Toward Shabbat

September 15th, 2017
24th Elul, 5777

This week, the Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah, we read the double Torah portion of Nitzavim and Vayelekh. These two portions are often lumped together and read in the same Shabbat. Their names though, when put together, create quite the paradox. Nitzavim means “standing,” and Vayalekh means, “and he went.” This double name encompasses both standing, staying right where you are, but also movement, going forward. These two names imply very different states of being, all in one week, all just before Rosh Hashanah.

These two names, even in their opposite meanings offer us an important kavannah, intention, as we head into Rosh Hashanah. We are standing, we are alert, we are aware -- we are exactly where we need to be. And yet, we go forward. We look toward the future, we look at what the next year will bring us, and we hope for change. It is in this two realities that we usher in the Yamim Nora’im. Each of us is welcome exactly the way we that we are, just where we stand right now. God loves us just as we are when we walk in through those doors. We are asked to be honest with ourselves and with God about our positioning, about where we stand, and to be present to the very moment.

And yet, at the same time we hope for movement. We hope for growth. We pray that all of our davening during these Days of Awe bring us closer to where we’d like to go. So for this Shabbat, and in the coming days, we exist both in Nitzavim, standing, and also in Vayelekh, going. May these days bring us increased clarity about where we stand in this very moment, and also where we would like to go.

I am so looking forward to davening with all of you over Rosh Hashanah, and I wish all of you and your loved ones a shanah tovah u’metukah.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Sarit

Please feel free to get in touch:

Beth Sholom Synagogue
6675 Humphreys Blvd
Memphis, TN 38120
901-683-3591

rabbisarit@bsholom.org
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