From: heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com
Sent: Thursday, September 25, 1997 11:14 PM
To: Parasha-Page List
Subject: Parashat Nitzavim/Vayelech (Deut 29:9 - 31:30)
From: "Root & Branch Association, Ltd." <rb@rb.org.il>
Subject: R&B News Service - "SHABBAT SHALOM: Parashat
9 - 31:30) Weekly Torah Commentary
by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
SHABBAT SHALOM: Parashat Nitzavim/Vayelech (Deuteronomy 29:9 - 31:30)
by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
EFRAT, September 25, Root & Branch: Repentance is more than a word, it is
a world unto itself; covering every aspect of life. Repentance is not only a central
theme of this month of Elul, as we prepare for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.
It is a fundamental requirement of Judaism all year round. To help us
understand why and how every Jew might "buy into" teshuvah, we must study
the first half of this week's double portion of Nitzavim-Vayelech.
"For this commandment which I command you this day, it is not too hard for
you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say: 'Who
shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, and make us hear
it'...Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say: 'Who shall go over
the sea for us, and bring it unto us'... But the word is very near you, in
your mouth, and in your heart, that you may do it."
[Deut. 30:11]
The reference of the 'commandment which I command you this day' is
discussed by the commentaries. Some understand it to be a reference to the
whole of the Torah, others see it as indicating the laws, chastisements and
warnings in the book of Deuteronomy, while Nahmanides insists that it
refers specifically to the commandment of teshuvah (repentance) - for if we
extract the thematic unity of the entire segment of ten verses which
precede v. 11, the key word in the passage is 'shuv', and the subject is
repentance.
The Hassidic sage Rav Menahem Mendel of Kotsk once asked his disciples to
estimate the distance between east and west. He rejected all of their
calculations, and said, "Only one small turn ('nor ein klein drei')." And
that, he continued, is the secret - and nearness - of repentance: it
requires only one small turn, or change, in direction!
Let us investigate our Torah portion, since, upon closer examination, we
discern in this passage (the first 10 verses of Ch. 30) three distinct
stages of teshuvah.
The first: "And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon
you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, that you
shall return to your
mind-heart (ve-hashaivota el levavekha) from among all the nations, into
which the Lord your G-d has driven you." [Deut. 30:1]
"Ve-hashaivota el levavekha..." is a difficult phrase to translate. To the
biblical mind, one's heart is the seat of the intellect - as well as the
very essence of the individual. The essence of every human being is the
"image of G-d", the "portion of the Divine from on high" from which each
human being is created. We begin our daily prayers each day with the
declaration, "Lord, the soul which You have given me is pure;
...You have bequeathed it unto me (as part of Your own spirit and eternity)."
My rebbe, Rav J. B. Soloveitchik z"l, speaks of sin as illness. When we
say that a person 'sins' we're really saying that he is not at one with
himself, with his most essential self, with his Divine essence. Sin here
is not limited to ritual laws, or even interpersonal laws, but includes the
obligations a person has to his own essential being. Being created in the
image of G-d means that every human being wants to do the best he or she
can, and that can never take place unless one aspires toward, and
eventually reaches one's potential, intellectually-spiritually even more
than physically-materially.
Returning to the heart is the first step of repentance because it implies a
turning away from the body, from the place in one's being where instinct
rules like a blind despot, concerned only with fulfilling its most
animalistic needs and desires. A person who concentrates exclusively on
the physical body, on one's own pleasures, on feasting the body, may
eventually reach a point where the relentless pursuit of
pleasure no longer gratifies. And here we have an identity crisis, a
crisis in the depths of one's being, the beginning of an ego transformation.
Once this sense of inner trembling and discomfort erupts, what is awakened
is a desire to find G-d. And then comes the second stage: "And it shall
come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee...and you shall turn
towards G-d [ve-shavta ad HaShem]." [Deut. 30. 1-2]
Moving from 'stage one' to 'stage two' of repentance need not initially
manifest itself as a seeking out of G-d in His traditional places, for at
this point the ego's discovery of a state of beyondness, beyond himself,
thrills to the possibility that what he's searching for can be found
anywhere. All too often the seeker may not even realize that it is G-d he
is seeking. For some it's the passion of reading the Aeneid
or Paradise Lost, awed at how mere language narrows the divide between the
finite and the infinite. Others grow rapturous listening to Mozart's
angelic sounds plucked from the heavens. Others may be blind to the
humanity of their neighbors, but viewing a Rembrandt canvas allows them to
see how that Dutch master imbued his painted figures with their heavenly
souls visible and accessible to all.
Still others put aside conventional arts and seek G-d in the wonders of
nature: starry nights, ocean waves, lava and volcanic explosions. Many of
Israel's post-army youth spend a year in the vast unknown parts of the
world, including the Himalayas, Andes and jungles of Brazil. Are they
looking for the perfect sunset or G-d's post office box on the other side
of civilization? Whoever said that climbing Mt. Everest was only about
climbing a mountain?! Or that volunteering in a hospital is exclusively
about aiding the weak and sick and not about a search for G-d!
The search for G-d, seeking the place of G-d, is what the second stage of
repentance is about. The individual yearns for closeness to the Divine, to
be near ("ad") consummate goodness, spirituality, eternity.
The third stage is the subject of the final verse in our passage: "If you
shall hearken unto the voice of the Lord your G-d, if you turn unto (el)
the Lord your G-d (ki tashuv el HaShem) with all your heart and with all
your soul." [Deut. 30:10]
The change in prepositions from the 'ad' (near) of v.2 and the 'el' (to) of
v. 10 (el) --overlooked by the King James translation, which Professor
Nechama Leibowitz alerts us to in her biblical commentary--is crucial for
our understanding of repentance 'unto' (el) G-d. Whereas 'ad' implies
distance, traversing from point A to point B, the search for G-d in space,
the word 'el' deals more with a G-d in time and in personal relationships.
Space has boundaries, time is boundless. For most of us, time is more
difficult to comprehend than space, more mysterious. Space is about place,
and time is about feelings and interactions. 'Ad' is a desire to be near
G-d, to sense G-dliness around me, to put myself in the path of G-d, to
hang out where He hangs out.
'El' means to move toward a relationship. The significance of
relationships is not the amount of space covered, but the intensity of the
duration. When I return 'unto' (el) G-d after an initial return 'toward'
(ad) G-d, I have begun the process of putting aside all the accoutrements
of my search, the wonders and the cherished memories of this incredible,
complex, or simple world G-d has created, and finally begin to concentrate
directly toward the G-d whose commandments and statues "are written in this
book of the Torah..." [Deut. 30:10]
Perhaps I am near G-d when I overcome the most egregious weaknesses of my
personality and destroy the most obnoxious sins from my activities; but I
relate to G-d when I attempt to grow in spirituality, to live a life of
dialogue with the Divine.
The goal of this last stage of repentance is stated explicitly in the
concluding part of the above verse, "...written in this book of the Torah,
and if you turn unto (tashuv el) the Lord your G-d with all your heart and
all your soul." [30:10]
Is this diagram for repentance entirely theoretical, a blueprint in the
air? This passage deals with the historical fate of the Jewish people. In
v.1 they experience the blessings and the curses, ending up living amongst
the nations of the world. The process of teshuvah (repentance) is
simultaneously a process of return to the land of Israel. We read in v. 3
of the in gathering from amongst the nations. No matter how far off the
Jews have wandered, G-d will fetch them, bring them back to the land of
Israel. This is G-d's promise, the background for our own repentance.
All over the world we can experience stage two of repentance, the 'ad'
toward G-d. But only in the land of Israel do we begin to truly have a
relationship with G-d in all the deepest meaning of the word 'el.' Only
here is there even a potential for the entire Torah to be fulfilled. Only
here can we ever get to the point of loving G-d with all our hearts and
with all our souls.
Only here dare we grasp for a personal lifestyle and world revolution which
will allow Divine justice and compassion to suffuse every aspect of living.
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
Efrat, Israel
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Shlomo Riskin is Rabbi of Efrat and a Consulting Torah Scholar to the Root
& Branch Association
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To educate, train and equip for study both the Jew and Non-Jew
in the Rich Hebraic Heritage of our Faith.
Eddie Chumney
Hebraic Heritage Ministries Int'l