There are defining moments in the life of a community, country, and society that shape Israeli and Jewish history. The past year has been such a year. It was a year in which we were asked: Are we standing firm? Are we rising to the occasion, asking ourselves what we believe in and what we are fighting for?
Parashat Nitzavim is one of the final portions of the Torah. It marks the farewell of Moses as a leader, guiding the people. Moses, who for a long time showed the way, received the Ten Commandments from God and mediated between God and the people. In this portion, the people reach another level of maturity, another Mount Sinai moment, as they all ask to stand firm.
Parashat Nitzavim opens with these words:
"You stand this day, all of you, before your God —your tribal heads, your elders, and your officials, every householder in Israel, your children, your wives, even the stranger within your camp, from woodchopper to waterdrawer— to enter into the covenant of your God, which your God is concluding with you this day, with its sanctions; in order to establish you this day as God’s people and in order to be your God, as promised you and as sworn to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I make this covenant, with its sanctions, not with you alone, but both with those who are standing here with us this day before our God and with those who are not with us here this day." (Deuteronomy 29:9).
In these opening words, the main message is already clear: "You stand."
"You" – Who are "you"? It refers not just to the entire society, from the tribal heads to the woodchoppers, all equally, but also to us and our children, generations of Jewish history… This applies not only to those standing today but also to those who are not here now but will come after us.
"Standing" – To stand is not merely to be physically present. It is similar to the word "hineni" (here I am), requiring full presence, not just physical but also mental and conscious.
The word "standing" (Nitzav) parallels the word "rise" (Kum), where we can also hear the word "existence" (Kiyum). In the Talmud there is a teaching that says the whole world stands on one righteous person: "A righteous person is the foundation of the world" (Chagigah 12b). In the Zohar, there is a special gathering called Idra Rabba – the "Great Assembly." During this gathering, the members of the Zoharic community begin to bid farewell to their leader, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai (Rashbi). To do so properly, each member undergoes a process of initiation, where each is asked to rise and deliver their own Torah teachings. Each one is called and told, "Rise and stand in your existence" (Zohar, Part 3, 60a). The Zohar demands full presence from each member, not just to follow the leader but to lead.
Similarly, in Parashat Nitzavim, each one of us is required to stand, realizing that it is not only Moses who bears the responsibility for the people's fate, but each individual member of the people of Israel.
Another important concept to learn from Parashat Nitzavim is the idea of covenant. Moses reminds us of the covenant made with us at Mount Sinai and emphasizes its eternal nature. Here, we can mention another important thinker, Rabbi Soloveitchik, and his essay "Kol Dodi Dofek" (The Voice of My Beloved Knocks), written for Israel's eighth Independence Day. In his speech, he distinguishes between two types of covenants: a covenant of fate and a covenant of destiny.
The covenant of fate is imposed on a person, binding them. Judaism is imposed on the Jewish person:
"A Jew cannot banish the God of the Hebrews from their domain or territory. Even if they desecrate their Sabbath, defile their table and their bed, they cannot escape the dominion of the God of the Hebrews, who follows them like a shadow."
On the other hand, the covenant of destiny represents an ideal that a person willingly turns toward. The Jewish person fulfills this covenant by "imitating their Creator, through self-transcendence."
In today's Israel, the questions of standing firm, leadership, covenant, and collective responsibility are far from clear. In many ways, these questions are interconnected.
For us to agree to stand together as a collective, the covenant must be clear to us, and the mutual responsibility must also be clear.
The covenant must be based on shared values that we all believe in and are ready to commit to. It must permeate our lives and requires each individual to take a stand. In a country facing such a leadership crisis, the people and the social collective can be the beginning of an answer – we stand. We are in days of great turmoil, with winds of war and the sounds of cannons.
May the war end quickly, and when the winds settle, we must ask ourselves the big questions: questions of the covenant and questions of standing firm.
Rabbi Mira Regev is the Director of the Content Department of the Reform Movement, teaches Zohar and Kabbalah, holds a degree in mindfulness-based body psychotherapy (Hakomi), and runs a private clinic from her home.
Parashat Nitzavim is one of the final portions of the Torah. It marks the farewell of Moses as a leader, guiding the people. Moses, who for a long time showed the way, received the Ten Commandments from God and mediated between God and the people. In this portion, the people reach another level of maturity, another Mount Sinai moment, as they all ask to stand firm.
Parashat Nitzavim opens with these words:
"You stand this day, all of you, before your God —your tribal heads, your elders, and your officials, every householder in Israel, your children, your wives, even the stranger within your camp, from woodchopper to waterdrawer— to enter into the covenant of your God, which your God is concluding with you this day, with its sanctions; in order to establish you this day as God’s people and in order to be your God, as promised you and as sworn to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I make this covenant, with its sanctions, not with you alone, but both with those who are standing here with us this day before our God and with those who are not with us here this day." (Deuteronomy 29:9).
In these opening words, the main message is already clear: "You stand."
"You" – Who are "you"? It refers not just to the entire society, from the tribal heads to the woodchoppers, all equally, but also to us and our children, generations of Jewish history… This applies not only to those standing today but also to those who are not here now but will come after us.
"Standing" – To stand is not merely to be physically present. It is similar to the word "hineni" (here I am), requiring full presence, not just physical but also mental and conscious.
The word "standing" (Nitzav) parallels the word "rise" (Kum), where we can also hear the word "existence" (Kiyum). In the Talmud there is a teaching that says the whole world stands on one righteous person: "A righteous person is the foundation of the world" (Chagigah 12b). In the Zohar, there is a special gathering called Idra Rabba – the "Great Assembly." During this gathering, the members of the Zoharic community begin to bid farewell to their leader, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai (Rashbi). To do so properly, each member undergoes a process of initiation, where each is asked to rise and deliver their own Torah teachings. Each one is called and told, "Rise and stand in your existence" (Zohar, Part 3, 60a). The Zohar demands full presence from each member, not just to follow the leader but to lead.
Similarly, in Parashat Nitzavim, each one of us is required to stand, realizing that it is not only Moses who bears the responsibility for the people's fate, but each individual member of the people of Israel.
Another important concept to learn from Parashat Nitzavim is the idea of covenant. Moses reminds us of the covenant made with us at Mount Sinai and emphasizes its eternal nature. Here, we can mention another important thinker, Rabbi Soloveitchik, and his essay "Kol Dodi Dofek" (The Voice of My Beloved Knocks), written for Israel's eighth Independence Day. In his speech, he distinguishes between two types of covenants: a covenant of fate and a covenant of destiny.
The covenant of fate is imposed on a person, binding them. Judaism is imposed on the Jewish person:
"A Jew cannot banish the God of the Hebrews from their domain or territory. Even if they desecrate their Sabbath, defile their table and their bed, they cannot escape the dominion of the God of the Hebrews, who follows them like a shadow."
On the other hand, the covenant of destiny represents an ideal that a person willingly turns toward. The Jewish person fulfills this covenant by "imitating their Creator, through self-transcendence."
In today's Israel, the questions of standing firm, leadership, covenant, and collective responsibility are far from clear. In many ways, these questions are interconnected.
For us to agree to stand together as a collective, the covenant must be clear to us, and the mutual responsibility must also be clear.
The covenant must be based on shared values that we all believe in and are ready to commit to. It must permeate our lives and requires each individual to take a stand. In a country facing such a leadership crisis, the people and the social collective can be the beginning of an answer – we stand. We are in days of great turmoil, with winds of war and the sounds of cannons.
May the war end quickly, and when the winds settle, we must ask ourselves the big questions: questions of the covenant and questions of standing firm.
Rabbi Mira Regev is the Director of the Content Department of the Reform Movement, teaches Zohar and Kabbalah, holds a degree in mindfulness-based body psychotherapy (Hakomi), and runs a private clinic from her home.