Parshas Nitzavim-Vayelech: Choose Life and a Future

We have a double Torah portion this week, Nitzavim-Vayelech: Devarim (Deuteronomy) 29:9 - 31:30.  Nitzavim opens on Moses' last day of his 120 years on earth. He gathers all the people together to impart final instructions regarding their bilateral spiritual contract with God, first introduced at Sinai meant for those present after the Exodus. Now, Moses introduces a second version of the contract that obligates all Jews in the future. The covenant is binding only if future generations comply with its terms. God anticipates widespread abrogation of the contract among the Jewish people for which shared dire consequences are guaranteed as a way to teach the people spiritual cause and effect and provide a way to repentance and the messianic redemption. He wants the rest of the nations to witness the Jewish experience so that they also learn the path to the messianic redemption, known by a universal Divine consciousness and love of God and neighbor.

This portion includes the profound life and death message in Deuteronomy Chapter 30:15-20.

15 Behold, I have set before you today life and good, and death and evil,

16 inasmuch as I command you this day to love the Lord, your God, to walk in His ways, and to observe His commandments, His statutes, and His ordinances, so that you will live and increase, and the Lord, your God, will bless you in the land to which you are coming to take possession of it.

17 But if your heart deviates and you do not listen, and you will be drawn astray, and you will prostrate yourself to other deities and serve them,

18 I declare to you this day, that you will surely perish, and that you will not live long days on the land, to which you are crossing the Jordan, to come and take possession thereof.

19 This day, I call upon the heaven and the earth as witnesses [that I have warned] you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. You shall choose life, so that you and your offspring will live;

20 To love the Lord your God, to listen to His voice, and to cleave to Him. For that is your life and the length of your days, to dwell on the land which the Lord swore to your forefathers to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob to give to them.

Nitzavim closes as God speaks directly to Joshua, telling him to forego consultation with administrative officials, whose bad advice will doom society, and instead rule with confidence in God's guidance. Torah law must be the law of the land.

In Vayelech, our second portion this week, Moses begins by repeating that God is the only reliable source of protection from invasion and cultural devastation. So that God can be present and His protection always available, on this final day of his life Moses miraculously transcribes the complete oral Torah 13 times, one for the priests to consult and 12 others for each of the 12 tribes. Those holding the written Torah scrolls receive instructions to regularly read the Torah to the people in order to keep them engaged and informed of this special arrangement with God. Anyone with a sincere desire to follow Torah has the ability to understand it, provided it is transmitted accurately.

God warns of the downfall of Jewish civilization brought on by the people forgetting their Source of prosperity and safety, and breaking the bilateral contract. The portion ends with a promise of salvation, setting the stage for the final Torah portion next week.

In our Haftarah: Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 61:10 - 63:9, Isaiah's prophecy of salvation echoes across the centuries to give hope to a troubled world.

1 For the sake of Zion, I will not be silent, and for the sake of Jerusalem I will not rest, until her righteousness comes out like brilliance, and her salvation burns like a torch.

2 And nations shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory, and you shall be called a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall pronounce.

3 And you shall be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord and a kingly diadem in the hand of your God.

4 No longer shall "forsaken" be said of you, and "desolate" shall no longer be said of your land, for you shall be called "My desire is in her," and your land, "inhabited," for the Lord desires you, and your land shall be inhabited.

Our Torah readings and the prophetic words of Isaiah provide a metaphysical understanding of the problems in our world today, as well as a remedy for them. Many nations have chosen to enact domestic and national policies antithetical to Torah and to its life positive precepts, realizing the curses guaranteed by these choices. Child sacrifice, redefined by corrupt administrators as a 'life saving' healthcare procedure, is a perfect example of a choice certain to cause a serous lapse in the Divine presence as well as extreme displeasure only mitigated by a Father's mercy.

As we observe worsening world conditions aggravated by international posturing and escalating hostilities, we can begin to understand why Joshua was told to not ask the official experts of his day to advise him on leading his nation. However well intended advisors may be, ill fated statesmanship begins with the warped thoughts of human beings whose power seeking ego corrupts good motives and overrides life affirming rules of conduct. Joshua's mind is in a state of complete surrender to the Holy will, a Divine consciousness that far surpasses that of any advisor in his time, and of any current head of state involved in the decline of the human condition.

In Deuteronomy 30:6 of this portion, God promises to gift each and every penitent with total surrender to His will, going far beyond the human capacity to merely comply and falter under pressure. This gift can only occur after the painful results of faulty human reasoning become apparent. Once a willingness to live in a state of absolute surrender to the Divine will exists in the minds and hearts of national leadership around the world, transformation of global humankind can occur, as promised. Until that much anticipated day, we will not remain silent. We will continue to promote Torah based, life affirming thoughts, words and actions in our culture and communities.

And the Lord, your God, will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, [so that you may] love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, for the sake of your life.

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Cecily Routman

May there be abundant peace from Heaven, and good life upon us and upon all Israel. Amen.