Nitzavim - Vayelekh | The Last Covenant of Moshe

Summarized by Shmuel Goldberg
Translated by David Strauss
 

"He made them stand in ranks"

Parashat Nitzavim describes an exceptionally impressive assembly:

You are standing [nitzavim] this day all of you before the Lord your God: your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, every man of Israel. (Devarim 29:9)

I have spoken elsewhere about a midrash Rashi cites that explains Moshe’s words here as conciliatory, emphasizing that despite the curses in the preceding parasha, the Israelites continue to stand and exist. Today I wish to focus on a second midrash that Rashi quotes in the same comment:

Another explanation: "you are standing [nitzavim]" – because the Israelites were now passing from one leader to another, from Moshe to Yehoshua, therefore he [=Moshe] made them stand in ranks [asa otam matzeiva] in order to encourage them. Yehoshua did similarly (see Yehoshua 24:1, “and they stood [vayityatzvu] before God”), and similarly Shmuel: "Now therefore take your stand (hityatzevu) that I may reason with you before the Lord” (I Shmuel 12:7), when they were leaving his hand [=leadership] and coming under the hand of Shaul. (Rashi, Devarim 29:12)

When a leader takes his leave and an era comes to an end, he should meet with the group that he had led, stand them all before him, and summarize his term of leadership. The leader started with them at point A and brought them to point B. And now, on the eve of the next period, he should gather them all together, summarize the period that they passed together, examine it, and lay out a personal accounting.

More specifically, we can see three components in the gathering of the people of Israel: First, Moshe summarizes the past and takes stock of the shared period – as has been done throughout the book of Devarim. Second, and this too is not new in the book of Devarim, he warns them about the future that awaits them, and of the challenges they will face as they transition to a new era in the Land of Israel. Third, and this is already in Parashat Vayelekh, Moshe not only looks at the future, but also passes the baton of leadership to Yehoshua – first on his own initiative, and afterwards at God's command, and in the presence of the elders. In the framework of passing the baton, after concluding the Torah, he writes a Torah scroll and hands it over to the priests. At the same time, he also commands that the people be assembled once every seven years, in order to renew the covenant with God and the people's commitment to the Torah.

As Rashi points out, the same act of "standing them in ranks" is repeated later with Yehoshua and with Shmuel. Yehoshua gathers the entire nation before he dies, sums up their shared past, and conducts a reckoning; he warns the people about the challenges they will face;[1] and he passes the scepter of leadership to the elders. Shmuel did the same in his generation, bringing the period of the judges to an end and handing over the leadership to Shaul, whose anointing opens the period of the monarchy.

Such transitions between eras are found not only in the life of a nation, but also in our personal lives. Everyone experiences transitions between different periods – from childhood to teenage years, from teenage years to adulthood, from being single to marriage and parenthood – and at each point, one must take stock of the period that is coming to a close and must consider how he will conduct himself in the next period.

In this context of the personal reckoning that one must engage in when transitioning from one period to another, birthdays stand out as marking everyone's personal progress. But the transition from one calendar year to the next also constitutes a significant transition point. At this point, as Rosh Hashana approaches, I would like to discuss two main lessons that can be learned from Moshe making the people stand in ranks and that can serve as important tools for moving forward. The one rises from Parashat Nitzavim, while the other rises from Parashat Vayelekh.

Mutual responsibility in the land of Israel

One thing that stands out in Parashat Nitzavim is the principle of mutual responsibility. Note how the first oration in the parasha opens and closes:

You are standing this day all of you before the Lord your God: your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, every man of Israel…

The hidden things belong to the Lord our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. (Devarim 29:9, 28)

Not only in the opening and closing, but throughout the speech, Moshe emphasizes the idea that we are all responsible for each other's actions. The Gemara states that "God did not punish for transgressions committed in secret until the Israelites had crossed the Jordan" (Sanhedrin 43b). At the point of transition between life in the wilderness and life in the Land of Israel, the people of Israel accept upon themselves the principle of mutual responsibility. In the wilderness, the Israelites lived totally under the governance of God, and everybody could conduct his own life independently, on his own. Everyone could say: God gives to me, and I receive from Him what I receive; I am not responsible for those living around me. But in the Land of Israel, the situation is different. In the Land of Israel, there is mutual responsibility – and not only regarding things that are in the open, but even for hidden things. The truth is that this is natural, for in the Land of Israel, "the eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it" (Devarim 11:12), and there is sowing, plowing, and harvesting to be done, and political matters and human leadership. The Land of Israel is a real state, and in such a situation it is no longer possible to shirk responsibility for others. In any country, community, or group, if people wish to live together with others, they will have to deal with each other and take responsibility for each other.

In this context, a few years ago my son was looking for a community in which he could serve as a rabbi. In interviews in the various communities, he was asked about his opinion on a variety of issues: about the height of the mechitza between the men's and women's sections in the synagogue, about whether boys and girls should study together or separately in the third grade, about whether a woman could lead the singing of An'im Zemirot before the service, after the service, or during the rabbi's sermon. My son told me that he never knew what to answer, because there were people there from all parts of the community: some from the so-called "religious right" and some from the so-called "religious left," and it would be impossible to please everyone. If he had said one thing, some would have said he was a fanatic; if he had said something else, they would have argued against him that he was a liberal. Everyone wanted something different, so what was he to do?

What I answered my son in this particular case will remain between us, but here I will suggest an answer to the question in general. When students ask me how to deal with all kinds of disputes in a community, I contend as follows: If the members of the community are not interested in living together as a community, everyone should do what he wants. One woman will read from the Torah, and another will not; one man will go to a certain minyan, and another to a different minyan. I really don't know how the community can manage like this, when everyone does what he wants – but if that is what they want, that is what will happen. On the other hand, if they see importance in community life, then by definition, no one can do everything he pleases. Every country, community, or group that consists of a collection of people – even the smallest unit, that of the home of a man and a woman – requires emerging from one’s shell. I will not call it compromise, because that word bears the connotation of "neither here, nor there," of "pareve," of nothing matters. So it is not a compromise that is needed, but a reconciliation with the demands of the other, and acceptance of some of them.

Mutual responsibility is especially important in a society of plenty, when there is the lurking danger that "Yeshurun waxed fat, and kicked; you did wax fat, you did grow thick, you did become gross" (Devarim 32:15), when each individual can seclude himself in his house – let us say, in his palace – and look neither to the right nor to the left, and show no caring to others. Especially in such a situation, is it important to think about the people of Israel on the collective level and not to isolate oneself.

Thank God, we can say that even if we are not perfect in this area, there are those who are working on the issue. I don't want to talk about any specific organization, but I will mention that I read that according to recent research, the amount of money donated to non-profit organizations doubled over the past year. Of course, every non-profit tries to promote a different cause – and there are many causes that some people wish to promote and that seem good to them, while others would consider them to be terrible. But the common denominator of all the non-profits is the willingness to step out of one's comfort zone, out of one's personal space, and worry about the needs of the community and the country, each non-profit as it seems fit. What we have here is mutual responsibility, a fulfillment of "to bring you into the covenant of the Lord your God and into His oath" (Devarim 29:11). Moshe told the people of Israel as they were standing in their ranks that they must act together as a people; each individual must contribute something of his abilities for the common good.

Knowing how to start over

In addition to the idea of mutual responsibility that we find in Parashat Nitzavim, another idea stands out in Parashat Vayelekh: the possibility of starting over, and in a real manner. At the beginning of a new period, beyond the mental reckoning that needs to accompany it, there is an opportunity to start over, to change the things that we want to change and to start on the right foot. Each new period should be treated as an opportunity to begin with a clean slate; it is a time to strengthen oneself to make the effort to take advantage of this opportunity and enter the era in accordance with more worthy goals. Sometimes, as a result of opening a new period on a good note, a person can change something in his life and continue on that good path for the entire period.

It is written in the name of the Baal Shem Tov and others that one should start each day with something good. I cannot guarantee that if one simply starts the day with something good, the whole day will be excellent – but it certainly can't hurt.

Sometimes, it must be admitted, the good path on which one began does not hold fast to continue for long – but nevertheless, Moshe's assembly teaches us that the very act of beginning a new period in the spirit of a new beginning is itself important and meaningful, even if that new beginning does not survive. After all, Moshe knows very well that the people will eventually sin despite what happens in our parasha; he knows well that the people will break the covenant. The entire second half of Parashat Vayelekh describes this future development:

And the Lord said to Moshe: Behold, you are about to sleep with your fathers; and this people will rise up, and go astray after the foreign gods of the land, where they go to be among them, and will forsake Me, and break My covenant which I have made with them. Then My anger shall be kindled against them on that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them… (Devarim 31:16-17)

Not only was Moshe informed about this by God, but he repeated the message to the people in a most direct manner:

For I know that after my death you will deal corruptly, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you at the end of days; because you will do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him through the activity of your hands. (Devarim 31:29)

And yet, despite this knowledge of what is to come, Moshe stands the people in their ranks and makes a new covenant with the people of Israel. And he takes pains throughout the book of Devarim to remind the people over and over of their obligation to observe the mitzvot in the land of Canaan and to beware of idol worship.

We are human beings, and it is clear that we are not perfect: "For there is no righteous man on earth who does good and does not sin" (Kohelet 7:20). And yet, it falls upon us to try and repair – little by little, step by step – and not to be put off by the long road. We must start the coming year with repentance, with Torah and mitzvot and good deeds, and we must try to continue on that path all year long. But whatever happens later in the year, our service of God during this period is important in itself.

May it be God's will that we merit to reach full repentance, and that God grant us a good and sweet year.

[This sicha was delivered by Harav Gigi on Shabbat Parashat Nitzavim-Vayelekh 5782.]

Edited by Sarah Rudolph

[1] Yehoshua feared that Israel would be drawn to idol worship and abandon their service of God. Since he saw that these would be the challenges the people would have to face, he explicitly set before them the choice of serving God or not, and of course he declared: "But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (Yehoshua 24:15).