Parashat Nitzavim
September 17, 2025
Geri Bloch, Former High School English Teacher
We often talk about “taking a stand.” That phrase might be followed by a strong opinion for or against some current policy promulgated by a legislator or candidate for office. We don’t often think of it as a Biblical term, but in this week’s parashah, it’s essentially the second word in Deuteronomy 29:9: אַתֶּ֨ם נִצָּבִ֤ים.
What follows those first words of the parashah is an important, purposeful speech by Moses:
“You stand this day, all of you, before your God יהוה—your tribal heads, your elders, and your officials, every householder in Israel, your children, your wives, even the stranger within your camp, from woodchopper to waterdrawer—to enter into the covenant of your God יהוה, which your God יהוה is concluding with you this day, with its sanctions; in order to establish you this day as God’s people and in order to be your God, as promised you and as sworn to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I make this covenant, with its sanctions, not with you alone, but both with those who are standing here with us this day before our God יהוה and with those who are not with us here this day.”
Moses knows that he will not be entering the Promised Land, and he must compel the Israelites to “take a stand” for God, for faith, truly, for the future of the Jewish people: “to enter into the covenant of your God יהוה…”
He reiterates their journey through the wilderness and underscores what the Israelites have seen: “… and you have seen the detestable things and the fetishes of wood and stone, silver and gold, that they keep.” Moses worries that some of the Israelites will forsake God: “…perchance there is among you a stock sprouting poison weed and wormwood.” As Moses speaks, he says, “Surely, this Instruction which I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach. It is not in the heavens… Neither is it beyond the sea… No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to observe it.”
If they “take a stand” for God and enter into the covenant that is offered to them, they will “…thrive and increase, and the Lord your God may bless you in the land that you are about to enter and possess.” If they do not or cannot “take a stand” for God, “… you shall certainly perish; you shall not long endure on the soil that you are crossing Jordan to enter and possess.”
Moses gives the Israelites a stark choice: “I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life–if you and your offspring would live–by loving the Lord your God, heeding God’s commands, and holding fast to God. For thereby you shall have life and long endure upon the soil that the Lord swore to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give to them.”
This parashah is not just for the generation that will enter the Promised Land; it is also for those “who are not with us here this day,” the future generations; it is for us. This parashah, as it comes the Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah, pushes us, urges us, to atone for our transgressions and perform true teshuvah during the Yamim Noraim (Days of Awe between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur). Rabbi Shai Held says, “To repent, in other words, is to turn inward. But crucially, turning inward is not the final goal; on the contrary. We turn inward so that we may again—and more deeply—turn outward, to God and to one another.”
May 5786 bring an end to war and destruction and bring the hostages home. May the sweetness of our apples and honey coat the tartness of our thoughts and tongues, and may we turn to our friends, relatives, and communities with warmth and true geniality.
Shabbat Shalom, Shanah Tovah U’Metukah, and Shanah Tovah Tikatevu V’Teichateimu.