Today, we are one week from Rosh Hashanah. If we take the work of entering into the holiday season seriously, it can be hard on us. It can take a toll. And I think the Torah reading for this week wants to impart a certain message to us in the context of the proximity to Rosh Hashanah.
Parshat Nitzavim opens by reminding us that all of us stand before God entering into the covenant. But then the Torah includes, “I make this covenant not with you alone, but both with those who are standing here with us today and with those who are not with us here today” (Devarim 29:13-14). It’s a peculiar inclusion that the Torah makes, that even those not there are included. Rashi teaches that this inclusion is about us - that generations in the future are also included. We were also there.
I feel a sense of power here, of feeling like no matter when (or if!) these stories happened, my soul, and your soul, were a part of it. Rabbi Paul Cohen shared that this is meant to instill a sense of worthiness in each of us. Each of us was and is and will always be worthy of standing before God and entering into the covenant. He writes, “The text of Nitzavim lays out the entire spectrum of human ages, genders, ethnicities, and occupations—and it recognizes that all of us are worthy of standing before God and entering the covenant: from leader to follower (Deuteronomy 29:9), from elder to child, from tribal members to visitors, men and women alike (Deuteronomy 29:10).”
I think this is the most important message that each of us can hear going into Rosh Hashanah. No matter the internal difficulties that we experience, no matter the distance between where we are and the goals we set, no matter the mistakes we feel we made, we are worthy of standing before God. You were a part of that covenant, and you are, and I pray that we each enter in the gates next Friday night, knowing that we are worthy.
Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Sarit
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