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Weekly Torah Portion Knowing Where We are Helps us in Knowing Where We Want to Go
This Shabbat is the double portion of: Nitzavim and VaYelech that is typical of Torah readings at this time of the Jewish year. Nitzavim—“standing”—brings the final address by Moses to the Israelites as they stood at the border to The Promised Land. “You stand this day, all of you before the Lord your God … to enter into The Covenant of the Lord your God.” (Deuteronomy 29:9,11) This passage, which we also read on Yom Kippur morning, includes instruction on unity, redemption, Torah, and freedom of choice, to name a few.
Vayelech—“And he went”—can be understood as an epilogue to the entire Torah. This portion recounts the events on Moses’ last day of earthly life, and how he prepared the people for his replacement. Rabbi Robert Eisen points out the following connections to the upcoming High Holydays. As Moses prepares the people to move forward into The Promised Land, as he himself is about to move on from this world to the next, before anyone takes that next step, they first review the terms of The Brit—Covenant between God and the Jewish people—they first remind themselves exactly where they are standing. That is, before we move forward, we have to know where we already are.
When we travel anyplace we usually get look at a map (and for years I also used a TripTik from the Auto Club) and try to figure out the best route to get from here to there. Torah is teaching that before we go any place else, we have to know the place from which we are about to move forward.
As we begin to prepare for the New Year, 5771, these two Torah portions call out to us to look forward to the sacred opportunity these Days of Awe provide us to hope and dream and pray for what can be. However, as important as it is to look toward the future, it is also important that we look first inside (discover where we are in life), and meet ourselves where we are.
Do we want this year to be “new”? Do we want our lives to be “different”? Do we want to “move forward”? If we do, then we need to first know where we are; seek out the basics of what it means to live as a Jew; root ourselves firmly as part of a “Covenantal People”; embrace the essence of who it is God wants us to be and to become.
When we do these things we are standing firmly grounded in our history and heritage and we can move from “standing” to “going”. We will find that of us too it will be said Vayelech—that we too can move forward with the faith and fortitude that we will need to make this year a New Year—to fulfill our destiny as well.
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