This shabbat is the final double parsha (weekly Torah portion) performance of the year. The names of the two parshas are Nitzavim and Vayelech. Nitzavim is the present tense verb for more than one person standing. Vayelech means, “And he went.”
Now, the name of the parsha is the name of the energy or feel of the week. When we have a double parsha, then that feel includes the names of both parshas.
Hence, the energy or feel of the last week was something akin to moving and standing still, or perhaps moving through a crowd or one person actually getting something done while everybody else just seems to be standing around.
That’s enough about the title of our parsha. Let us now take a look inside the parsha itself.
Nitzavim begins by telling us we are standing, in front of haShem (god) in order to pass into a brit (covenant) of haShem that he is making with us today. The purpose of the brit is to establish us as a nation for haShem and haShem as a god/powers for us, as haShem promised. This brit is not only made with those who are standing there, but also with those who are not there, because we knew how we lived in Egypt and passed through the other nations, and saw their idols. So, any of us who turn away from haShem to worship the gods of these nations is a fertile root of bitter wormwood. And anyone who hears these words and thinks he will have peace because he goes with his heart in order to be satiated with drink and thirst, has another think coming. HaShem will not forgive this person, and all that was written in this book (the Torah, what we have read the last few weeks) will crouch like an animal in him and haShem will erase his name from under the heavens.
We are told that haShem will set aside evil from all the tribes of Yisrael based on what is written in this book. The last generation, and strangers from a distant land will exist and say they will see how haShem has afflicted the land, and that nothing will grow in it. The nations will ask why haShem has done this to the land, and they will say, because they abandoned the brit of haShem. They worshiped other gods and haShem’s anger burned the land and brought upon it all the curses of this book. HaShem cast them out of the land and threw them into another land, as it is today.
Our parsha suddenly jumps tracks and tells us that the secret things are for haShem, and the revealed is for us and our children forever to do all the words of this Torah. We are then told that when the blessings and curses happen to us, we should contemplate in our minds, while we are within the other nations, and we should return to haShem and her ways, with heart and soul.
HaShem will then return our captivity and gather us in from all the nations and all the corners of the heavens and gather us back into the promised land, to inherit it, and we will gain more than our ancestors. Our hearts, and our childrens’ hearts will be circumcised so we can love haShem with all our heart and soul, in order that we may live. The curses will now fall onto our enemies and those who hate and persecute us. We shall return and follow haShem’s mitzvot (commandments/connections) and have abundance.
We are then told that these mitzvot are not removed or distant from us that we need someone else to go to them and do them. Rather, they are very close, in our mouth and heart to fulfill them.
We are told that we have before us today, life and good, or death and bad. We can prosper or we can be lost. We are told that heaven and earth are witness to this, and that we should chose life, to love haShem and obey him and cling to her because he is life and the length of our days to settle the land haShem promised to Avraham, Yitzhak (Isaac), and Yaakov (Jacob).
This ends the first parsha.
Parsha two, Vayalech, beings with Moshe going and speaking these words to all of Yisrael. He told us he is 120 years old and that haShem told him that he is not crossing the Yardayn (Jordan) river.
Moshe continues to tell us that both haShem and Y’hoshua (Joshua) will be crossing in front of them, and that haShem will do to the nations in the land the same thing he did to Sichon and Ohg, the Amorite kings.
The lands will be given to us to do with in accordance to the mitzvot. We are told to be strong and brave because haShem is with us and he will not abandon us. Moshe then called for Y’hoshua and said to him, in front of everybody, to be strong and brave and he will bring the people to the promised land.
We are told that Moshe wrote this Torah and gave it to the priests and to all the elders of Yisrael. Moshe told them that during Succot of the shmitah year (the seventh year), they are to read this Torah to everybody so everybody will hear and learn and be in awe of haShem and do all the words of this Torah.
God then tells Moshe his time is almost up and to grab Y’hoshua and go to the tent of meeting where haShem will instruct Y’hoshua. This was done, and then we are told that haShem told Moshe that he would lay with his forefathers, and that the people would stray after the gods of strangers and forsake haShem and violate the brit.
HaShem will then hide his face and many bad things will happen to them. HaShem then tells Moshe to write a song and teach it to the nation, and the song will be a witness for haShem against the children of Yisrael because haShem will bring them into the promised land and they will eat and become fat and turn to other gods and provoke haShem and violate the brit.
When the bad things then happen, this song will speak up as witness for it will not be forgotten.
We are told that Moshe wrote down the song and taught it to the children of Yisrael. We are told he told Y’hoshua to be strong and brave because he will bring the people into the promised land. We are then told that Moshe finished writing the words of this Torah and commanded the Levites to put the Torah by the ark because he was aware of the people’s rebellious nature. After all, if the people rebelled while he is alive, how much more so will they after he is dead.
He then commanded that all the elders and police gather to hear him say these words, and that he will bring heaven and earth as witnesses, because Moshe knows that after he dies, the people will become corrupt and that they will stray from the mitzvot and evil will come down on them until the end of days because they will do what is evil in the eyes of haShem.
Our parsha ends by telling us that Moshe spoke to the entire assembly of Yisrael, the words of the song, until its conclusion.
Yeah, this was a little winded. Sorry about that. However, it felt right include so much in order to give a flavor to the parsha.
Well, now that we have a flavor for the parsha, what is it trying to tell us?
I see a number of things. The first thing I see deals with the question of free choice. Our parsha seems to make an effort to tell us that after Moshe dies, the people will veer away from haShem and worship other god/powers.
On the surface, it appears that we have no choice in the matter.
And then I look at the verse 29:20 (we are in the book of D’varim/Deuteronomy by the way) which tells us that haShem will separate the bad from all the tribes of Yisrael.
What this verse said to me was that, “Yes, many of the people of the tribes will turn from haShem and her ways. And they will be dealt with, just as haShem says. This is a given and a fact.
The question is, are you going to be one of them?”
In other words, we have the choice, the free will to join the group that will exist and turns from haShem to other god/powers, and deal with all the terrible things that we have been reading. Or, we can stay close to haShem, and live and prosper. The choice is ours.
The next thing that asked to be shared was verse 29:28. This is the verse that says, “The secrets are for haShem our god/powers, and the revealed are for us and our children forever to do the words of this instruction manual (this Torah).
What I see in this verse is that each of us are going to see/have revealed to us ways to serve haShem that others do not see. These ways are our ways of being and doing, and not another’s, because these ways are still hidden to others.
Likewise, other people will see the Torah telling them ways of being and doing that we do not see, and so they are to follow those ways and we are not.
In other words, this verse is telling us that we all have our unique ways of serving the creator of life, the universe, and everything, and it is our job alone to serve in those ways.
Since each person’s ways are revealed only to that person, we cannot judge another’s path because we do not know it. What might look like a slacker, might really be that person’s way of following god at that particular time, and we just can’t see it because it is hidden from us.
Another way of saying this is that for us, that person’s ways are secret, and for divinity. Now, if the person to whom that path is revealed, does what that person has been shown, that person must be the divine – even if on the surface, to our eyes, that person looks like a slacker!
This reminds me of a story which I will make very short here. A couple desperately wanted to have a baby. T hey were told that the man must go into the woods and spend shabbat with a family named BlackWolfe. He went and found the house moments before shabbat began and knocked on the door. When the door opened, he saw an ugly woman and ugly children and an ugly house. The woman told him he could only stay in the barn and not to be seen by her husband. He ran and hid himself until almost the end of shabbat, when his desperate desire made him come out and knock again on the door.
This time when the door opened, he saw a family that radiated beauty. He came in and had a simple meal with them and within a year, his wife gave birth.
Why was the family so beautiful the second time? The truth is they were always beautiful for they were doing exactly what haShem revealed to them. However, the first time the man saw them, their ways were not revealed to him, and so he couldn’t see that they were godlike. The second time, he was able to see.
I share this story because it illustrates very nicely what our verse is trying to tell us.
A little bit later on, we read, that after all the terrible things happen, we will be gathered back from exile, and returned to the land and we will have more abundance than our ancestors had. I see this verse telling us that not only is it ok to fail, but that if we get up and get back onto the road, we will find that life is even better than it was before we slipped. A very encouraging verse it is to me.
Next up, we have the verses that tell us that this mitzvah/connection is not so unreachable that only another person can travel to the heavens or across the sea to attain it. Rather, it is very close to us, in our mouths and hearts to do it.
In other words, we don’t need an intermediary . All we need is to stop and trust ourselves and our hearts.
These verses are saying that god does and is talking to us.
We just need to be quiet and look within to hear that small still voice… AND then we act in accordance with it. It is like the man who left his wife to look for god. He wandered for years and one day, tired and hungry, was met by an old woman who lovingly gave him the most delicious meal he ever ate. At that moment he realized he had found what he was looking for, and it was at that moment, he realized the old woman was his wife.
In other words, you can go to the ends of the earth to look for the divine, however, haShem is already with you if you are willing to look inside and listen – there is no need to go anywhere at all!
One last thing. Verse 31:3 starts by saying that haShem, your god/powers, is crossing before you, and ends by saying that Y’hoshua is crossing before you as haShem spoke.
It sounds confusing to me: Is it god, or is it Y’hoshua who is leading us?
Well, before I answer that, I need to let you know that the root of Y’hoshua’s name means to save. So, what I see this verse saying is that god, our saviour, is always in front of us.
A nice thing to remember as we go through life (sometimes messing up like I mentioned above), don’t you think? Also a good way to end this email. And also a good thing to keep in mind, along with one or two of the other thoughts I shared as we go into Rosh Hashanah (literally the head of change) which signifies the new year for us.
I bless everybody that this will be your best year yet!
If you want to read what I wrote about this parsha last year, click here.
About the Author
Shmuel Shalom Cohen spent 10 years studying Torah in Jerusalem. Six years ago, he started Conscious Torah to help Jews connect to their tradition in ways they didn’t think possible. Shmuel also started, and is the executive directory of Jewish Events Willamette-valley, a non-profit whose mission is to build Jewish community, pride, and learning. In his free time, Shmuel likes walks in nature, playing music, writing poetry, and time with good friends.