Parashat Vayeilech, Shabbat Shuvah

“Do Not Abandon Us”

This Shabbat we will read Parashat Vayeilech as we also mark Shabbat Shuvah and the ten days of repentance leading up to Yom Kippur. In the parashah, as Moshe grows weak and begins to bid farewell to Bnai Yisrael whom he has led through the wilderness, he seems to anticipate and verbalize their feelings, and perhaps his own.

In Devarim, perek 31, pasuk 6, Moshe encourages the people to be strong and resolute. “Chizku v’Imtzu,” he tells them, “do not be afraid because God will march with you, v’lo ya’azveka, God will not abandon you.” Moshe is 120 years old and he knows that he cannot continue on with the people and lead them into the promised land. He is convinced their response will be fear, and specifically a fear of abandonment, and so he tells them — don’t be afraid, you will not be alone, you will not be abandoned. And in fact, he goes on to establish that Yehoshua will lead the people when he no longer can.

On Yom Kippur, we will echo this fear of abandonment. As we prepare to recite the Vidui, the confessional tefilot of Yom Kippur and the season of repentance, we will quote Tehilim 71:9 and recite: “Al tashlicheinu, do not cast us away as we grow old, as we grow weak, al ta’azveinu, do not abandon us.” Thousands of years have passed since Moshe first gave voice to this fear as he himself grew old, and we continue to express the near identical fear as we approach Yom Kippur.

Perhaps this is simply human nature — at difficult and painful times, we fear being alone, we fear being abandoned. Or maybe the parashah and the machzor are operating at a deeper level. Perhaps by implanting in us this fear of abandonment, they are trying to teach us something profound. Just as much as it is human nature to fear abandonment in difficult times, so too is it human nature to take for granted our relationships and connections in good times. 

Perhaps that is why the machzor has us echo Moshe and pushes us to express this fear of being alone —because when we cry out and beg not to be abandoned, we realize the amazing blessings of all of the relationships that we do have. As we mark this second Yom Kippur during the pandemic, a pandemic which has often made us feel less connected, may we strive to recognize the degree to which we truly are connected to one another, and to be grateful for the relationships we have that are blessings in our lives.

Shabbat Shalom