Nitzavim Vayelech 5784 from 5777
The Shofar Shall Sound Soon!
This is a double parashah, approaching the end of the Book of Deuteronomy and close to the entrance of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. We can sense a heaviness in the air during this month of Elul before the Fall Festivals. Our sages have made these festivals greater than all the rest but the Torah does not make this distinction. They also tell us that because God created the world at Rosh Hashanah, they call it the Head of the Year but the Torah’s new year is Pesach. I always say that our Traditions are good if they lead us to something good but they can be bad when they elevate the wisdom of man over God’s wisdom.
One essential aspect of this message is “bechirah chofshit” – “free will” – בחירה חופשית. Most people are more embedded in theology than in the revelation given to us by the Creator. They are legalistic about their theological and at times narrow-minded definitions while missing the beauty of God’s holistic message. His revelation is His way of taking care of us.
At this time of year before Yom Kippur we start thinking about confessing but how did we get there? It began with Adam and Eve. The Almighty began by creating humanity – male and female. We humans think that we are so smart that we can perfect God’s creation. Gen. 2:8-9 says, “And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden in the east and there He placed the man whom He had formed. And from the ground, the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food with the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and bad.” I continue with verses 15 -17, “And the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to till it and to tend it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying: ‘Of every tree of the garden you are free to eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and bad, you must not eat of it; for on the day that you eat from it, you shall surely die.’”
Here is where “free will” enters the picture. God gave Adam the option to choose, as He does with, us but He always leaves it up to us. To whom did He say that…to Adam!
Chapter 3:1-5 says, “Now the serpent was the shrewdest of any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And it said to the woman: ‘Did God say you shall not eat of any tree of the garden?‘ Remember, God never spoke to Eve, He said it to Adam and Adam must have told her. “And the woman said to the serpent: ‘Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but of the fruit of the tree, which is in the middle of the garden, God said: You shall not eat of it, or touch it, lest you die.’” And the serpent said to the woman: ‘You are not going to die; but God knows that the day you eat from it, then your eyes will be opened, and you shall be like God, knowing good and bad.’
Now let’s go back to our Parashah In Deut. 29:17-20, “lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turns away this day from the LORD our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that bears gall and wormwood; and it comes to pass, when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying: ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart–that the watered be swept away with the dry’; the LORD will not be willing to pardon him, but then the anger of the LORD and His jealousy shall be kindled against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven; and the LORD shall separate him for evil from all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that is written in this book of Torah.”
It appears that the snake said to Eve, “Don’t worry nothing is going to happen” and Adam thought “I can do things my way, nothing will happen”. Our Creator warned them and He warns us but when we stubbornly choose to follow the dictates of our own heart and disobey His warnings, let’s not be surprised when we suffer the consequences.
Now I will finish with Deut. 30:15-20: “See, I set before you this day life and good, and death and evil, in that I command you this day to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances; then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God shall bless you in the land where you enter to possess it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but shall be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; I declare to you this day, that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days upon the land, where you pass over the Jordan to go in to possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I offer you life and death, the blessing and the curse; therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your seed; to love the LORD your God, to hear His voice, and to cleave to Him; for that is your life, and the length of your days; that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
We began in Nitzavim where he called everyone who was standing there that day from the highest of position to the lowest, including the stranger among us. This depicts a universal message. We sometimes teach that we are a unique nation but that means that we are unique in our calling which is to be light to others. We were not to keep the Torah to ourselves.
Let’s compare the positions of Adam and Eve and God with Israel and God. Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden while Israel would enter the land representing the Garden of Eden. Now they were being warned (the Tochecha, the warnings)… if they didn’t obey, they would suffer the consequences. How often have I told you that in the same way that you harvest the results of your good deeds, you also harvest the consequences of your bad deeds? If you insist on continuing to do bad things, you will experience tragedies in your life and complaining will not help you.
So many people say, “If there is a God, how could He allow such suffering and misery in the world? How can evil prosper while the good suffer?” For the answer, we only need to return to the story of the Garden of Eden in which we read that from the beginning, we were given a choice. It is amazing to see how the Creator limited Himself by giving us the ability to choose. He could easily have created us to never have evil thoughts. He could have fully controlled every aspect of our being by making us like robots, however, He breathed His spirit into us, making us in His image and giving us the capacity to think, act and do. Our actions are up to us but they start with our love for Him. The Creator wanted us to obey His principles out of love for Him. Remember, the meaning of love in the Hebrew language is far more than feelings; it means “loyalty”. God does not impose His love upon us even if He could. Under the law, confession under duress has no value; in the same way, a marriage under duress can be annulled. God doesn’t force us to be with Him and His commitment to us is eternal. However, when we are disloyal to Him, He withdraws His protective Hand from us and allows us to harvest the consequences.
In Devarim, God gave us the opportunity to choose as He did with Adam and Eve. Eve believed that nothing would happen to her because she would be like God. Some people continue to do whatever they want, thinking that nothing will happen to them, however, the consequences can appear much later in their lives.
We see that at every level of life. Humans tend to idealize personalities. We honor and worship those who are successful more than we love and worship the Creator. If we could see some of these people as they truly are, we might be surprised at how miserable they are. Wealth and power do not bring fulfillment or satisfaction. Ask yourself…how much is enough? We read about this in the Book of Proverbs and Pirke Avot…“The person who is truly rich is he who is happy with what he has.” We have become gluttons in every sense of the word…physical, spiritual and emotional. Sadly, the more we have, the less we are likely to give to others. We become selfish and isolated; while the ones who have the least, tend to give the most.
We are approaching Yom Teruah, the Day of the Blowing of the Shofar also known as Rosh Hashanah. The sounding of the shofar alerts us as a community that the Creator is calling us for something special, and that we need to be together in the process of being responsible and growing. I cannot ask anyone to do something that I am not willing to do. We are very quick to tell others what to do. Don’t criticize others until you are willing to take a closer look within; you will soon see that it starts with you. Are you getting upset with others for not doing something, yet you are not doing it yourself?
Why was Abel’s offering accepted by God and not Cain’s? It had to do with their hearts, their intention. Later, Cain was asked by the Creator, “Where is your brother?” We are all being asked the same question by the Creator. We can’t say, “That’s not my business.” We depend upon each other and we need to support each other. No man is an island. The blessings and curses given to Israel had to do with continuity. We can only move forward when we are walking with the Presence of our Creator. We get nowhere on our own.
The world is upside down right now and the process of turning it around, teshuva begins at home, with each one of us. It is a process that begins with the acknowledgment of what we have done, good and bad, i.e., admission; next we make restitution and reparation for what we have done and finally we are ready to approach our Heavenly Father. Acknowledgment is admission and acceptance of what we have done. As we are closing the year 5784, we evaluate our lives not only by what we have done wrong but also by what we have done right. Are we in balance? Is there loss or gain?
It is my prayer that we finish the year with gain not loss. This is true teshuvah. We need to do what is right in His eyes. Restitution is extremely important. It is not enough to simply ask for forgiveness for what we think we did wrong. We need a change of our attitude and then this is followed by action. With restitution, we make ourselves clean (tahor) – טהור. This is the only way we can approach the Creator at Yom Kippur when He receives our offerings to Him. How can we bring an offering to the Creator if we are unclean (tamei) – טמא. He will not accept hypocrites, our false confessions or offerings. He knows our hearts. If we think that we can fool our Creator, we are to be pitied for being the worst fools in the world. The time has come to be honest with Him and to talk to Him. His arms are always extended toward us. May we have a special time of preparation for Rosh Hashanah and rejoice at Yom Kippur that our names are sealed in His Book of Life.
Shabbat Shalom
Ranebi