Elul 27, 5776/September 30, 2016
One of the shortest parshiot (weekly reading selections) of the Torah, containing words spoken by Moshe to Israel on the last day of his life, Nitzavim is is packed full with one inspirational and motivating verse after another. Moshe has spent many of his final words over the final thirty seven days of his life, (which make up the book of Deuteronomy), castigating his beloved people, both for sins they have committed in the past and for transgressions he suspects they will commit in the future. However, from the opening words of this week's parasha, "You are all standing this day before HaShem, your G-d," (Deuteronomy 29:9) Nitzavim is a paean and a tribute to the entire nation of Israel, which, despite its flaws, remains the apple of G-d's eye and faithful to the mission and the vision G-d has set before it.
"You are all standing this day before HaShem, your G-d the leaders of your tribes, your elders and your officers, every man of Israel, your young children, your women, and your convert who is within your camp both your woodcutters and your water drawers, that you may enter the covenant of HaShem, your G-d, and His oath, which HaShem, your G-d, is making with you this day." (ibid 29:9-11) These words, which present all the human components which make up the nation of Israel as equal in stature, is a call to the nation to always be responsible one for another. Each individual in Israel, from the least to the greatest, need be mindful of and concerned for the other.
When Moshe continues, and says, "But not only with you am I making this covenant and this oath, but with those standing here with us today before HaShem, our G-d, and also with those who are not here with us, this day," (ibid 29:13-14) he is calling upon his people to be responsible not only for those who are standing beside them today, but to the generations which have preceded us, to their trust in G-d , to their dreams and aspirations as a nation in whose midst dwells their G-d , and to the generations that will follow us, our children and our children's children, whose place in G-d's plan is dependent on our efforts to bequeath them with the blessings, the vision and the determination that our elders have bequeathed to us.
Our responsibility to one another as individuals, as families, as members of communities, as fellow citizens of the nation of Israel and as the nation G-d chose among the many nations, is not just spacial in dimension, that is, not just applicable to those with whom we share the earth today, but it is temporal, that is, applicable to those who preceded us and those who will follow us in the march of time. In this regard, this commitment to the betterment of all mankind is reflective of the mission and the purpose of the Holy Temple, which we are commanded to establish "today" within the very heart of the nation.
The Holy Temple itself sanctifies both time and space, and, in turn, elevates all who enter its courtyards to express gratitude to our One Father and King, He who created and looks after our universe. The Holy Temple always was and always will be a group effort. Yet, when we look at those who are standing beside us today before G-d , and to those who have stood before and will stand after us before G-d , we need to first ask if we are taking upon ourselves the unique role G-d has assigned us to achieve His dream for mankind.
Later in Nitzavim we read, "For this commandment which I command you this day, is not concealed from you, nor is it far away. It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will go up to heaven for us and fetch it for us, to tell it to us, so that we can fulfill it?' Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us and fetch it for us, to tell it to us, so that we can fulfill it?' Rather,[this] thing is very close to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can fulfill it." (ibid 30:11-14)
We must not be daunted by the effort to fulfill any of G-d's commandments, from the simplest to the most complex, for G-d would surely not ask of us to that which cannot be done. And this too, reflects where we are standing today in the timeline of G-d's expectations and the Holy Temple: The life that G-d would have us choose, (ibid 30:19) is not in heaven, that we need to search for signs of alien life, perhaps thousands of light-years away, but it is the life which emanates from the Holy Temple, whose innermost chamber, the Holy of Holies, in which rests the Ark of the Covenant containing the Tablets of the Law, is located in the place occupied by the Tree of Life, which G-d placed in the Garden of Eden.
We certainly need not wait for some sign of approval from powerful leaders across the sea before we advance toward the reality of the Holy Temple, nor for a brief instant of momentous world distraction, so that we can 'establish some facts' while no one is looking.
And most importantly, we must not entertain the thought, even for a second, that another person, or entity, or even G-d Himself, will be the one who will "fetch it for us, to tell it to us, so that we can fulfill it." On the contrary, it is upon each and every one of us to stand together, upright and determined to play our part in perfecting the world which G-d has created for us to perfect. Being better people, being better children of G-d , "is very close to [us]; it is in [our] mouth and in [our] heart, so that [we] can fulfill it." Building the Holy Temple, creating a House of G-d which is "a House of prayer for all nations" (Isaiah 56:7) is a central part of our mandate, and, in fact, the final proof that we truly "are all standing this day before HaShem, [our] G-d!"
-The Temple Institute
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