B”H
NITZAVIM-ROSH HASHANAH
STANDING FIRM, UNITED AND LOVING
Today!
We read this parsha read every year on the Shabbos before Rosh Hashanah. While it does not explicitly discuss the holiday, it nevertheless conveys a powerful Rosh Hashanah message:
In the two opening verses the Torah states:
“You are standing firmly [Nitzavim] today, all of you together, before G‑d your G‑d – the heads of your tribes, your elders, your police officers every Jewish person.
Your young children your women, and the converts within your camp, from your woodcutters to your water drawers.”
Our Sages teach that the word “today” in this verse refers to the very special day of Rosh Hashanah; the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve. On this Day of Judgment we all stand firm in the knowledge that we will be victorious in our judgment.
The Shabbos that precedes the first day of every month is called Shabbos Mevarchim. It is the Shabbos during which we bless the new month. There is one notable exception; we do not bless the month of Tishrei.
Why would what is, arguably, the most important month of the year not deserve the same blessing from us that all other months receive?
The Ba’al Shem Tov explained that, in fact, unlike all the other months Tishrei is blessed by G‑d Himself. His blessing is encapsulated in the opening verses of Nitzavim, in which we make the extraordinary declaration that we are confident that we will be victorious when judgment is passed on us on the Day of Judgment!
The Ba’al Shem Tov concluded that it is this heavenly blessing, that we receive on the Shabbos prior to Rosh Hashanah, which empowers us to bless the other 11 months of the year.
If this is the blessing for the New Year it behooves us to probe deeper into its contents and significance, especially as it pertains to Rosh Hashanah. Through deeper reflection on this blessing we will see the basis for our confidence that we will be victorious in our judgment.
The Power of Jewish Unity
First, the key to standing firm in judgment is Jewish unity. These verses highlight that unity in two different forms. One form is the notion that we are all one: “all of you together.” This unity focuses on that which binds us together. It refers to the inner soul of all Jews which transcends all the external differences that may exist between us.
There is another form of unity that is expressed precisely, but paradoxically, through our diversity. Rabbi Schneur Zalman (the founder of the Chabad Chassidic movement, known as the Alter Rebbe) explains in his work Likkutei Torah that regardless of one’s station in life, every individual is the head of every other individual in some respect. The Alter Rebbe compares the contribution of each individual, no matter how lowly positioned they may be in the hierarchy of the Jewish people, to the human body. Each organ and limb of the body makes a unique contribution to its life. When it comes to physical mobility, the feet become the head and leader; the rest of the body, including the head, must follow.
Not only do we have to recognize the inherent unity that transcends our differences, but we also have to recognize the uniqueness of each individual and, importantly, how we complement each other.
When we recognize that both forms of unity are present, we stand strong, tall and firm. In our unity we have all the qualities of a healthy nation and are thus guaranteed to be victorious in the judgment we receive on Rosh Hashanah.
It’s Our Child!
There is a second message that emerges from this Torah passage. The medieval work Sefer Chassidimobserves that in the second verse, which begins with “your young children,” there is no conjunctive lettervav, which means “and.” By deleting the word “and,” which would point to the children as occupying a distinct and separate category, Sefer Chassidim infers that every Jew must be viewed by our leaders (as well as others) as if they were the leader’s young children, whom he or she provides with all their needs.
Jewish leaders would always go out of their way to sustain the Jewish people materially and spiritually, not as strangers or outsiders but as if they were the leaders’ own children. Viewing every Jew as one’s own son or daughter has always been the hallmark of Jewish leadership.
This message is especially poignant prior to and during Rosh Hashanah, when the Jewish people stand in judgment before G‑d. Their spiritual leaders will always come to their defense, as if they were their own little children.
This, in fact, provides us with a second rationale for our confidence that we will be triumphant in G‑d’s judgment. Not only are we a united people, we have also been blessed with great leaders who have sacrificed everything for their people, whom they viewed with love and compassion as their own children.
Outreach or In-Reach?
A story is told of a certain Chosid who was vocally critical of the Rebbe’s emphasis on “outreach” (which is really “in-reach,” as the following story will illustrate) to Jews alienated from their heritage. The Rebbe encouraged showering them with love rather than with harsh words of rebuke. This Chosid, who followed a different Chassidic group, took exception to this approach, thinking that these alienated Jews must be shunned and ostracized; certainly, they should not be encouraged and embraced.
Now this Chosid’s own son drifted away from his parents and Judaism. His father was distraught but could do nothing to get his son back.
One day a Chabad student happened to meet a hippy in a bus station and offered to help him put on Tefillin. To his surprise, the hippy took the Tefillin and put them on as if he had been doing this his entire adult life. Indeed, this was the son of the Chosid critical of the Chabadnik behavior toward disaffected Jews.
As a result of this providential encounter and the attention the erstwhile but straying young chosid received, a renewed relationship blossomed. Within a few months the young rebel was reunited with his parents and with his Judaism.
The father felt guilt at for the way he had criticized the Rebbe for Chabad’s outreach outlook in the past. He vowed to ask the Rebbe’s forgiveness and personally thank him for his emissaries’ efforts at bringing back his son.
When he told the Rebbe of his gratitude for having had his son restored to him, the Rebbe (who, in his humility, always attributed his accomplishments to his father-in-law), replied, “My father-in-law considered all Jews to be his children.” The Rebbe was, in effect, saying that while you can appreciate the efforts made to bring your son back to you because it’s your own flesh and blood, to me all estranged Jews are my children. And if they are my children, I will not hesitate to embrace them until they return to G‑d and to us.
As we stand before G‑d in judgment on Rosh Hashanah it is imperative that we stand united. And we must also treat those who are less fortunate than us, materially or spiritually, as our children.
Instead of seeing the alienated Jew as an “outsider” and think of our efforts to bring him or her back as “outreach,” we must view him or her as we would our own child.
In this manner we can come before G‑d on Rosh Hashanah and ask Him to take us into His embrace, to cherish us as His children, notwithstanding the things we may have done in the past year to alienate ourselves from Him.
Shofar: The Primal Cry of the Child
The idea that on Rosh Hashanah we come before G‑d as His children is expressed in many ways on Rosh Hashanah.
First, the prayer Avinu Malkeinu, “Our Father, Our King,” is repeated over and over. Its objective is to reveal the relationship of father to child that will determine the positive outcome of our judgment.
Second, the high point of Rosh Hashanah is the sounding of the Shofar. According to the Ba’al Shem Tov, the sound of the shofar is an expression of our soul’s inner child; it is a sound that proclaims that which cannot be expressed in words, but which emanates from the very core of our souls. This core remains pristine, never losing its childlike innocence and purity.
The Shofar also reminds us of and prime us for the Shofar of Moshiach; the Great Shofar that will inaugurate the Messianic Age and commence the Final Redemption.
One may confidently suggest that the two symbolisms of the Shofar are intertwined.
The Ba’al Shem Tov taught us that every Jew possesses a spark of Moshiach. This spark is the pristine and innocent child-like core of our souls. When the shofar of Moshiach is sounded – imminently, as a result of our efforts and G‑d’s help - it will awaken the spark of Moshiach-the child within all of us.
When we hear the Shofar of Rosh Hashanah this year may we simultaneously perceive the sounding of the Great Shofar, heralding the time when Moshiach will unite and gather all of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel with the newly rebuilt Third Temple.
May we all be inscribed and sealed for a good and sweet year!
