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Torah Portion -
Nitzavim
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Written by yehuda katz
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NITZAVIM-VAYELACH
It's not in heaven, to say, "Who can ascend to the heaven for us and take it for us, so that we can listen to it and perform it?".Rather, the matter is very near to you- in your mouth and your heart- to perform it." (30:11-14)
I would like to understand this verse in an original fashion, Bezrat Hashem. When Moses was declaring this verse to the Jewish people, he was actually referring to himself with the intent of trying to teach the Jewish people a very valuable lesson. How so? Moses was not permitted to enter the land of Israel, and was to die on the other side of the Jordan river. This caused him much distress. We find a very fascinating statement in Sotah 16b,as follows:" Rabbi Simlai expounded: Why did Moses desire to enter the land of Israel? Because Moses wanted to fulfill the many Mitzvoth that are specifically pertinent to the Land of Israel.Therefore, G-d said to him I will consider it as if you performed them.." (Please refer to Sotah 16b for further
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Torah Portion -
Nitzavim
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Written by Daniel Sandground
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Parashas Nitzavim/Vayeilech – Return to Your Heart!
This week we have the last of the Torahs double sedras as we near the conclusion of this years reading with Parashas Nitzavim and Vayeilech. They also happen to be two of the shortest Parashas in the Torah with a mere 40 possukim in Nitzavim and only 30 in Vayeilech, so expect an early lunch this Shabbos! In gemara Megillas, Tosfos discusses why these sedras are sometimes read separately (The Baal HaTurim in his opening commentary to Parashas Vayeilech informs us that this separation occurs when Rosh Hashannah falls on a monday or a tuesday), where as the last two sedras of the book of Bamidbar, Mattos and Masei, are always read together... even though they are nearly 250 possukim in size!! Wouldn't it therefore be more logical to separate these two longer Parashas and always read Nitzavim with Vayeilech as a double sedra? Tosfos answers in his commentary there, that the reason this order is sometimes undertaken is because we want to distance the curses found in Parashas Ki Savo (last week's sedra) from Rosh Hashannah, and we are therefore more likely to
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Torah Portion -
Nitzavim
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Written by d fine
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Pasuk 6 of perek 30 reports that HaShem will help us reach a level of love for HaShem by removing (lit. ‘circumcising’) our decontaminating aspects that repel spirituality. The Ramban here notes that this is the source for the important concept (gemarra Shabbos 104a) ‘one who seeks to purify himself, they will purify him.’ In other words, if we make a genuine effort and really want to be pure people who serve HaShem, then HaShem will see to it that we do reach such heights and achieve our spiritual goals. As Chazal tell us, HaShem says ‘open for Me a hole the size of a needle, and I will open for you a breach big enough for wagons to go through.’
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Torah Portion -
Nitzavim
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Written by d fine
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Rabeinu Bachayei cites an important principle and novel understanding of the pasuk (29:28) ‘the hidden things are for HaShem, our God, and the revealed things are for us and our children…’ in the name of the Rambam. He writes that all mitzvos have reasons for them, but these reasons are beyond our full comprehension. We might try to ascribe certain reasons for individual mitzvos, but they are ultimately beyond our comprehension - they are reflections of Divine wisdom, after all. Our main job is to perform the mitzvos and make sure to fulfil all their various halachos, regardless of what the reason for the mitzvah is. ‘The hidden ones are for HaShem’ - let Him worry about the reasons for the mitzvos, whilst ‘the revealed ones are for us’ - we should just worry about the halachos of the mitzvos; the things that we can be sure about.
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Torah Portion -
Nitzavim
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Written by d fine
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The sedra opens with the words ‘you are all standing today,’ which the Ibn Ezra explains to mean that Klal Yisrael were encamped around the Aron. This represents the fact that when it comes to Klal Yisrael, the Torah is always at our centre. As Rav Elchonon Wasserman used to stress, not only is learning Torah the most important mitzvah (each word of Torah carries the reward of thousands of mitzvos), the Torah is the key to the survival of Klal Yisrael. If we put our hope in any other ideology other than Torah then we will not succeed.
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