Most Torah discussions about
the Jewish people accepting the Torah refer to the famous utterance of “na’aseh
v’nishmah, we will do and we will listen” (Exodus 24:7), said by the Jewish
people in the shadows of Mount Sinai. This was the great dedication of the
Jewish people to serve Hashem. Yet it is here, in parshat Nitzavim, when the
Jewish people are finally (38 years later) about to be permitted into the
Promised Land, that Moshe states that the Jewish people are entering into the
covenant of the Torah, as it says “You stand this day, all of you, before
Hashem, your God...For your passage into the covenant of Hashem, your God...”
(29:9, 11).
It is fascinating to look at the difference of who we were at Mount Sinai and who we were on the border of the Promised Land. When the Jewish people approached Mount Sinai, they were pumped with adrenaline. They had experienced miracles. They had faced decimation and survived. They were very much aware that they were on the verge of something awesome. Hashem looked at this beautiful nation and (symbolically speaking) got down on one knee and proposed a union. One can imagine the joy and the excitement. One can hear the echo of the Jewish people, full of emotion, shouting “We will do and we will hear!” But the energy of first love, the adrenaline of the moment, was unsustainable. A fact proven by the sin of the Golden Calf.
That the Jewish people betrayed their heartfelt promise does not mean that they hadn’t been earnest in their desire to dedicate themselves to Hashem. But it did demonstrate that raw emotion would not be enough to carry the Jewish people through the cycle of success and failure that would move the nation toward a fulfilled destiny.
In the Book of Devarim, Moshe lays out, rather bluntly, what God expects of the Jewish people. He also offers them an honest preview of what the future holds according to how they fulfill their side of the relationship. Here now, 38 years after Mount Sinai, the Jewish people are being offered the opportunity to enter the covenant with wisdom and understanding as to its significance, in addition to the passion of their inspiration.
One of the most beautiful parts of this week’s parsha is the language of encouragement. By telling Klal Yisrael that they will mess up, Moshe is telling them that it will be okay, that it is an expected part of the process. And Moshe also lets them know that after mess-ups and consequences, there is forgiveness and reunion - “You will return to Hashem, your God, and obey Him exactly as I am commanding you today...” (30:1).
The parsha concludes with a declaration of choice. Moshe says to the people, “I invoke as witness this day heaven and earth, life and death, and I have placed before you blessing and curse; Choose life in order that you will live, you and your descendants” (30:19).
This is where the Jewish nation becomes the “chosen people.” When we said na’aseh v’nishmah, that was reaction. But here, when all the facts and possibilities, the positives and negatives, have been laid out, that is when our ancestors chose life for themselves and for us.
“The chosen people” is a term for the Jewish people that has fallen out of common usage. In western society today it is a term that is almost an embarrassment, since it can be so easily twisted and misunderstood. It can be heard as language that smacks of inequality and judgement. (Indeed, many people do use the concept as a reason to hold the Jewish people above others - an attitude that breeds arrogance.) Rather, we are the people who made the active choice for ourselves and our children ever after to be in a relationship with the Divine through the Torah, and, in so doing, were chosen to find the inspiration of the emotions that fueled our ancestors to declare na’aseh v’nishmah.
It is fascinating to look at the difference of who we were at Mount Sinai and who we were on the border of the Promised Land. When the Jewish people approached Mount Sinai, they were pumped with adrenaline. They had experienced miracles. They had faced decimation and survived. They were very much aware that they were on the verge of something awesome. Hashem looked at this beautiful nation and (symbolically speaking) got down on one knee and proposed a union. One can imagine the joy and the excitement. One can hear the echo of the Jewish people, full of emotion, shouting “We will do and we will hear!” But the energy of first love, the adrenaline of the moment, was unsustainable. A fact proven by the sin of the Golden Calf.
That the Jewish people betrayed their heartfelt promise does not mean that they hadn’t been earnest in their desire to dedicate themselves to Hashem. But it did demonstrate that raw emotion would not be enough to carry the Jewish people through the cycle of success and failure that would move the nation toward a fulfilled destiny.
In the Book of Devarim, Moshe lays out, rather bluntly, what God expects of the Jewish people. He also offers them an honest preview of what the future holds according to how they fulfill their side of the relationship. Here now, 38 years after Mount Sinai, the Jewish people are being offered the opportunity to enter the covenant with wisdom and understanding as to its significance, in addition to the passion of their inspiration.
One of the most beautiful parts of this week’s parsha is the language of encouragement. By telling Klal Yisrael that they will mess up, Moshe is telling them that it will be okay, that it is an expected part of the process. And Moshe also lets them know that after mess-ups and consequences, there is forgiveness and reunion - “You will return to Hashem, your God, and obey Him exactly as I am commanding you today...” (30:1).
The parsha concludes with a declaration of choice. Moshe says to the people, “I invoke as witness this day heaven and earth, life and death, and I have placed before you blessing and curse; Choose life in order that you will live, you and your descendants” (30:19).
This is where the Jewish nation becomes the “chosen people.” When we said na’aseh v’nishmah, that was reaction. But here, when all the facts and possibilities, the positives and negatives, have been laid out, that is when our ancestors chose life for themselves and for us.
“The chosen people” is a term for the Jewish people that has fallen out of common usage. In western society today it is a term that is almost an embarrassment, since it can be so easily twisted and misunderstood. It can be heard as language that smacks of inequality and judgement. (Indeed, many people do use the concept as a reason to hold the Jewish people above others - an attitude that breeds arrogance.) Rather, we are the people who made the active choice for ourselves and our children ever after to be in a relationship with the Divine through the Torah, and, in so doing, were chosen to find the inspiration of the emotions that fueled our ancestors to declare na’aseh v’nishmah.
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