Shabbat Parashat Nitzavim - 5785

Shabbat Parashat Nitzavim - 5785

Rabbi Hal Miller

  For the commandment that I command you today, it is not hidden from you and it

  is not distant. It is not in the heavens to say, who can ascend to the heavens for us

  and take it for us and let us hear it, so that we can perform it. Nor is it across the

  sea to say, who can cross to the other side of the sea for us and take it for us and

  let us hear it so that we can perform it. Rather the matter is very near to you, in your

  mouth and in your heart, to perform it. [Devarim 30:11-14]

Humans make excuses for not doing something they would prefer to avoid. When God first offered the Torah to each nation, each of them rejected it because there was some change they would have to make in their lives that they just did not want to change even recognizing that it was the right thing to do. When the children of Israel said "na'aseh v'nishma", we will do and we will listen, the Jews agreed to do whatever God commanded, even if they might have had other thoughts or approaches. There is no making of excuses about it being too hard, not relevant to us in "this modern day and age", or that we didn't know about it. Our verses contradict such a position and tell us to get back up there and do.

The Torah tells us that "the commandment" is not distant from us in time or space, it is not difficult to follow. It is not meant for someone else. It does not require an intermediary to bring it to us, after Moshe first did so. It does not require the performance of miracles to convince us to observe its laws. But what exactly is "the commandment" that the verses are talking about? There are two ways of understanding what our verses apply to.

The first way comes from Eruvin [55a] and is implied in what is written above, that the commandment is the entire Torah. This is not an uncommon usage and most of the commentators understand it this way. We are to live according to halacha wherever we might be, and are not to change the laws based on our own understandings, for that would be attempting to place ourselves above God, overruling His everlasting laws wherever our present-day fads might dictate. Rashi, for example, follows Eruvin that if the Torah was in the heavens, we would have to go up to learn it there. Devarim Rabbah [8:6] gives a few explanations of the verses in this context, saying that the Torah is among all of us, not just the Kohanim or scholars, and all of us are obligated to learn it.

The second way to understand "the commandment" is explained by Ramban that it refers to the ten verses immediately preceding, which are discussing teshuvah, return to the ways of God and His Torah. He writes "though you are still scattered among the peoples, you will still be able to return to God and do all that I have commanded you today, for the matter is not beyond you or too wonderful for you, but it is near to you to perform, at all times and in all places." Rabbi Yosef Albo in Sefer HaIkkarim agrees, "the context is dealing with the subject of repentance". Talelei Oros concurs, "The Torah here speaks of the mitzvah of teshuva. It applies wherever one is."

Nechama Leibowitz reconciles these two ways, explaining that there are two readings of the verses. In one, which is Eruvin, the passage requires that we take action to go find the Torah regardless of where we and it may be, thus there is a requirement to study. In the other reading, which is Ramban, what is always close to us is the decision to return to God from wherever we might be in life. This latter reading also implies a requirement to study Torah, but the thrust is teshuvah. With Rosh Hashanah being this upcoming week, it seems a good time to apply the second reading.