Shabbos Parashas Nitzavim-Vayeilech - 5774

Shabbos Parashas Nitzavim-Vayeilech - 5774

Rabbi Hal Miller

Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath, but with him

who stands here with us today before the L-rd our G-d, and also with him

that is not here with us today. [Devarim 29:13-14]

Nechama Leibowitz asks an obvious question, one often asked by those who do

not wish to hold to Torah observance: "How could a covenant contracted in

those far-off days be capable of obligating all the generations to come?"

In order to understand this, we must first define who the players are. Who

is G-d speaking to, and who are these second and third parties?

The beginning of our verse says "not only with you", then it says "but [also]

with him who stands here today", and then it says "and also with him who is

not here with us today".

Understanding the speaker to be G-d, "not only with you" may refer to Moshe,

or to those people standing directly in front of G-d, presumably Aharon and

the elders. In this case, "him who stands here today" would refer to all the

people who physically stood around Mt. Sinai. Another way to interpret "not

only with you" is all the males of the congregation who are counted in the

census. If this is correct, then "him who stands" means the elderly, women and

children, or possibly the Erev Rav, the rabble of criminals and non-Jewish

foreigners who took the opportunity to escape Egypt along with Moshe.

In either interpretation, who are those "who is not here with us today"? This

could refer to anyone who is off doing a mitzvah, as happened in the case of

the Second Pesach. It could mean anyone who has not yet come to belief in G-d,

or is not of sufficient intellect to understand the issues. It might be those

who intentionally choose to separate themselves from G-d's congregation. It

might mean future converts. Or, it might mean future generations of Jews in

general.

This last option is probably the most likely, that "who is not here with us

today" refers to future generations of Jews, whether born or converted. It is

important to note that this all-inclusive phrase equates born and converted,

those who are Jewish whether they choose to be or not, as well as those who

have made the conscious choice to become Jews. All future Jewish souls were

there at Sinai.

With this understanding, our answer is easy. The generation in the desert did

not commit their descendants. The descendants themselves committed themselves.

Some people then ask, if I can commit myself, then I can un-commit myself.

The commentators put forward three explanations why this is not possible.

First is the inheritance argument. When a man dies leaving an estate and some

debt, the children inherit both the assets and the obligation to repay the

debt. The law does, though, allow the children to forego the entire inheritance

thus bypassing the debt, leaving the assets to the creditors. This is the

point made by those who say they can un-commit themselves, that they can forego

all of Judaism, assets and debts.

Second is the exchange for land and eternal life. When we accepted the Torah,

G-d promised us His holy land and an eternal life for our nation. We promised

to be His servants. Since an individual cannot reverse the eternal nation

status nor remove the land from our heritage, this is harder to ignore.

But the third argument is even more clear. We were slaves in Egypt. We had no

matter of choice whether we were slaves. G-d created a choice for us: stay in

Egypt as permanent slaves to the Egyptians, or come out with Him and be His

permanent servants. Being servants to G-d made much better sense than

remaining in Egypt, so we, all of us, chose to go. We committed ourselves and

our descendants to one of two positions of slavery. Those who wish to throw

off the yoke of Torah have one option: return to Egyptian slavery, perhaps in

some more modern form. It does not include "free to do anything I want".

Whether we say that every Jewish soul, born or convert, was at Sinai and

accepted the covenant individually, or whether we say that those who stood

there chose on our behalf between servitude to man or servitude to G-d, there

is no room for any Jew to throw off the commitment.