This Shabbat is the final Shabbat before the Holy Days, the final parasha before Rosh Hashanah, Parashat Nitzavim-Vayeilech. Since Tisha B’Av we have been on an ascent toward the Holy Days, a journey led by the voice of the Prophet Isaiah in the Haftarot of Consolation. Isaiah called the nation to do T’shuvah (repentance) particularly from idolatry and mistreating others, reassured them that God had not abandoned them and cast them off forever, raised the issue of social concerns in the community that was to be the concern of each and every person, encouraging a spirit of gratitude toward self and others as they reflected on their future. It is important to recall that the Prophet spoke to his day based on their worldview and understanding of God.
The wisdom of our Rabbis took Isaiah’s words and applied them to all the Jewish generations that would follow right up until our own day. The Rabbis taught that as we come to the New Year we are also to reflect on our own sense of awareness, recognition, reunion, rebirth, or as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel called it, "A Time of Renewal," a time where we are to ponder on our own connections to self, others and God. So like with the Prophet, the Rabbis sought to remind the following generations that the Holy Days first and foremost were spiritual, asking us also to wrestle with our sense of the Divine. But as Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman puts it, this conversation that began in Torah “does not speak ‘to’ us so much as it speaks ‘with’ us.” In other words, the Holy Day season that is meant to touch the holistic nature of our existence does not only speak to us, but we speak with it.
Yet before Rabbi Hoffman, these were the words of Moses. Therefore regarding the covenant God made with Israel at Mt. Sinai, Moses teaches in Deuteronomy 29:13-14: "I make this covenant, with its sanctions, not with you alone, but both with those who are standing here with us this day before our God and with those who are not with us here this day." The same Torah that was received at Sinai would be the foundation of Torah for every generation to follow. At that moment in Deuteronomy 29:9 Moses addressed each person who was there saying, “You all who all are standing here this day” are doing so as you wait to enter the land of promise, yet it should be pointed out that the word for "standing" was exclusive to that moment and/or occasion.
In this case, the Hebrew word used for those who were “standing” in 29:9 was nitzavim, whereas the Hebrew word for those who were "standing" there to listen to Moses's teaching in 29:14 is omayd (a singular word because the people stood as singular people). While they appear the same in English in Hebrew their difference is subtle, but meaningful. “Standing” from nitzavim is a noun, whereas omayd, from la’amod, is a verb; each has a different function in speech. As a noun, standing (nitzavim) is an “it” that represents their state of being. Conversely, as a verb, standing (omayd) is their position, standing still or vertical. Thus as a nation they stood (who they were/noun) as a “Kingdom of Priests and Holy Nation,” yet at Mt Sinai they stood (what they did/verb) as they assembled to watch Moses ascend the mountain.
In the end, for those who were nitzavim, it was because of who they were, and for Moses those who were "standing" there about to enter Canaan were having their own Sinai experience, their own encounter with the God of their ancestors. Regarding the idea of encounter the Prophet Isaiah wrote, “I greatly rejoice in GOD, My whole being exults in my God— Who has clothed me with garments of triumph, Wrapped me in a robe of victory, Like a bridegroom adorned with a turban, Like a bride bedecked with her finery,” words that say the following: each and every person stood (think noun), and will stand (also think noun), stood (think verb) before God with the same value as the person next to them just as Moses taught many years earlier. Today is no different, thus like those before us, as we also stand on Rosh Hashanah having our own Sinai experience exclusive to that day, the Holy Days remind us that we stand before God because of who were are and what we do.
In closing Rabbi Paul Cohen (Reform) taught that one who is standing (nitzavim) before God during the High Holy Days must do so with humility, as this form of standing is not an action but a state of being. As we stand before God during the Chagim, or Holy Days, Rabbi Cohen teaches that this is “a moment of deep honesty, reflection and repentance,” which is needed in order to be open “to self-reflection [that can only happen when] recognizing that moment [in order] to be present for it.” As such, as Moses concludes his teaching he tells the people in Vayeilech that he will not be with them in their new future, calling on the Jews and mixed multitude of his day to make the right choices, Moses teaching in Deuteronomy 30:19, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day: I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life—if you and your offspring would live.”
As the Holy Days approach, even more so now with the beginning of Selichot prayers after this Shabbat, on Rosh Hashanah we all are being asked to make the right choice regarding why we will be "standing" there on that day. Will it be our state of being or simply what we are doing? Whatever you and I decide it is because we have the freewill to do so. On that day we are also being asked, "know whom before you stand," yet we should further ask why and what for? May our Holy Day experience be one where we rise and stand as our better selves.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Adam
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