Parashat Nitzavim

Saturday 12 September 2015                                                                                      Elul  28  5775

Parashat Nitzavim
Deuteronomy. 29:10 (29:9 in TaNaCH)-30:20; Isaiah 61:1-63:9; Romans 10:1-12

This week's Torah reading consists of Moses' parting words to the Children of Israel on the eve of their entry into the Promised Land:
Deut 29:10-15
10    All of you are standing today in the presence of the LORD your God — your
        leaders and chief men, your elders and officials, and all the other men of Israel, 11    
        together with your children and your wives, and the aliens living in your
        camps who chop your wood and carry your water.
12    You are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with the LORD your 
        God, a covenant the LORD is making with you this day and sealing with an
        oath,
13    to confirm you this day as his people, that he may be your God as he promised 
        you and as he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
14    I am making this covenant, with its oath, not only with you
15    who are standing here with us today in the presence of the LORD our God but
        also with those who are not here today.

Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi says that the various organs and limbs of a body complements and serves the others. And so, the simple "wood-hewer" or "water-carrier" is an essential component of and contributes something useful toward the well-functioning of the entire organism.  

Rabbi, Sha’ul of Tarsus taught the self-same principle in 1 Cor 12:14-20:
14    Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.
18    But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he
        wanted them to be.
20   As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

Not only is there only one body, it is HaShem who distributes the gifts to the body, as he show chooses, for the well-being of the entire body:

Rom 12:3-6
4     Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not
        all have the same function,
5      so in Messiah we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all
        the others.
6     We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.

1 Cor 12:7, 11
7       Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common
        good.
11     All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He gives them to each
         one, just as He determines.

This principle understood and lived out is the death knell to envy and jealousy within the Body of Messiah! When HaShem’s anointing rests on another, we rejoice because it is for the well-being of the body!

Then, in our parasha, Moses continued to warn of the consequences of Israel's failure to remain faithful to their covenant with G-d. But, together with the dire warning, comes the promise of restoration. We see again and again that when the prophets speak of impending judgment because of Israel’s apostasy, in the very next verse, he speaks of her restoration!
Deut 30:1-3
1    When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come upon you and
      you take them to heart wherever the LORD your God disperses you among the
      nations,
2    and when you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey him
      with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command
      you today,
3    then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you
      and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you.

The Hebrew word used here for "he will return" is not veheishiv -- which means "he will bring back"; instead the Hebrew word here is ‘veshav’, which literally means "he will come back." Our sages derive exegetically from this that when Israel makes teshuva (repentance) and turns back to G-d, He promises that not only will He restore them to the Land, He will restore His Shechinah Presence in their midst!

Now, there are 2 fundamental principles of faith that are found in our parasha:

1. The accessibility of G-d’s Word (Torah)
Deut 30:11-14
11    Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond
        your reach.
12    It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to
        get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?"
13    Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get
        it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?"
14    No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may
        obey it.

2. the principle of free choice
Deut 30:15-16
15     See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.
16     For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and    
         to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and
         the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

Every day – each moment of every day – we have a choice: life or death, blessings or curses! G-d’s solution to a hardened and unrepentant heart is to circumcise it!  And G-d shall circumcise your heart... (30:6) From the time of the creation of the universe, man had the choice to be righteous or wicked. This  circumcision of the heart is the promise of the new covenant:
Jer 31:31-33
31    "The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant
         with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
32    It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them
         by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant,
         though I was a husband to them," declares the LORD.
33   "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,"
        declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their
         hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

This is the meaning of what our Sages said, interpreting the verse in Eccl 12:1: "There shall come days of which you shall say: I have no desire in them". In the days of Messiah, there will be no desire for evil, for we will delight in fearing G-d and doing His will! May those days come speedily even in our time!