Nitzavim: All of You

The parsha includes the compelling and slightly enigmatic phrase, "all of you who are standing before me today."

The Talmud has a fascinating interpretation for this pasuk. It says that both the body and soul will be held accountable to the Holy One in the aftermath of life. The soul cannot claim that it was coerced and the body also has no excuse for its actions. Here is how it phrases the idea:

A blind man and a lame man are hired by a farmer to watch his precious crops. The owner forbade them from eating any fruit. Yet, when the crops were harvested there was a paltry yield. The owner was suspicious. The two watchmen claimed they took nothing. How could they?
The blind man said, "It was not me. I cannot see!"
The lame man said, "It could not have been me. I cannot walk!"
The owner then placed the lame man on the back of the blind man and punished them together.1

Pirkay Avot takes another tack. It pronounces that no person should ever cut themselves off from a community. 2 What it observes is that all of us are an entity, an organism. We have a responsibility toward one another that stems from this Torah portion. Rambam further emphasizes this idea when he states that when a person cuts themselves off from the body of Israel and does not feel their pain or experience their joy totally severs his connection from them in the world-to-come as well. 3

The connective tissue that binds us must be inviolate. That is what all of you- in the parasha means. More specifically, it means – all of you - throughout all time.

Note that the Israelites are standing at the border of Israel. That is the precise location where they find themselves as the Divine command comes to them. The word stand is pivotal. Like the Amidah that we recite, which also means standing and is the same root word as here, the Jewish nation is poised to enter into the holy land. They stand – this exact word is used -before they cross over.
Likewise, each Jew needs to be focused and at attention when about to make any upward spiritual movement. Crossing over to a higher spiritual level is not simple and usually does not come without effort. We must try to approach God. Aliyah means ascending and one cannot go up without expending energy.

"All of you" also degrades any social standing. Any arbitrary or contrived social ladder is destroyed when taking into account the body of the people. Every member of the Israelites is vital. From the water-carrier to the kohen gadol each member is counted and needed. There is not a single person person that is expendable because they do not have the education, or breeding or money that others can claim. --All of you -- means that God needs every one of us especially the ones who stand at the margins. Remember that the vaunted Elijah may be one of them….

Midrash also reflects on the idea of Moses incorporating all those who stand before him this day. Later, Moses goes on to elaborate that even those who are not present. How can it be that if everyone is present, someone might be missing? Midrash answers that the call of Moses is to unborn generations. Those yet to come –you and I and the many generations in between were also part of the assemblage. 4

Those who move are comprised of flesh and blood. We are people given the task of conquering the world. Continually moving to conquer new realms we are rarely still. Yet, in another realm, those who stand still are the angels. That is why when we pray we place our feet together during the kedusha and do not budge from that place. We are imitating the angels on High who sing Kadosh, kadosh, kadosh to the glory of the One.

Idea: When we commanded to stand we are being asked by the Eternal One to imitate the angels. Perhaps it is intentional that we read this parsha before the Holy Days. On the first of Tishray we are to try to become as perfect before God as possible.

1. Sanhedrin 91b
2. Pirkay Avot 2:5
3. Laws of Repentance 3:11
4. Tanchuma and Sforno


Haftara Insight:
Despair gives way to excitement and rejoicing as this Haftara reading practically shouts outs in exuberance. No longer will there be any mourning. In its place will come flowing and abundant love. No longer silent we will send our message of hope and deliverance to the world.
Jerusalem will rejoice. Even its walls will convulse with song. Powerfully, Isaiah tells us for the sake of Zion to never be silent again!

A Matter of Law:
The mitzvah of writing a sefer Torah appears in this parasha. While most of us are unqualified to write a Torah we are still obligated to do so through the hands of others.
30:1-2 is not a done-deal. Teshuva is a force that moves earth and heaven The power of repentance redeems and even potentially changes the course of history.

Ki Tavo: My Father, an Aramean?

When the first fruits, or bikkkurim in Hebrew, were brought to the Temple, the farmer who brought them was supposed to declare, “My father was destroyed by wandering Aramean….” The Talmud tells us that this phrase is so powerful and compelling that it needs to be repeated at the Passover seder.1 Why? What does the sentence mean?

One interpretation of this phrase is that it refers back to Laban who attempted to murder Jacob. The Passover Haggadda uses this interpretation to define how ruthless Laban was: While Pharaoh only wanted to murder the Israelite boys, the plot of Laban would obliterate the Jewish nation had he succeeded in murdering the patriarch Jacob!

However, there is an entirely different possibility for this text. It might also mean that Jacob – my father - was wandering while in the land of Aram. If this reading is correct, the meaning of the Torah text changes to a statement about the patriarch’s impoverishment, not that Laban was out to kill him.2 That is to say we are to be reminded of the protection of God over Jacob while he was vulnerable and in exile.

This reading is compelling because for the past two thousand years the condition of the Jew has been the same as this journey of Jacob. Dependent upon the mercy of distant rulers and the whims of local authorities, the Jew has been in a long state of exile. Imagine what this would mean to our ancient ancestors as they ate their bread of affliction in constant dread of expulsion, or worse.

Reb Tzadok Hakohen of Lublin reads this segment of the Torah with a slightly different nuance. His understanding posits that Laban sought to take away from Jacob his father-hood. That is to say, Laban was jealous that Jacob was wealthy and destined to be the progenitor of the nascent Jewish people. Laban hoped to supplant young Jacob and become the patriarch in his stead. It was not his physical life that Laban wanted to end but his spiritual legacy.

The passage arises at the Passover Seder at the time of the second cup of wine. At that moment that participant is consumed with the idea that the Lord God took us from the depths of despair and raised us to a covenanted nation at Sinai. If this is the real intent of the text in Deuteronomy then, in its context, the humble farmer who brings his first fruits to the Temple is expressing the single notion of Deliverance. This farmer acknowledges through these words his moral an, spiritual and physical impoverishment. It is only through the great gift of God that he is able to present his first fruits to the Kohen at the Temple. It is as if he is saying, “If not for You, God, I would have nothing.”

One more idea. The phrase- a wandering Aramean – was only to be recited after the Jews had entered the Land of Israel. Until that time they were not to use those words. The graduation of the Israelites from desert nomads to inhabitants of the land made it imperative to never forget their roots. In much the same way, we who live in freedom repeat those ancient words to recall our humble beginnings.

Musar: The seeds of prayer are placed into the earth with the ever-resent thought that everything belongs to God. I am only here because He wills it.



1 Pesachim 116a
2 See Rashbam


Haftara Insight:
The series of prophetic readings that align with the topical thread of consolation reaches its apogee this week. Isaiah calls to the survivors of devastation to arise and allow their soulful self to shine outward. That inner luster will act as a beacon to the nations of the world. They will all witness the grandeur of the people of Jacob. The time for tears is over. The time of jubilation has begun....

A Matter of Law:
The parsha makes special mention of the widow, the orphan and the stranger. In Jewish society if any of these people are marginalized it is wicked. Our responsibility is to make sure there are no needy among these three groups. Accursed is the person who allows the Torah to be abrogated in his community. J.Sotah 7:4

Ki Tetze: The Many Faces of a Line

What does the Torah mean?

This question underlies every commentary on the Holy Text since the time of its giving. In fact in the first chapter of Deuteronomy it states that the Torah shall be explained explicitly. 1 This is taken to mean that even when the Torah was given it required wisdom to extract meaning from its inner core.

That is why the life of the Torah is so exciting and stretches for eons as sages have wrung new meaning from ancient text. A simple example opens the reading of this week. Torah says that when this nation goes off to war and a solider sees a woman with whom he becomes infatuated….

On the surface level the Torah is explicit about what is often permitted, or overlooked, at times of war. Those who are most vulnerable- even from the enemy side- require protection.

One of the great sages noted that this passage immediately follows the law of the Egla arufa, the broken calf. This juxtaposition points to how seemingly trivial things can cause whole nations to go to war. The egla arufa refers to a corpse that is found outside a city. The closest city needs to do something to declaim responsibility for the death. Distances are measured, notes are taken, and words of confession and piety are spoken all for this nameless corpse. Then the Torah tells about the spoils of war. It seems to imply, says this sage, that for lack of culpability, someone taking responsibility, because of one death, hundreds or thousands might die. We must be ever vigilant to do the right thing and not turn away from being responsible.2

Musar: Avalanches start with a snowflake. They grow and gain velocity until they bury everything in their path. Grudges have the same growth pattern.

Others say the reason the two passages are next to one another is because of the thread of death that runs through both. We are urged to realize the fundamental principle that cuts through every act of war- death will result. The passages are meant to make us think not about glory but the ultimate result that comes from saber rattling; burying corpses.

Musar: we must never allow ourselves to become so carried away by the moment that we lose track of our humanity, our soul.

That same empathy resonates through the next passages as the captor must let the woman sit shiva for her dead relatives. He must watch as she tears her clothes and morns the part of her life that has been cut down. Torah clearly intends for the reader to have pathos and leads him away from reckless bravado.

Musar: it does not matter whether someone deserves to suffer or not. The only thing that matters is that at once we never identify with the victimizer and that our arms will be stretched out toward the victim.

The war described in this parsha describes a woman from a Canaanite nation that is taken captive. The word used from the captive being taken to the land of the victor is the same as the word for repentance, teshuva. What the Talmud understands from this seemingly obvious passage is something far deeper. Rabbi Simon says that when a person comes- even from a people that is utterly opposed to the Jewish nation – and seeks to embrace the faith of Abraham they need to be fully welcomed. 3

Musar: Who has wandered so far away from the Light of God they are no longer redeemable? No one.

Another commentator goes even further. He asks, would we have assumed that a proselyte, convert, from the Caananites would be welcomed into the Jewish people had god not permitted it? 4 Probably not. Although the question goes unspoken, we still need to ask ourselves if we need to be more strict, unforgiving than the good Lord God?

Musar: The lesson of God is the lesson of kindness. We lose nothing by forgiving others.

1 Deut 1:5
2 Baal Haturmin
3 Sotah 35b
4 M’or HaShemesh

Haftara Insight:
Shame and disgrace are the two sentiments that underlie this prophetic reading. While they have the potential to overwhelm us, God tells us that we are not forgotten. The covenant remains intact. Even though we abrogated our part of the agreement God remains firmly rooted to the pact of our ancestors. Isaiah declares the eternal nature of the compassion of the Holy One. You are loved, he says.

A Matter of Law:
A painful halacha is found in this reading that relates to a child who is uncontrollable. He will not listen to the voice of his parents. His actions are antithetical to all godly matters. The parents try to teach him ethical behavior but ultimately give up because he is wild, rebellious. The Law demands the child be put to death.
While this law was seldom, if ever, practiced, it decidedly points to the deepest pain of a parent; Their child rejects their learning and direction.