Parashat Nitzavim
September 10, 2020
Rabbi Rachmiel Gurwitz, Middle School Rabbi-in-Residence
This week’s parashah is Nitzavim and it is hard to imagine a better parashah to describe this moment in time for our community. As we reflect on our first week back in person after 185 days at home, our community is once again standing together as one. The opening line in our parashah reads:
“You stand today, all of you, before Hashem your God — your tribal heads, your elders and your officials, all the people of Israel, your children, your wives, even the stranger within your camp, from woodchopper to water drawer.”
The setting and scene in this parashah — standing together — always proceeds Rosh Hashanah. The Netziv, the head of famed Volozhin Yeshiva in Lithuania in the 19th century, comments that the addition of the word HaYom or “today,” alludes to Rosh Hashanah. Just as B’nai Yisrael in our parashah stood together to renew their covenant with God, on Rosh Hashanah we too stand together as we renew ourselves for another year.
It is not just the words we pray though that call out with this hope, it is the very act of standing together itself. Standing, as we learn in Brachot 6b, is not merely a physical action; it is also a form of prayer:
“Abraham rose in the morning and to the place where he had stood” (Bereshit 19:27). The verb “standing” means nothing other than “tefilah” (Brachot 6b).
The act of standing together is a holy act of prayer. So, as we join together again as a community, in-person (and for some remotely), may these physical steps we have taken to stand together on campus, also be our prayer and tefilah. May it be a year of nourishing learning and growth and may we be nimble and flexible as we travel new paths. May we share in each other’s smachot (joyous occasions) and support each other through times of challenge and adversity, and may the journey ahead be full of health and blessings.
Shabbat Shalom!
אַתֶּם נִצָּבִים הַיּוֹם כֻּלְּכֶם לִפְנֵי ה’ אֱלֹהֵיכֶם רָאשֵׁיכֶם שִׁבְטֵיכֶם זִקְנֵיכֶם וְשֹׁטְרֵיכֶם כֹּל אִישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ טַפְּכֶם נְשֵׁיכֶם וְגֵרְךָ אֲשֶׁר בְּקֶרֶב מַחֲנֶיךָ מֵחֹטֵב עֵצֶיךָ עַד שֹׁאֵב מֵימֶיךָ
“You stand today, all of you, before Hashem your God — your tribal heads, your elders and your officials, all the people of Israel, your children, your wives, even the stranger within your camp, from woodchopper to water drawer.”
The setting and scene in this parashah — standing together — always proceeds Rosh Hashanah. The Netziv, the head of famed Volozhin Yeshiva in Lithuania in the 19th century, comments that the addition of the word HaYom or “today,” alludes to Rosh Hashanah. Just as B’nai Yisrael in our parashah stood together to renew their covenant with God, on Rosh Hashanah we too stand together as we renew ourselves for another year.
It is not just the words we pray though that call out with this hope, it is the very act of standing together itself. Standing, as we learn in Brachot 6b, is not merely a physical action; it is also a form of prayer:
וַיַּשְׁכֵּם אַבְרָהָם בַּבֹּקֶר אֶל הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר עָמַד שָׁם , וְאֵין עֲמִידָה אֶלָּא תְּפִלָּה
“Abraham rose in the morning and to the place where he had stood” (Bereshit 19:27). The verb “standing” means nothing other than “tefilah” (Brachot 6b).
The act of standing together is a holy act of prayer. So, as we join together again as a community, in-person (and for some remotely), may these physical steps we have taken to stand together on campus, also be our prayer and tefilah. May it be a year of nourishing learning and growth and may we be nimble and flexible as we travel new paths. May we share in each other’s smachot (joyous occasions) and support each other through times of challenge and adversity, and may the journey ahead be full of health and blessings.
Shabbat Shalom!