D’var Torah by Lilli Schvartsmann
This week’s Torah portion, Parashat Nitzavim-Vayelech, opens with a moment of urgency. Moshe is at the end of his life, passing off the last of 613 mitzvot to the Israelites, handing over his leadership duties to Joshua, and watching the people he led for the past forty years enter the land of Israel without him. As we read this portion in the last week of the Jewish year 5780, we, too, are entering a new year with similar inklings of urgency. Be it a return to in-person activities, a fight for racial justice, or an urgency to act this election year – I feel more compelled to act; I feel more sense of urgency this high holiday season than ever before.
We see God and Moshe act together as leaders for the last time, inviting everyone to “stand this day, all of you, before the Lord your God”—whether rich or poor, men or women, old or young, high or low in the social order, even “the stranger within your camp.” (Deut. 29: 9-11). This invitation for every single person in the community to stand together is an invitation to join God’s covenant, as it reinvents itself in a Jewish community without Moshe.
Moshe acknowledges the difficulty of taking on such an impactful covenant, reciting this famous excerpt: Surely, this commandment which I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach. It is not in the heavens, that you should say, “Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?” Neither is it beyond the sea that you should say, “Who among us can cross to the other side of the sea and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?” No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to observe it. (Deut. 30:11–14)
Moshe creates a paradigm for entering into moments of urgency: to follow the Torah that is on the ground with us. The Torah and covenant given to the Israelites is not meant to be followed by those in the heavens, rather by those on earth. It is designed for people to return to easily if they stray, with a multitude of ways to do so. The success of Moshe’s last inspiring speech is proven by the fact we still live by these words today. We read this Torah portion the week before Rosh Hashana to remind us that the High Holiday period is one of recommitment as we find ways to return to Torah, to each other, and to work together through moments of urgency. Shabbat Shalom and Shana Tova.
(855) 577-7678