here’s my question for any christian followers (or ppl who know anything about this)- why is it such a “thing” for christianity to say that if you don’t accept jesus you’re going to hell? because that sure as shit didn’t come from the bible i know...anyways, maybe that’s too controversial a question for this rant. point is- acceptance. people are different from you and it’s totally fine. you (jews) are the ones with a choice- and if you choose wrong, you’re at fault and have to accept the consequences of your choices.

another famous sentence from today’s parsha is this one:

“these commandments are not too difficult or too remote from you. it is not in the heavens. it is not over the seas. it is in your mouth and in your heart, that you may keep it.”

the phrase “lo bashamayim hi”- “it is not in heaven” has been used for ages by rabbinic leadership to justify the flexibility of jewish law (and i use justify in the most non-negative way possible, because that’s pretty much all rabbinic judaism is- a bunch of lawyers sitting around a huge table arguing). the law is not something disconnected from you. it is not esoteric and mysterious and incomprehensible. it is a daily job. it is woven thru every aspect of your being and in every moment of your life. why? because it is a way of life- it is the only way of life we should strive for. because it leads to all those good things. the word tzedakah is usually translated as charity, and as little kids in jewish day school we internalize this assumption because the concept of helping the less fortunate is pretty much the basis for most of our religious education (the tzedakah box from the jewish national fund sits on every teacher’s desk).  but tzedakah doesn’t actually mean charity- the direct translation is “righteousness”. as in, doing the right thing. taking care of others is ipso facto doing the right thing, and so this word has taken on multiple meanings. but doing tzedakah isn’t just caring for others. it means keeping the commandments (of which there are hundreds about caring for others). by keeping all of the commandments we ensure that every person can live their best life. or that’s the goal, anyway.  the law is not in the heavens. it’s for us to understand, and to do, and to manage and to deal with every single day. it’s not for god. it’s for us. for our benefit, not just god’s.

and then the torah goes and says this little gem:

“the hidden things are for god, and the revealed, are for us and our children (until) forever, to do all the things that this torah tells us.”

so there are hidden things now? this is not a surprise. but there’s a reason some things are hidden. the things we know, the things we learn, discover, realize, are meant for us to. this sentence makes me think of “all things in good time,” but also “there are things that we’re just never meant to know.” as someone whose “thirst” has always been oriented towards knowledge, this kind of annoys me. so you’re saying i CAN’T know everything? excuse me. “hidden things” can also be translated as “secret things.” so now god is keeping secrets? yes. what is life in this world without a little mystery? i like to think of science as the thing god keeps revealing to us little by little. every time we discover something new about the world, good things erupt from within it. every time new things are revealed, there are special people who can take it to a level that benefits humanity. so what are the “secret things” that are only for god? we don’t have a clear answer in this parsha, however the words “the hidden things are for god, and the revealed for us and our children until-” all have dots scattered along the top of the letters- something found only a few times in the torah. it’s not clear why, but supposedly this indicates a particularly troublesome or difficult sentence to understand. i would agree. it’s interesting to me that the dots stop at “until” and are not on top of the word “forever.” does this mean that there will one day come a time when the hidden things are also for us? who knows. the only connection i could make from this phrase is to certain practices that we’re commanded not to partake in, specifically witchcraft and necromancy, trying to connect to the dead, etc. it was always easy for me to see the connection between those practices and things that are “meant only for god” (not that i have a problem with other people doing it, but it’s still a struggle for me that the torah says it’s necessarily wrong or bad to do, since it’s something that has always interested me). the other story that comes to mind is that of the high priest Aaron’s sons, who brought a “strange fire” into the tabernacle, and went up in flames for it. it’s one of the most mysterious stories in the torah, and there’s still no reasonable explanation for what actually happened to them. bottom line, i guess? don’t do things where you have no idea what the outcome might be- if the outcome could potentially be really really really bad. i guess that’s enough to keep certain mysteries a mystery. and maybe i’m ok with that.

if you made it to the end of my sermon i applaud you. thanks for taking the time to slog through this former teacher’s quagmire of a mind, and feel free to share your thoughts. i’d love someone to talk to about jewishy stuff.

[virtual-beit-midrash]

Learn the Parsha: Nitzavim

This week’s weekly Torah portion is Nitzavim (Wiki, Chabad)

Main topics

* Covenant with Israel before entering the Land

* The possibility of Teshuva (repentance)

Texts

Parsha (Deutronomy 29:9-30:20)

Haftara (Isiah, 61:10-63:9).  Yemenites start at 61:9.  This is the 7th and last Haftara of Consolation.

Midrash: Devarim Rabbah, Sifrei

[netzarifaith]

TORAH: NITZAVIM-VAYELECH

TORAH: NITZAVIM-VAYELECH

By Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum

Torah Reading: NITZAVIM: Deuteronomy 29:9-30:20

VAYELECH: Deuteronomy 31:1-30.

DECLARING THE END FROM THE BEGINNING

“Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying ‘My counsel shall stand and all My pleasure I shall do’ ” (Isaiah 46:10).

Parshas NITZAVIM is always read on the…

[torahgalus]

Nitzavim-Vayelekh

it is not in heavens or across the sea, it isn’t impossibly far beyond your grasp it is here, in my hands--see how I’ve spread them before you.  my heart: see how it has unfolded petal by petal these forty years, how I speak to you with love and weariness, how I have strived and perhaps, sometimes, failed to be better.  take these words from me--I can no longer carry you, that impossible weight, but I can gift to you these words, light as a feather, that transfer from my palms to yours with the slightest puff of air.  look at this: it is in your grasp.  to be good, to be good, to listen and love and be good, it is in your grasp.  I can almost see double, see it sifting through your fingers like sand, but all I can do is hope you cup these letters in your palms, gently; that even once I’m gone, you’ll hear the great earth-shattering call and return, you’ll return.

[thebeautyoftorah]

NITZAVIM-ROSH HASHANA

bs'd

Shalom.

The thought of this week of my book Healing Anger is

"With proper guidance it is possible for a person to restructure and modify his most basic characteristics, and change his nature, providing that the effort made is intensive and steady. The battle is never-ending and we must fight with all our might!”

Buy my book at  http://www.feldheim.com/healing-anger.html

This article is based on the teachings of R' Yissachar Frand

In order to continue writing my Divre Torah for the rest of the summer l'm asking for donations or dedications. You have the opportunity to share in the mitzvah to honor a loved one by sponsoring my weekly parsha review, or for refua shelema (healing), shiduch, Atzlacha (success), etc. To join the over 4,000 recipients in English and Spanish and receive these insights free on a weekly email, feedback, comments, which has been all around the world, or if you know any other Jew who is interested in receiving these insights weekly, contact me. Shabbat Shalom.

NITZAVIM-ROSH HASHANA Doing Teshuvah Without Excusses

In our current order of parashiyot, Parashat Nitzavim is always read before Rosh HaShanah. There is no other more appropriate parsha to read at precisely this time of year. Nitzavim contains the following pasukim [1]:

“For this mitzvah which I command you this day, is not concealed from you, nor is it far away. It is not in Heaven that you should say ‘Who shall go up to Heaven and bring it to us so that we can hear it and fulfill it?’ It is not over the sea so that you should say ‘Who will cross the sea and get it for us, so that we will be able to hear it and fulfill it?’ Rather,[this] thing is very close to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can fulfill it.”

The Rishonim (early commentators) have different opinions as to which Mitzvah the Torah is referring to in these pesukim. According to Nachmanides and others who follow his opinion, the Torah is referring to the mitzvah of Teshuvah [Repentance, Return to G-d]. Teshuvah is the Commandment that is “very close to us, within our capacity and within our reach to fulfill”.

The Sforno explains concerning the first verse: “It is not concealed from you”, that you would require prophets. “It is not far away”, that you would require distant wise men of the generation to explain to you that which is necessary to accomplish it, even while you are still in exile”.

A person should not think, “In these times, I am incapable of doing Teshuvah. Had I lived in the times of the prophets who could have directly told me exactly what I was doing wrong, then I could have repented properly. Unfortunately, I live in a period of history when there are no prophets.” To counteract such thoughts the Torah assures us “It is not in Heaven”, implying that we do not need prophetic words from heaven to allow us to do Teshuva. This is no excuse.

Likewise, we can not argue “If I had a real Maggid Mussar [expounder of homiletic lessons of ethics] then I would be inspired to repent. If the Chafetz Chaim or the Vilna Gaon were here and would tell me to do Teshuvah, I would do it!” To counteract such thoughts the Torah informs us “It is not across the Sea”. This, too, is no excuse.

“For the matter is very near. It is within your mouth and your heart to do it.” We do not need prophets or wise men. It is all up to us. This pasuk is a double-edged sword. Teshuvah is easy. It is accessible. But, on the other hand, it is all up to us. We have no external excuses to fall back upon.

We see this from the Gemara[2] about Elazar ben Durdaya, a man steeped in immorality. When a woman of ill repute told him that he would never be able to repent, he came to a realization of the error of his ways. The Gemara then tells us how he tried to gain forgiveness for his sins. He asked a mountain and a hill to request rachamim (mercy) for him but they refused. He then asked the heavens and earth but they also refused. He finally turned to the sun and the moon but they also refused to help him.

The different things that he asked to pray for him represent different influences on his life; he tried to shift responsibility for his behavior onto them. The mountain and hill represent his parents. He argued that his upbringing was responsible for his dire situation, but they refused to acknowledge their guilt. He then turned to the heavens and earth, that represent his environment and tried to blame that for his actions, but they also would not accept responsibility for his sins. He finally turned to the sun and the moon who represent his mazal, his natural inclinations, and claimed that it was impossible to avoid sinning because of his nature. But again, they would not accept culpability for his behavior. Then he placed his head between his knees. This was the ultimate acknowledgment that his repentance was dependent upon himself alone and he said “this thing is only dependent on myself.” He finally acknowledged that there was only one source responsible for his sins; himself. He could not blame his parents, society or his nature, he realized that he had the power to change his ways and he did so. He then did teshuva shelema and his soul returned to heaven. A Bat Kol (heavenly voice) proclaimed that Rebbi Elazar ben Durdaya has a place in Olam Haba. Note that the Bat Kol called him 'Rebbi’ because he is our Rebbi in teshuva. He teaches us that the only way to do properly is to admit that the ultimate responsibility for our behavior lies only with ourselves. If we can do this, then we can hope to do teshuva shelema and it will help us to have a more favorable judgment in Rosh Hashana.

We can not wait for others to do Teshuva for us and we can not blame others for our failure to do Teshuva. It is not because our upbringing or our parents raised us poorly. It is not because our environment or society was bad. It is not because our natural inclinations, or because our spouse is not supportive. There are no excuses! The ability to do Teshuvah as the Torah says is near us, within our own mouths and hearts .

May we all be Inscribed and Sealed in the Book of Life. Ketiva VeChatima Tova!

_____________________________________

[1] Devarim 30:11-14

[2] Avoda Zara 17a

Le Iluy nishmat Eliahu ben Simcha, Mordechai ben Shlomo, Perla bat Simcha, Abraham Meir ben Leah, Moshe ben Gila,Yaakov ben Gila, Sara bat Gila, Yitzchak ben Perla, Leah bat Chavah, Abraham Meir ben Leah,Itamar Ben Reb Yehuda, Yehuda Ben Shmuel Tzvi, Tova Chaya bat Dovid. Refua Shelema of Mazal Tov bat Gila, Zahav Reuben ben Keyla, Yitzchak ben Mazal Tov, Mattitiahu Yered ben Miriam, Yaacov ben Miriam, Yehuda ben Simcha, Menachem Chaim ben Malka, Naftali Dovid ben Naomi Tzipora, Nechemia Efraim ben Beyla Mina, Mazal Tov Rifka bat Yitzchak, Rachel Simcha bat Yitzchak, Dvir ben Leah, Sender ben Sara, Eliezer Chaim ben Chaya Batya, Shlomo Yoel ben Chaya Leah and Dovid Yehoshua ben Leba Malka.

Atzlacha and parnasa tova to Daniel ben Mazal Tov, Debora Leah Bat Henshe Rachel, Shmuel ben Mazal tov, Yitzchak ben Mazal Tov, Yehuda ben Mazal Sara and Zivug agun to Gila bat Mazal Tov, Naftali Dovid ben Naomi Tzipora, Yehudit bat Malka, Elisheva bat Malka. For pidyon hanefesh & yeshua of Yosef Itai ben Eliana Shufra.                        

[yeshrakhabaruchhu]

One of the most poignant and enigmatic sections in the Torah appears in this week's parsha: This commandment that I am...

[oneshul]

Nitzavim: And the universe spun on….

You stand this day, all of you, before the LORD your GOD—every man and woman of Israel…from the woodcutters to the water-drawers—to enter into the Covenant with the LORD your GOD…. And not with you alone do I enact this Covenant, with those who are standing with us this day, but also with those [future and past generations of Israelites] who are not standing with us this day…to study this Torah, and to perform it.

                                                    --Deut. 29:9-14 (translation mine)

  A Report from Warsaw, Poland, during World War I:

There were a great many wagons and coaches parked, but with no drivers in sight. …A young Jewish boy showed me…to the shtibl (prayerhouse) of the Jewish wagon-drivers (Yiddish, balagoolas). [There were] two rooms: one filled with Talmud volumes, the other a room for prayer. All the drivers were engaged in fervent study and religious discussion…I found out…that all professions, the bakers, the butchers, the shoemakers, etc., have their own shtibl in the Jewish district, and every free moment [they can take] off from their work is given to the study of the Torah. And when they get together in intimate groups, one urges the other: ‘Zog mir ah shtickl Torah—Teach me a little Torah.’

Chabad House at Stanford University, Retrieved from https://www.chabadstanford.org/article.htm?Torah-Study-70

  The Talmud-Study Society of Galaxy Andromeda M31

  Sept. 25, 2736—22 Elul, 6502

            As NASA Space Flight Engineer Mordechai Kahn eased through the tunnel of USS Space Cruiser Ticonderoga IV, its airlock doors hissed closed behind him. He was careful to touch and kiss the mezuzah that NASA Space Regulations (Section XXIII, Subset 432, Lines 6-9) required of all Jewish Personnel Religio-Capsules. Unlike earthly mezuzote, this one was permanently sealed in plastilex; it might not have been acceptable to the extremely religious, but it was necessary in space, so as not to allow alien microbes to devour  the parchment and vegetable-based ink.

            As the only Jewish member of the Interstellar Expedition to Starform Epsilon 4943AA, and Conservadox at that, Mordechai could not let a day go by without performing the mitzvah-commandment of daily Torah study b’chavruta—with his study partners. As the only Jew on the Ticonderoga, he could not do this face-to-face, but Star Ship Command, based on the Moon (in the System containing Old Earth, which centuries of pollution and global warming had rendered uninhabitable; hence, all these expeditions to find new planets for humanity to colonize) had handily supplied him with a handy list of other practicing Jews who wished to remotely study Space Talmud. This enabled him to fulfill the mitzvah.

            Mordechai knew also that there were interested gentile scholars: a Catholic monk and plant geneticist, Father William Mendel, on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, would often participate when his schedule permitted. There was also a Buddhist, George Freeh Rinpoche, a lexicographer based on Pluto who was writing a Romulan-English lexicon, would “relax his mind,” as he put it, by joining in.

            Mordechai enjoyed their insights, but he was happiest when he could effect an Einsteinian Hologram Linkup with Eliezer Bokospeichik, the youngest son of Grand Rabbi Menachem Mendel Bokospeichik, who was head of the Maldemer Chasidim, a sect that, after early sensing the ensuing destruction of Old Earth, had contracted with an Israeli aerospace firm to build a Space Ark large enough to float them to Mars. There, they engaged in converting the Martians, marrying them Jewishly, and raising their children in the faith. They were, sadly, finding it difficult to do so; at least, according to Jewish Law—the Martian Race had three genders.

            Back over Epsilon, Mordechai eased into his Study Seat and belted himself in, put on his kipah-skullcap and pulled its elasto-band under his chin. To create the sensation of complete engagement with his study partners, his personal rebbe, Moshe Rochev-Kochav, head of the Otto Lilienthal Yeshiva, had ruled that he must learn under Deep Space conditions, without any artificial gravity. Mordechai donned his Hologram-Helmet and adjusted its View Screen to allow images of his study partners to appear. He was also praying to the Jewish God of all the Cosmos that his other chavruta-partner, Charlie Levine, a navigator on Starship Jules Verne VII, be available—Charlie had promised to change his work schedule to allow time for Torah.

            Flicking at the panel of switches and dials before him, and noting the position of the brightest star in his corner of Andromeda M31, Mordechai sent out a homing signal to his chavruta, study partners. There was a soft humming, and then, a slight ringing noise as he made contact, first, with Eliezer—Mordechai muttered a soft prayer; Eliezer’s insights were really, well, insightful.

            As for Charlie? Hmm—no luck, today. But, wait! Yes—no—the homing signal flashed into space, and found no receiver. Shoot. Oh, well.

            “Eliezer, do you read me? Prepare for hologram-transmission,” said Mordechai.

            “Up and running, Chaver Mordechai,” came Eliezer’s voice.

            “Coordinates two-two-zero-fourteen.”

            “I read,” said Eliezer.

            “And lock.”

            The image of his chavruta-partner, Eliezer, appeared in Mordechai’s Hologram-Helmet viewfinder. Eliezer smiled: he was seeing Mordechai, as well.

            “Shalom Aleichem!”

            “Aleichem Shalom!”

            “Nu, vosmacht ah Yid? (How’s a Jew doing?)”

            “Not bad. Just lonely. Shall we begin?”

            “Yes!—I’m on Talmud Kiddushin Chalal, the Tractate of Space-Marriage,Folio 2, Side One. I will read and translate, from the Sparamaic:

            “’The 23rd Century Mishnah states: “A Venusian female organism may be acquired in five ways: via money—that is, Martian drachmae; a contract—etched only on the leaf of a Boddhi-tree; or coimplantment—by one other Venusian, male only. There are also the choices implanted via thought-processes: implant-mental-chip, General Electrons issue; Freedom of Will from the Creator. And she acquires herself back in two ways.

            “The 24th Century Gemara explains: “Via money—that is, according to Plutonian Rabbi Lychus: a Plutonian drachma. According to Jupiterian Rabbi Hyle: a Jupiterian dinar. And she acquires herself back in two ways: through a writ of divorce, as enacted in a Space Command Jewish Bet Din Law Court, or through the Departure-from-Life-Form of her Male Counterpart.”

            “Wow!” breathed Mordechai, “What an amazing piece of Talmud this is! What does New Rashi say?”

            New Rashi was the commentary of one Rabbi Shinar ben Yisrael, a Mercury-born Jew-by-Choice who, stranded on Pluto’s moon Styx after his exploratory voyage crashed there back in 2527, had lots of time to write an extensive commentary on the entire Space Talmud, storing it on a Logo Drive and launching it back to Earth. It had become the Universal Space Talmud Commentary, noted both for its ease of usage and depth of knowledge. Rabbi Shinar, known by the acronym NewRashi, was regarded as the 26th Century’s Prince of Commentators.

            “Well, let’s see,” said Eliezer, “how much time for Torah-study have you got?”

            “At least five parsec-lengths,” said Mordechai.

            “That should give us time to get up to the mental-chip section,” said Eliezer.

            “I love this!” said Mordechai.

            “Hey, what does God say about Torah?” laughed Eliezer, far-off in the deep reaches of Space, “’It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who shall go off, and fetch it for us?”

            “’Nor is it in the depths of the sea!’”Mordechai chimed in, “’It is as near as the nearest hologram-transmitter!’”

            And the universe spun on….

Rabbi David Hartley Mark is from New York City’s Lower East Side. He attended Yeshiva University, the City University of NY Graduate Center for English Literature, and received semicha at the Academy for Jewish Religion. He currently teaches English at Everglades University in Boca Raton, FL, and has a Shabbat pulpit at Temple Sholom of Pompano Beach. His literary tastes run to Isaac Bashevis Singer, Stephen King, King David, Kohelet, Christopher Marlowe, and the Harlem Renaissance. Rabbi David Hartley Mark is from New York City’s Lower East Side. He attended Yeshiva University, the City University of NY Graduate Center for English Literature, and received semicha at the Academy for Jewish Religion. He currently teaches English at Everglades University in Boca Raton, FL, and has a Shabbat pulpit at Temple Sholom of Pompano Beach. His literary tastes run to Isaac Bashevis Singer, Stephen King, King David, Kohelet, Christopher Marlowe, and the Harlem Renaissance.