Parshiot Nitzavim/Vayailech
PT I
I love a Sunday morning simcha, a Jewish celebration. There’s nothing like being able to drive to synagogue, not too early, and pray in a minyan with happy people in no hurry to go anywhere. Now don’t get me wrong- I’ll take a simcha any day, but it’s not the same. People tend to keep looking at their watches, and it’s hard to find folks willing to make a l’chaim with a few fingers of fine single malt. Not that we have a choice…baby boys will be born on their own timetable, yartzheits and other calendar observances will fall when they may, and we will carve time out of our busy work weeks to join in the festivities, even on borrowed time.
But a Sunday simcha stands apart…
This past Sunday I was privileged to attend two smachot (or, simches, in the vernacular), two completely different but wonderful celebrations. The second (I’ll work backwards for a change) was a brit milah, or bris, the circumcision ceremony of a newborn kind enough to be born on a Sunday to a musical family. Not only were the mother and many of the guests musicians, but the mohel as well! Every part of the ceremony was scored to joyous song, and the singing was sublime. We all know that the commandment of milah, of removing the foreskin, dates back to our forefather Abraham.
“….and G-d appeared to Abram, and said to him: ‘I am G-d Almighty; walk before Me, and be perfect. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply exceedingly. “(Gen. 17:1)
Our sages teach that this refers to the fact that we must partner with G-d in creation by putting the finishing touches on His work, and this would serve as the sign of our covenantal relationship.
Abraham responded immediately, circumcising himself (age 99) and his son Ishmael (age 13), as well as the other male members of his household. The Torah goes on to tell us that in the future all 8 day old males would be welcomed into the brit, the covenant with the same act of completion.
Many today have questioned the ritual of the brit milah, saying that it should be a matter of personal choice for the child later on in life.
But our tradition teaches that years after Abraham made his pact, the entire nation that left Egypt accepted the brit at Mt. Sinai by exclaiming, “…Na’aseh v’nishma- we will do and we will will listen.. “(Ex. 24:7).
In the first part of this week’s double reading, Parashat Nitzavim, the brit is expanded to include the generation about to inherit the promised land, as well as all future generations of Israel.
“And not only with you do I make this brit, you here today before G-d, but with those who are not here today.” (Deut. 29:13-14).
As the classical commentator Abarbanel explains, we were freed from Egyptian bondage to be servants to G-d, divine property, and our offspring also belong to G-d. Every Jew that makes a brit milah for their child is acknowledging their participation in the covenant. Of course, as adults, we are free to choose: to obey, or not, and in our current state of exile, with the physical presence of G-d in exile as well, it is difficult to immediately see the results of our choices. But the Torah teaches us that choosing to embrace our heritage and the mitzvot will bring G-d’s gift of a rich spiritual existence, a joyful, meaningful life.
“…. I have placed life and death before you, blessing and curse; choose life so that you will live, you and your offspring…” (Deut.30:19)
The sound of song at a simcha is one sign that choosing life is indeed the right choice. In fact, the Torah itself is a shira, a song.
PT II
The FIRST simcha of my day was a Hachnasat Sefer Torah, a celebration of the completion and welcoming of a brand new Torah scroll, and the sponsoring family chose to dedicate it during the very week the Torah gives us the mitzvah to write our own Torah scroll.
“And now write for yourselves this shira, this song, and teach it to the children of Israel to place it in their mouths; in order that this shira will be for Me a witness with the children of Israel.”(Deut.31:19)
According to most authorities, by sitting down and completing one letter of the new Torah scroll, I was fulfilling the last mitzvah of the Torah. Although early in the day, music filled the air and the singing and dancing was ecstatic. The words of Torah spilled from our mouths like an overflowing tap. Every song was familiar, even the ones I had never heard before. The song was testifying that our connection to the brit, to the eternal covenant, was still intact.
“For I will bring them to the land that I swore to their forefathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they will eat, and be full, and wax fat; and they will turn to other gods and serve them and they will infuriate Me and break My covenant.” (Deut.30:20)
We will stray, and make mistakes. But this song will bring us back….
“And it will be that when much evil and troubles befall them that this shira will be their witness, it will not be forgotten from the mouths of the their descendants…. ” (Deut.30:21)
G-d is telling us that no matter what choices we make, the song is still available to us. It is never too late, and we know the tune, even if we have yet to hear it.
It is no surprise that the very next parasha, the last regular reading of the year prior to completing and beginning again on Simchat Torah, is an actual song, in poetic style.
Rav Kook (Abraham Isaac Kook, the first Chief Rabbi after the return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel in the early 20th century) writes that we ourselves are a song, a “Four Fold song”. Each of us can choose to sing our own personal song, or our national song, or the song of humanity, or the cosmic song of all creation. But when we all sing together, in our own voices, we become Yisrael (Israel), which is Shir-El, the song of G-d.
And now, first things last.
Parasha Nitzavim opened with the words,
“You are standing today, all of you, before G-d…” (Deut. 29:9)
Many commentators understand that the word nitzavim, standing, refers to a matzaivah, a solid, unchanging monument, made from a single rock. The unified Jewish people are indeed a pillar of truth, a monument to the truth of Torah.
In a few days we will be nitzavim, standing before G-d on Rosh Hashana, hearing the shofar, and we will again have the opportunity to review our choices, and choose life. Although we will all be singing our own tunes, the song is one and the same, and if we choose well, and sing out, we can be a living part of the most monumental moment in the history of the world, the Song of G-d.
As the old Swedish proverb says, “those who wish to sing can always find a song”
Wishing you the sweetest, most melodic New Year…
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Greg
Check out a musical setting of Rav Kook’s “Shir Meroobah, the Four Fold Song” by Greg Wall’s Later Prophets
text of Shir Meroobah, A Fourfold Song, by Rav Kook
There is one who sings the song of his own life, and in himself he finds everything, his full spiritual satisfaction. There is another who sings the song of his people. He leave the circle of his own individual self, because he deems it without sufficient breadth, without an idealistic basis. He aspires toward the heights, and he attaches himself with a gentle love to the whole community of Israel. Together with her, he sings her songs. He feels grieved in her affliction and delights in her hopes. He contemplates noble and pure thoughts about her past and her future, and probes with love and wisdom her inner spiritual essence.
There is another who reaches toward more distant realms. And he goes beyond the boundary of Israel to sing the song of man. His spirit extends to the wider vistas of the majesty of man generally, and his noble essence. He aspires toward man’s general goal and looks forward toward his higher perfection. From the source of life he draws the subjects of his meditation and study, his aspirations and his visions.
Then there is one who rises toward wider horizons, until he links himself with all existence, with all G-d’s creatures, with all worlds, and he sings his song with all of them. It is of one such as this that tradition has said that whoever sings a portion of The Song each day is assured of having a share in the world to come.
And then there is one who rise with all these songs in one ensemble, and they all join their voices. Together they sing their songs with beauty, each one lends vitality and life to the other. They are sound of joy and gladness, sounds of jubilation and celebration, sounds of ecstasy and holiness.
The song of the self, the song of the people, the song of man, the song of the world all merge in him at all times, in every hour.
And this full comprehensiveness, rises to become the song of holiness, the song of G-d, the song if Israel, in its full strength and beauty, in its full authenticity and greatness. The name “Israel” stands for shir el, the song of G-d. It is a simple song, a twofold song, a threefold song, and a fourfold song. It is the Song of Songs, of Solomon, shlomo, which means peace or wholeness. It is the song of the King in whom is wholeness.
Orot Vol II, pgs 458-459
